J.R. said:fragilesi said:J.R. said:
So, I think I've got this right. You knew all about his website and what was on it. And today you visited again to confirm that not only does it contain what you thought it did but that it contains precsiely what he says it does. And now you're posting to tell us that too? Okay.
As a complete newbie I stumbled on his site a couple of years ago. He opened my eyes to quite a lot. It wasn't hard given how little I knew but he set me on the path of several very good equipment purchases and technique decisions - and yes I branched to other sites to get a balanced opinion. I don't agree with everything he says, for example his point about longer lenses not being wortwhile but I've found the site an interesting introduction at times, eg wide angle lenses.
Very importantly he doesn't try to blind me with science. CR seems excellent in many ways but like most technical communities it has its own language, initialisms and so on to learn and as is typical of such communities some people delight in making things sound complex. At least with Rockwell I can understand what he's saying and gauge his opinion easily and quickly as a newbie and choose to accept it or challenge it.
That has real value and yes other sites do similar things but why shouldn't he too? He is at least open and honest about what his site is, and is not. If any of the people criticising him think they can do better and lead us simpletons on a "better" path in an easy to understand way then by all means go ahead. Because if you can, I'll be an avid reader.
Hahaha ... I knew I would get a bit of stick for my "knowledge" of KR's website. However, the word "confirmation" used in my post above was confirmation for the OP.
I stumbled on his site in 2009 when I switched to Canon system and was looking up lens reviews. This guy somehow manages to come up right in the top 2-3 lens reviews on page 1 of a Google search of almost any Canon lens review search you undertake. I found a lot of his material quite odd, if not outright drivel ... his post regarding how digital killed the tripod. This made me wonder as to who the hell was this guy which ultimately led me to the "about" page.
Given that his site contains his personal opinions regardless of the facts makes things a bit obtuse. Personally, I'd take a logical reasoning of fact as compared to someone's aggravated person opinions any day of the week and twice on Sunday, ymmv. There is hardly anything useful on his site which is not available anywhere else.
Look at it this way -
- If you want to improve your shooting technique ... get a book, attend photography course, attend photowalks with pros, post photos online and get them critiqued;
If you want to find out more about gear (especially Canon gear), CR is best place to be because if someone is serving pure mashed potatoes, he is sure to get found out by the rest of the posters - some of whom are really knowledgeable
KR acts a bit like a clown, says that he is acting like a clown and then has people defending him and his opinions to the hilt ... awesome!
Well sorry I can never resist sarcasm
. Some say it's the lowest form of wit but to me scaling what seems its dizzy heights is achievement enough for the day!But for the record I'm quite clearly not defending his opinions to the hilt or indeed anything else! I like the fact that he's blunt, to the point and so it's very interesting to understand his what he is saying, then like I said you can take it on board or challenge it.
I do agree that CR is a very good place. But it's not always easy for a newbie to understand some of the advice some of the time and seemingly "knowledgeable posters" will argue each other into the ground dressing up fact as opinion and giving widely differing verdicts on any given point.
That's fine, not everything should revolve around people with relatively low levels of knowledge of course and advice will vary depending on preferred styles and applications.
I see value in Ken Rockwell in that he gives a clear, easy to undestand opinion, some food for thought and can open your eyes to a different way of thinking. I often disagree with it but at least he starts a debate in my mind. It's just another of the wide variety of sources out there that can expand knowledge about this wonderful hobby, art form or profession . . . whatever it is to each of us.
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