DPReview is closing down

[p.giannakis]

Apparently, Amazon has decided to close it down

DPReview.com to close

It is with great sadness that after nearly 25 years of operation, we must announce that DPReview will close in the near future. This difficult decision is part of the annual operating plan review that our parent company shared earlier this year.

m.dpreview.com

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

That sucks. A 0.5% pay cut from Amazon's CEO probably would have been enough to keep DPReview going for a few more years.

Best of luck to all the writers and content creators at DPReview.

 

[Rayt]

DPReview has always been my go to for specs and recommendations. Hope Chris and Jordan land on their feet.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I didn't know they were someone else pets. Their site is the only one to find out out ISO tests for cameras and much else. With site going down huge part of data is going to be lost.

But I guess, in reality, if they can't stay at their own, it is not sustainable due to lack of interest from consumers.

 

[Pál_K]

Very sad news!

Dpreview offered an excellent in-depth analysis of camera features - especially from around (roughly) 2008 - 2018. Their methodology and the quality of the information was unmatched.

Although I disliked a great amount of the attitude on the forums and the laughable angst from posters when a new camera didn’t offer something like 8K resolution, 4K frame rates, and false color thermal imaging, the site itself and its staff were great.

For new equipment and new developments, this is going to be a void that needs to be filled.

 

[BillBingham2]

While I can understand (but vehemently disagree) with the decision to shut it down, it could cost NOTHING to keep the site up. The CPU/Storage/Bandwidth is a rounding error on the AWS balance sheet.

I wonder if the head bartender would offer the boys from up-north a place to house their stuff?

B2 (;-<

 

[hap]

When you are a business in a serious "cutting", even Amazon has to look at DPreview like any other decision. Amazon has chopped more than 30 K jobs this year. Many companies, big mothers, are slimming down.......and yes the Administration has "created" millions of jobs...or so it is said.

Now they can go get the Washington POst.

 

[Bob Michaels]

That sucks. A 0.5% pay cut from Amazon's CEO probably would have been enough to keep DPReview going for a few more years.

Jeff Besos annual salary and bonus is $81,840 per year. .05% of that is $409 which will not go far in keeping DPReview open. Now he has been replaced as CEO by Andy Jassy whose salary is $175,000 per year. However, Jassy does have potential stock awards that could be worth $212 million if Amazon is successful under his direction.

 

[Pál_K]

Another concern is that their content isn’t going to be maintained long term. Somehow this needs to be properly archived for the future.

For example, if I want to go back and look at their comments on X-Pro1 RAW files, page 19 of their original 2012 review, I can do so:

Fujifilm X-Pro1 in-depth review

When Fujifilm announced its FinePix X100 retro-styled large-sensor compact at Photokina 2010, it captured the imagination of serious photographers in a way the company seemed not to have quite anticipated. The X100's combination of 'traditional' dial-based handling and outstanding image quality...

m.dpreview.com

If that page goes away and I need to rely on the Wayback archive, I’m not certain it can handle all the off-page links properly. There used to be a great site for Canon cameras where I could interactively compare features and, even though it’s archived now, the drop-down links no longer work - so the archived site is essentially unusable.

 

[Keith]

That's sad. 🙁 I go there there infrequently but did the other day and was reading their very thorough examination of the Sigma SD1 Merrill ... which actually came out looking pretty damned shiny in spite of the camera's very apparent short comings!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I joined DPReview ages ago. Strange place. A lot of drama behind the scenes, and boiled over. At its worst: Mentioning other sites even in PM's was reason for getting links to those sites banned. That was the end of DPReview for me.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Jeff Besos annual salary and bonus is $81,840 per year. .05% of that is $409 which will not go far in keeping DPReview open. Now he has been replaced as CEO by Andy Jassy whose salary is $175,000 per year. However, Jassy does have potential stock awards that could be worth $212 million if Amazon is successful under his direction.

This is not how world of greedy (corporations) works.

This is how it works:
CEO - we need to cut, every time company cuts, shares are up.
Head of AI department - let us analyze.
...Week later...
Head of AI department - our analyze shows if we cut this review site, it will be nothing to loose. In the opposite our customers reviews will attract more visitors, buyers.
CEO - BINGO, your annual bonus is approved.

 

[Out to Lunch]

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I joined DPReview ages ago. Strange place. A lot of drama behind the scenes, and boiled over. At its worst: Mentioning other sites even in PM's was reason for getting links to those sites banned. That was the end of DPReview for me.

I never joined. I only registered to report hate comments towards Russian gear on lomography.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Jeff Besos annual salary and bonus is $81,840 per year. .05% of that is $409 which will not go far in keeping DPReview open. Now he has been replaced as CEO by Andy Jassy whose salary is $175,000 per year. However, Jassy does have potential stock awards that could be worth $212 million if Amazon is successful under his direction.

I did look up Jassy's annual compensation before I made my post above and found the same $212,000,000 figure you did, but stupidly put "pay" in my post rather than "compensation." 0.5% of that would be $10,600,000, which I imagine could have kept DPReview going for quite some time.

Oh and I did the math and if Jassy works 2,500 hours a year, his annual compensation works out to $84,800 per hour. Now I'm all in favor of rewarding hard work and success, but that seems just a bit excessive to me. Perhaps they wouldn't have had to let 30,000 people go if the compensation for their top executives was perhaps a bit more reasonable.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Being a very large company- I wonder if they are worried about GDPR.

Photo.net recently had a breach, and Email accounts were leaked out.

Photonet member details compromised

I've suddenly started getting spam sent to email addresses I set up specifically for photo net; I changed it several times because reasons and ended up with four different addresses (though only one should've been active at any given time). I haven't even used the site in years but now all four a...

www.photo.net

I suspect photo.net will be the next to be taken off line, recently bought by Fiverr. Security for a site is not cheap, and takes resources. Just speculation on my part.

 

[farlymac]

Never knew Amazon was their parent company. Well, so much for providing an enjoyable user experience. That is, until it starts to cut into Bezos' bottom line. When the axe starts swinging, everything in range is vulnerable.

PF

 

[Rob-F]

Jeff Besos annual salary and bonus is $81,840 per year. .05% of that is $409 which will not go far in keeping DPReview open. Now he has been replaced as CEO by Andy Jassy whose salary is $175,000 per year. However, Jassy does have potential stock awards that could be worth $212 million if Amazon is successful under his direction.

Well, wait, if 0.5% is the right figure, as originally given, and not 0.05%, then that leaves $4090 and not $409. Would that much be enough?

 

[lynnb]

I found their reviews very useful. It's a significant loss if all that data and information is no longer available. There's some sobering data on the byThom site in his most recent post Real Camera Economics, about the trend in interchangeable lens cameras and lens sales 2012-2022: the graph is not a pretty sight. When markets contract the accountants usually start cutting costs.

 

[stephen_lumsden]

I am surprised the site is not being bought up by someone else. I have always used their reviews as a yard stick before purchasing and liked Chris' style.