timeimmortal

I wish I shared Phil Askey’s* enjoyment of this fact.

DPReview (’DP’ in this context stands for “Digital Photography”) has been my major source for digital camera information for…as long as I’ve been using digital cameras. It helped my make the buying decision for both my PowerShot A70 and Rebel XT/EOS 350D cameras thanks to the comprehensive reviews (click those last two links) and image quality comparisons that the site offers.

In theory, I’ve nothing against the idea of Amazon buying up DPReview, so long as DPReview is able to continue to deliver news and reviews of cameras as per its current paradigm; I may not work in a camera store any more, but friends tend to rely on me for information about cameras, and I like to keep abreast of developments in the industry more as a hobby than anything else. Digital imaging fascinates me, and I think I might start researching sensor technology a bit more to see if I can’t deepen my understanding of the nuts-and-bolts, transistor-level workings of digital cameras.

That’s right, I admit it: I wasn’t enough of a photo nerd just knowing the difference between a SuperCCD and a Foveon X3 sensor. I have heights yet to reach!

On a more serious note, though, I worry that DPReview will lose some of its objective edge in merging with Amazon. The nice thing about DPReview as an independent (essentially) entity was that it tended to be fairly even-handed in its evaluation of cameras. Brand didn’t really seem to matter (although the site tended to review Nikon, Canon, and (more recently) Panasonic to a larger extent than some other, smaller brands) in the final verdict handed down to each camera which was reviewed: the people at the site were very good, as a general rule, at sticking to the raw (pun!) evidence and performance metrics of the camera, without letting a label get in the way of a ruling.

To be fair, there were a few biases that were evident, but even these were applied in a reasonably fair manner: the reviewers there all seem to despise digital noise (a sentiment I can agree with), and so they typically come down a bit hard on Panasonic sensors (although, equally, they tend to appreciate the superior quality of Panasonic’s lenses) as compared to Canon sensors. But then, they come down hard on Canon sensors as compared to Fuji’s amazing SuperCCD sensors which, ISO for ISO, produced markedly less noise in an image than a standard sensor.

So at least they are consistent, and thus — by and large — objective.

The problem with the Amazon purchase, then, is that some of that objectivity might disappear in favour of sales. Amazon is not, primarily, a review site; it is a sales-driven business. It is in the interests of such a company to sell the products that it advertises, not to dissuade customers from buying some of those products in favour of others. Which, in a sense, is the exact opposite purpose of a review site, which (theoretically) should exist to help consumers decide between different purchase options and to discourage consumers from buying those products which, in the reviewer’s opinion and according to a set of performance and quality metrics, are inferior.

In plain point of fact, few cameras that are reviewed on DPReview get rated as being “below average”, which is the lowest rating possible on the site. By the same token, though, a quick glance through the “highly recommended” list of cameras reveals a broad spectrum of cameras that can and do match almost any budget, and which come from a variety of manufacturers, and which provide a range of options and performance capabilities to meet almost any need. One almost need not even bother looking at the “recommended” list, although to be fair there are a few more inexpensive “budget” cameras on that list which do perform quite well under most conditions — the Canon PowerShot A510 comes to mind, as does the Panasonic TZ3.

Is it worth worrying that things will change at DPReview — an excellent site, overall — in the wake of the Amazon purchase. To be honest, I can’t say: I don’t know enough about the internal politics at the site, or the internal workings of Amazon, or the complete nature of the Amazon/DPReview arrangement.

I’d rather not see a good resource evaporate into something motivated by sales interests, but I suppose permanence is just an illusion anyhow.

* * *

* the guy in charge of DPReview.com

~ by Kenneth on May 14, 2007.