Black+White Photography Magazine, Canon 50D, Journalism

[g12]

Also, over at dxomark.com, they rate the sensor on the 50D at 62.9, lower than the 40D at 63.5, and 33rd overall. (M8 gets 59.4, 46th, FYI, with no rating for the RD1)

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Image-Quality-Database/Canon/EOS-50D

I'm not saying these ratings are spot on... I've not enough experience with them and the bodies to be able to judge, but that doesn't look like a 97% camera....

 

[dfoo]

Ahhh yeah I'm pretty sure you got the wrong end of the stick there.

If you're thinking canons only have 1 wheel and a button for the aperture like the lower end 450d/xsi etc, you're right, but so does every other low end dslr on the market.
...

Err... I owned a D200 for a while, and have owned two 5d's so I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with how they both work 😉 The rear placement of the 5d's wheel sucks compared with the two jog wheels on the D200. My face is there, so firstly I tend to accidently turn it. Secondly, its a pain to turn for the same reason. Both suck. I also hate the focus point adjustment on the 5d for the same reason.

 

[gavinlg]

Fair enough.

 

[chris000]

I like B + W Photography magazine for the photography (rather than gear) related articles.

I don't know whether gear reviews sell more magazines (or cameras), presumably the magazine publishers have done their market research; but I have theory that gear reviews are more often read by those who have just bought a camera than those who are about to buy.

Some find reassurance, some don't.

 

[Lilserenity]

I must admit I do wonder myself how anything can be 97% close to perfection but then a review in any magazine is going to be subjective with the sprinkling of a few facts (e.g. 10MP sensor, Live View 3" LCD etc) -- so whilst the 97% rating I think is a little bit too high, I'll accept it because that's what someone else has rated their 50D.

That said it's a good magazine on the whole, has improved a lot in the past year and is about the only photography magazine (with the exception of Outdoor Photography which is worth a flick through now and then) which I think is worth reading. The others are too much like computer magazines, all about gear, gear and more gear with a sprinkling of more gear. Plus the 'digital' only focus for me speaks volumes about how much of a photographic magazine it is. For me, photography and cameras are one and the same, regardless of the capturing medium behind the lens -- and for me its all about the picture and I think B&W does a decent job whilst balancing the need to be somewhat commercially viable.

 

[user237428934]

Err... I owned a D200 for a while, and have owned two 5d's so I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with how they both work 😉 The rear placement of the 5d's wheel sucks compared with the two jog wheels on the D200. My face is there, so firstly I tend to accidently turn it. Secondly, its a pain to turn for the same reason. Both suck. I also hate the focus point adjustment on the 5d for the same reason.

You are the first Person I hear of, who accidentally turns the rear wheel with his face. I suppose you use your left eye for photography?
I like the big wheel very much. I even more like the small joystick above the wheel for fast switching the focus points. I think you can configure the joystick of every one or two digit canon that way.

 

[Leigh Youdale]

On the other hand - after posting recently I went back and re- read the last couple of issues. I think the point a lot of people here (and over at APUG) are missing is that it's not "The Traditional Black and White Photography Magazine" and it's not "The Black and White Film Users Magazine". It's simply the "Black & White Photography" magazine. And it covers that reasonably well. In most areas. Maybe the 97% score for a camera is a bit silly and in the same vein look at the computerised photograph score system Mike Johnson (The Online Photographer) has uncovered. Hilarious!
A dose of reality here indicates that mainstream photography has gone digital for the forseeable future and us film users are now a rump constituency mainly populated by hobbyists and some fine art practitioners. Some of us are Luddites and some of us are just getting on with what we like doing. The frequent outbursts of anguish over declining film sales, ceased production of favourite printing papers etc, is reflected in the marginal economic clout of our chosen medium and that also carries over to magazine publishers. No matter how much we wring our hands or bemoan the unenlightened practices of new photographers and those deserting the 'true faith', the editor of B&W has the job of producing and selling a magazine that turns a profit and appeals to as many people as possible who have an interest in monochrome images, no matter how they're produced.
So, you want a specialist magazine that deals with nothing but traditional monochrome film? Good luck! B&W isn't going to cut out the stuff that gets most people to buy it and I doubt any publisher would be willing to start up a new magazine catering for the ageing 0.1% of photographers who cross themselves every time they see or hear the "D" word.
So I think some of us are faced with being just a teeny bit more flexible or going without a magazine at all. I think I'll keep reading and just skip the bits that don't grab me.

 

[dfoo]

You are the first Person I hear of, who accidentally turns the rear wheel with his face. I suppose you use your left eye for photography?
I like the big wheel very much. I even more like the small joystick above the wheel for fast switching the focus points. I think you can configure the joystick of every one or two digit canon that way.

Yes, I use my left eye. Yes, you can set the joystick for focus point adjustment, that that is even more irritating since I don't find it precise. Things are even more annoying if you use the camera in portrait orientation with the grip. The dial/joystick are not accessible at all!

The other thing I hate on the 5d is the on/hold/off switch. I frequently accidently set it to the wrong position!

 

[LeicaFoReVer]

well I am not SLR person but I can tell there are other models deserves that "rating" 🙂 5D is one of them... but it is right...97% rating is ridicilous...

I would suggest Photography Tecnihques magazine, which is very close to people like us using films...The articles are very technical with film and objective tests...

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I shoot left eyed and have been playing with both my 5D and 50D and for the life of me I can't figure out how to get my face to turn the back wheel. But my wife got a big kick out of my contortions trying.

 

[ZeissFan]

Some issues back (a year or two, maybe), the magazine's former editor dumped all over one of the Canon DSLRs. I rather enjoyed it. More recently, the same magazine gave a very average review of the Sony Alpha 350.

Regardless, I think the magazine does a very credible job with its focus on b/w photography. I had dropped Pop Photo several years ago, because I detested the informal writing style and frequent injection of "ain't" within articles.

On the contrary, I find Black & White Photography to be well written and well edited. I think they've done a good job of trying to provide an interesting mix of articles, and if they gush all over some idiot Canon piece of junk once in a while, I can live with that. It's just someone's opinion.

Remember, product review conclusions are opinion, not fact.

 

[flip]

This reminds me of reading album reviews. I'll see 1-5 star ratings vary amongst a band's albums to inform the reader of relative achievement within that band's catalog. But a 5 star from a crap band may not rise to the 1 star of a good band. I'd cut the reviewer some slack. To compare a camera against all photographic equipment sounds like quite a chore.

 

[John Robertson]

I have not enjoyed the mag so much of late, new editor perhaps??
I didn't even buy it this month after looking through it in the shop.

 

[g12]

It's just someone's opinion.

True, but it's the entire magazine's opinion, and if someone sat across a table from you and gushed about their new Canon 50D being 97% perfect you'd probably think they were an idiot....