thinking about M. Reichman's review of the X1...

[emraphoto]

so, to be up front, i don't pay much attention to any of the 'reviewer crowd' beyond Mr. Huff. i tend to find the guys enthusiasm and non technical reviews to be more palatable.

while quickly pouring over MR's review i began to reflect on why the manufacturers don't send any cameras out to photographers in the photojournalism/documentary/reportage crowd?

we can all remember Kambers M8 review and i am among those who supported most of what he said. i also, to this day admire Lieca's willingness to put the cameras in the hands of folks such as Kamber, Webb, Majoli to obtain feedback. with that said, was the M8 review enough to scare the manufacturers off of such placements?

i have been in touch with a couple of manufacturers in the past about products and mostly they seem VERY reluctant to send the gear out on actual assignments. the mere mention of places like Kosovo, Niger Delta, Chad, Syria seem to end the conversations abruptly.

i know these folks, Reichman, The Camera Store, DPReview get loads of traffic but what exactly do they do besides regurgitate the same info put out in press releases or amongst themselves? eerily similar to the daily press model, but that's a conversation for another day. where are the voices of the folks that really put cameras to work,who helped form the mystique/reputation of some of these 'rangefinder' incarnations? how can i find out about a particular cameras ability beyond some snapshots of a model, ducks or trees?

i find this phenomenon particularly troubling as most of these cameras are very difficult to get ones hands on. the Nex-7 has been out for almost a year and i am yet to even see one on a shelf, in a store. watching some camera store clerk snap macro photos of ice on a drain pipe doesn't tell me ANYTHING i need to know.

come on manufacturers... put these things in the hands of folks that can really tell us what they are capable of!

 

[gavinlg]

Yep I totally agree. I'm really over 99% of reviews circulating with new cameras now. The imaging resource ones are the absolute worst personally - photos of a poster of a house at every conceivable setting. Cannot fathom.

For what it's worth, fujifilm Australia gave an x-pro1 to photojournalist Michael Coyne, and you can see some of his comments in this video: http://vimeo.com/37718068

 

[40oz]

Perhaps the take-away is there aren't many new cameras that offer anything useful to a working photojournalist.

 

[j j]

Like this? http://holyfstop.blogspot.com/2012/03/two-weeks-with-fujifilm-x-pro1.html

 

[Vobluda]

Nex 7 official release date was in December 2011. If I count it right it was about 80 days ago, which is a bit less then a year.
And the camera is available in few stores ever since.

so, to be up front, i don't pay much attention

while quickly pouring over MR's review i began to reflect on why the manufacturers don't send any cameras out to photographers in the photojournalism/documentary/reportage crowd?

we can all remember Kambers M8 review and i am among those who supported most of what he said. i also, to this day admire Lieca's willingness to put the cameras in the hands of folks such as Kamber, Webb, Majoli to obtain feedback. with that said, was the M8 review enough to scare the manufacturers off of such placements?

i have been in touch with a couple of manufacturers in the past about products and mostly they seem VERY reluctant to send the gear out on actual assignments. the mere mention of places like Kosovo, Niger Delta, Chad, Syria seem to end the conversations abruptly.

i know these folks, Reichman, The Camera Store, DPReview get loads of traffic but what exactly do they do besides regurgitate the same info put out in press releases or amongst themselves? eerily similar to the daily press model, but that's a conversation for another day. where are the voices of the folks that really put cameras to work,who helped form the mystique/reputation of some of these 'rangefinder' incarnations? how can i find out about a particular cameras ability beyond some snapshots of a model, ducks or trees?

i find this phenomenon particularly troubling as most of these cameras are very difficult to get ones hands on. the Nex-7 has been out for almost a year and i am yet to even see one on a shelf, in a store. watching some camera store clerk snap macro photos of ice on a drain pipe doesn't tell me ANYTHING i need to know.

come on manufacturers... put these things in the hands of folks that can really tell us what they are capable of!

 

[emraphoto]

Perhaps the take-away is there aren't many new cameras that offer anything useful to a working photojournalist.

on the contrary, i think cameras like the x100, g1X, om-d etc offer much to a working photojournalist. remembering of course, spot news photography is not the only element to being a photojournalist.

 

[sojournerphoto]

so, to be up front, i don't pay much attention to any of the 'reviewer crowd' beyond Mr. Huff. i tend to find the guys enthusiasm and non technical reviews to be more palatable.

while quickly pouring over MR's review i began to reflect on why the manufacturers don't send any cameras out to photographers in the photojournalism/documentary/reportage crowd?

we can all remember Kambers M8 review and i am among those who supported most of what he said. i also, to this day admire Lieca's willingness to put the cameras in the hands of folks such as Kamber, Webb, Majoli to obtain feedback. with that said, was the M8 review enough to scare the manufacturers off of such placements?

i have been in touch with a couple of manufacturers in the past about products and mostly they seem VERY reluctant to send the gear out on actual assignments. the mere mention of places like Kosovo, Niger Delta, Chad, Syria seem to end the conversations abruptly.

i know these folks, Reichman, The Camera Store, DPReview get loads of traffic but what exactly do they do besides regurgitate the same info put out in press releases or amongst themselves? eerily similar to the daily press model, but that's a conversation for another day. where are the voices of the folks that really put cameras to work,who helped form the mystique/reputation of some of these 'rangefinder' incarnations? how can i find out about a particular cameras ability beyond some snapshots of a model, ducks or trees?

i find this phenomenon particularly troubling as most of these cameras are very difficult to get ones hands on. the Nex-7 has been out for almost a year and i am yet to even see one on a shelf, in a store. watching some camera store clerk snap macro photos of ice on a drain pipe doesn't tell me ANYTHING i need to know.

come on manufacturers... put these things in the hands of folks that can really tell us what they are capable of!

I think the reality is that, as Mr Reichmann himself said, the cameras are given to photo industry journalists. That is the people who can sell cameras, not the people who use them for a job. That is not a comment in any direction about MRs photographic skills, but his site is effectively an influential photo magazine on the web. Therefore, as a manufacturer you want MR to support your product with good reviews far more than a few photojournalists who labour away out of sight and mind to produce meaningful work that really depends on their vision, concerns and skills rather than the camera. You could do your stuff with pretty well anything if you had to I suspect (a compliment!)

Mike

 

[shadowfox]

I agree with you in principle, but unless you can round up tens-of thousands potential buyer who look up to reports from real working PJ's. It ain't gonna happen.

I suspect that the typical potential *buyers* (not users) will be taking cats and flower photos mostly... not that there's anything wrong with that. (uh-huh) 😀

 

[dave lackey]

I agree with you in principle, but unless you can round up tens-of thousands potential buyer who look up to reports from real working PJ's. It ain't gonna happen.

I suspect that the typical potential *buyers* (not users) will be taking cats and flower photos mostly... not that there's anything wrong with that. (uh-huh) 😀

Wrong, I am doing documentaries and portraits. I don't own cats and I hate flowers. Street photography, what the hell is that? 😛It is all photography and I use what I want to shoot what I want. I have found most reviews to be worthless. As an example...The R-system works fantastically for me and many professionals around the world over the years. Even on LUF, the R-system is highly respected.

What is it with the RFF bias against the X1, D-Lux 5, R-system and other perfectly good cameras? Oh, not an M body...is that really it? Last I tried, my M3 didn't work well with Macros/Flash/Sports or anything else other than what I do. But I have found the R-system and the X1 to more than complement the M-body I have used for the past several years.

I am sure Mr. R would find fault with everything I own and use.

 

[rdeleskie]

Sean Reid's reviews are an alternative the typical journalistic approach described above. In addition to controlled testing, he takes the camera into the field and shoots it as if he were using it for a job or assignment. He's currently reviewing the X-PRO1.

If you can wait, there usually is a second round of reviews once a camera is released, from the POV of working photographers. If the NEX7 had received a full launch in December we'd no doubt be inundated with blog reports by now. The tight inventory due to flooding has made this camera hard to get but supply appears to be improving.

 

[CameraQuest]

i have been in touch with a couple of manufacturers in the past about products and mostly they seem VERY reluctant to send the gear out on actual assignments. the mere mention of places like Kosovo, Niger Delta, Chad, Syria seem to end the conversations abruptly.

hmm.

It seems to me what you are really complaining about it that manufacturers are lending equip to well known reviewers like Michael Reichman instead of relatively unknown reviewers like you.

No problem. There is an easy way around that.
Just get your cameras the old fashioned way -- buy them.

Stephen

 

[emraphoto]

hmm.

It seems to me what you are really complaining about it that manufacturers are lending equip to well known reviewers like Michael Reichman instead of relatively unknown reviewers like you.

No problem. There is an easy way around that.
Just get your cameras the old fashioned way -- buy them.

Stephen

for the record, i have bought and own quite a few of their (company in question) cameras. new even.

not quite what i am complaining about. i want to know more than how soft/sharp the covers are at f1.4. i want to know how a camera functions when really being worked, not on a tri-pod pointed at a wall like most of these little wonders seem to be.

 

[emraphoto]

I think the reality is that, as Mr Reichmann himself said, the cameras are given to photo industry journalists. That is the people who can sell cameras, not the people who use them for a job. That is not a comment in any direction about MRs photographic skills, but his site is effectively an influential photo magazine on the web. Therefore, as a manufacturer you want MR to support your product with good reviews far more than a few photojournalists who labour away out of sight and mind to produce meaningful work that really depends on their vision, concerns and skills rather than the camera. You could do your stuff with pretty well anything if you had to I suspect (a compliment!)

Mike

merci.

i suppose until a few of the working chaps get into the review business we will just have to buy em and sell em.

for now, i'll just keep my eye on the Fuji guys.

 

[photo_fred]

I think the head bartenders comments were just a tad on the rude side to emraphoto.Too many of these "reviewers" spend way too much time photographing walls and too little time photographing real photography.Lending a camera to real photographers like emraphoto would show just how these cameras would really work in real life situations of a working photojournalist, not just some gearhead that wouldn't know a good photo if it bit him on the ass.