ampguy
Veteran
highly recommended you subscribe if you don't already.
really explains and shows why some lenses are better than others.
really explains and shows why some lenses are better than others.
johnny.moped
Established
what article?
wilonstott
Wil O.
yea, what article?
Thardy
Veteran
Apparently there is a site you have to subscribe to.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
The OP is talking about Reid Reviews. The site's owner, Sean Reid, does tests and reviews of high end cameras and lenses but you have to pay a monthly subscription to read them. The thing I don't understand is that in order to justify keeping up a subscription like this you have to be the sort of person who buys A LOT of gear, otherwise you wouldn't care enough to pay for reviews. If you're that person, I'd suggest spending the $$$ on film and actually USING the gear.
randomT
Member
A general comment on Sean Reid. I subscribed to his website, because he is so highly praised in many forums, but I didn't renew my subscription.
He tests camera equipment (mostly lenses), sometimes camera, sometimes general articles and writes in a good way. He doesn't care so much about test charts but more about practical use, still he has pictures to compare different lenses and so on.
So far, so good. What I didn't know, and why I didn't renew my subscription:
he focuses almost exclusively on digital photography. It's OK, and of course, you can still get some information out of his articles if you still shoot film. But for me, he just didn't quite hit my nerve. For example, I don't care how well a lense works with an IR-Filter on an M8 because I will never own one. OR, IIRC he wrote that he preferred a certain lense because it had less contrast, which is apparently good for digital post processing. And sometimes I just wouldn't agree on his conclusions (or rather on his emphasis on which aspects of a lens are more important than others). His recommendation was a decisive factor for me to buy the CV Colour Skopar II pancake, which he apparently just loves. For me, it wasn't such a good investment. But of course, that's not his fault or anything, I just realised that my priorities differ from his.
I don't want to imply that it would be a bad site. I enjoyed it and I got some useful information from it. But in the end, I stopped visiting and I didn't mind when my subscription ran out.
He tests camera equipment (mostly lenses), sometimes camera, sometimes general articles and writes in a good way. He doesn't care so much about test charts but more about practical use, still he has pictures to compare different lenses and so on.
So far, so good. What I didn't know, and why I didn't renew my subscription:
he focuses almost exclusively on digital photography. It's OK, and of course, you can still get some information out of his articles if you still shoot film. But for me, he just didn't quite hit my nerve. For example, I don't care how well a lense works with an IR-Filter on an M8 because I will never own one. OR, IIRC he wrote that he preferred a certain lense because it had less contrast, which is apparently good for digital post processing. And sometimes I just wouldn't agree on his conclusions (or rather on his emphasis on which aspects of a lens are more important than others). His recommendation was a decisive factor for me to buy the CV Colour Skopar II pancake, which he apparently just loves. For me, it wasn't such a good investment. But of course, that's not his fault or anything, I just realised that my priorities differ from his.
I don't want to imply that it would be a bad site. I enjoyed it and I got some useful information from it. But in the end, I stopped visiting and I didn't mind when my subscription ran out.
Tim Gray
Well-known
I guess it's different now that the M9 is out, but I was never tempted to sign up even for a month because the M8 wasn't full frame, so he wasn't testing the edges of lenses. Did he use an Epson before that? I guess since I shoot film, I just never bothered.
peter_n
Veteran
Same here.
dfoo
Well-known
I have a review to his site. His reviews and other articles on photography are excellent, and I thoroughly enjoy them.
tbarker13
shooter of stuff
I'm with Chris on some of this.
I think Sean does a great job and writes in a way that's very engaging and conversational. And I was once a subscriber.
But ending that subscription was one of the tools I've used to weaken my GAS desires. I was spending far too much time reading his reviews and plotting out my next "must-have" purchase.
I'll say though, that his site is a great resource for anyone just starting out in RF photography.
I think Sean does a great job and writes in a way that's very engaging and conversational. And I was once a subscriber.
But ending that subscription was one of the tools I've used to weaken my GAS desires. I was spending far too much time reading his reviews and plotting out my next "must-have" purchase.
I'll say though, that his site is a great resource for anyone just starting out in RF photography.