DPreview - problems?

[Flake]

Many people including me value the in depth reviews of cameras, and following the release of so many new & exciting new DSLRs there's an expectation that one of the premier review sites will post it's findings soon. But DPreview has not posted a DSLR review since the Sony SLT-A65 way back in mid November last year. Since the turn of the year they have only posted four reviews, and all of those have been compacts.

The Nikon D4 was previewed 6th January, surely there has been enough time to review one by now? Prior to DPreview, Steves digicams was perhaps the best review site, it looks like DPreview is taking far too long, and that means it's going to lose relevance quite quickly. A shame as it's reviews were excellent.

 

[DavidRiesenberg]

I think DPR insists on reviewing production grade cameras and not engineering and marketing samples that float around prior to release.

 

[Wrathwilde]

I think DPR insists on reviewing production grade cameras and not engineering and marketing samples that float around prior to release.

+1 The most reputable review sites only review products that have made their way through the retail channel... that they have purchased themselves. The next most reputable review sites are loaned units directly from the manufacture, give a bad review though and you may find manufactures unwilling to loan you their products in the future.

 

[Flake]

Yes I accept that they review production cameras, but no DSLR reviews for 5 months is a little of a concern. The G1X has been available for some weeks now, and there's no review of that either.

 

[Astro]

they need RAW support in ACR for their studio tests and final products for review.


btw: wrong forum i think.
this board is in desperate need of a "general photography" forum.

 

[Wrathwilde]

Yes I accept that they review production cameras, but no DSLR reviews for 5 months is a little of a concern.

Barney Britton, one of dpreview's contributors has posted a first impressions review of the D4 within days of receiving it, he posted on March 9th that they are working on the full review. These things don't happen overnight, and I'm fairly sure he can't just drop everything to test cameras and write reviews, he does have his own photography business to keep afloat, so part of the review is actually using it day to day, over a range of assignments to glean those things you don't notice in a day or two of rushed testing. It's this, used in a professional capacity, testing than helps separate the quality of dpr's reviews from most other sites. Sure they may not be first to post their reviews, but the quality of their reviews well above most other sites.

As far as the G1X, if they only officially review products they have purchased, it may be that none of their contributors was interested enough to purchase a G1X and review it. Which could also be the reason they have reviewed so few DSLRs recently, their professionals were not interested enough in them to add them to their collection. I have no doubt that the 1DX, 5D3, D800, and the D4 will all get full reviews within a month of hitting the streets. So hold on, we'll see the reviews soon, as I'm sure their contributors will be picking these models up as soon as humanly possible.

Edit - dpreview gets their test units on loan from the manufactures.

 

[Astro]

As far as the G1X, if they only officially review products they have purchased, it may be that none of their contributors was interested enough to purchase a G1X and review it. Which could also be the reason they have reviewed so few DSLRs recently, their professionals were not interested enough in them to add them to their collection. I have no doubt that the 1DX, 5D3, D800, and the D4 will all get full reviews within a month of hitting the streets. So hold on, we'll see the reviews soon, as I'm sure their contributors will be picking these models up as soon as humanly possible.

dpreview is part of amazon not?
i always wondered if they have to buy the gear themself or if they get cameras from amazon.

 

[Wrathwilde]

dpreview is part of amazon not?
i always wondered if they have to buy the gear themself or if they get cameras from amazon.

I was unaware that Amazon bought them.

According to dpreview's FAQs...

All products are provided to us 'on loan' (from the manufacturers) and are returned at the end of this loan period (typically 2-3 weeks). In some circumstances we may ask for this loan period to be extended for the purposes of comparison. We have no reason to believe that any product has ever been 'specially prepared' for review, we have in the past compared our test results with those of purchased models and found no differences. Should we ever discover a manufacturer attempting to do this we would of course immediately publish this fact. We have also received 'DOA' (Dead On Arrival) products which have to be replaced.

How come you represent brand X more than brand Y?

We're an independent review site, as such we're at the whim (to a certain extent) of the manufacturers. We do all we can to represent all brands fairly, if one manufacturer drags its heels loaning us review equipment then we can hardly be blamed for not being able to review those cameras. We have in the past taken alternative routes to get our hands on cameras which are unavailable directly from the manufacturer. We work very very long hours producing the most detailed reviews we can, even if we receive a camera today you won't see a review for at least two weeks.

We always try to be as objective as possible in our reviews and receive a lot of praise for our straight talk and detailed tests.

How come you've not reviewed camera X yet?

Probably because the manufacturer hasn't sent us a review sample or that they have and it's simply too pre-production (too flaky, not representative of final product) to review. We also have a limited amount of resource to review cameras, we'll often select the most interesting / innovative or popular camera to review in great detail rather than trying to review everything in a shallow manner.

You said you're working on a review of this camera, how come you've not posted a review yet?

Because our reviews are the most comprehensive and detailed on the net, it takes us considerably longer to produce our reviews than some of the other sites. Our normal turnaround time for a single camera is 10 working days (not that the weekends normally stop us) and if we have more than one camera in then that may impact on how long it takes.

 

[Wrathwilde]

this board is in desperate need of a "general photography" forum.

They could call it "The Darkroom" A Place for members to hang out and engage in random conversations.

 

[Larry]

this board is in desperate need of a "general photography" forum.

They could call it "The Darkroom" A Place for members to hang out and engage in random conversations.

Disagree. Why should a site which specifically addresses and provides discussion re. "Canon Rumors", and names itself accordingly, be expected to ADDITIONALLY provide sections for any and all other photography related talk?

Is not the inter-net full of such "general" photography talk as it is?

Seems to me the logical (if admittedly extreme ;-) extension of this expectation would have every web-site covering every subject.

Suits me fine if this site offers just what it says it does. I'm sure this offers workload enough for the hosts.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

DPreview loves to take their sweet time on Nikln products. They're a bunch of Nikon fanboys.

I remember that they tendto rush the Canon reviews. I noticed this because they had the D3100 or some other body "preview on their site for month before publishng thein depth review. During those months they quickly posted in depth reviews of 1 or 2 Canon bodies that were released after the nikon was.

They had a beef with Canon ages ago and had seemed a bit more pro-Nikon ever since (now it may finally be justified though ;D, but back then, not so much, not so much at all). That said, if anything, they seem to drag on Canon. I'm still waiting for their 1 Series Mark 3 review ;D.

The plot charts at DxO are more meaningful anyway when it comes down to image quality.

 

[Astro]

Disagree. Why should a site which specifically addresses and provides discussion re. "Canon Rumors", and names itself accordingly, be expected to ADDITIONALLY provide sections for any and all other photography related talk?

well .... do you rather have a place for discussion like this one.... or have them scattered all over the forum where they don´t fit? :

 

[Larry]

Disagree. Why should a site which specifically addresses and provides discussion re. "Canon Rumors", and names itself accordingly, be expected to ADDITIONALLY provide sections for any and all other photography related talk?

well .... do you rather have a place for discussion like this one.... or have them scattered all over the forum where they don´t fit? :

Actually, that's the point - I'd personally prefer that they be scattered all over the inter-net in places where they DO fit.

This isn't the place.

I'm so narrow of focus that I come to CanonRumors to read about, guess what, Canon rumors. Silly me ;-)

There is plenty of talk about DPR's review policies, guess where, ...DPR.

 

[Jettatore]

They have been, and still are as of a few days ago, advertising that they are looking for good writers for over a year now. Might have something to do with it?