Opticallimits is an excellent review site, making careful assessments based on measurement rather than histrionics. It seems it's a struggle to keep going financially, and so they now have a deal with Patreon whereby you pay a $ a month to become a patron to get earlier access to their reviews. Here is what they write (the problem is that they do only a review a fortnight on average, and it's ones that appeal to a more sophisticated audience):
"Operating a review website costs money. In the glorious days, advertising covered all needed, but the ad revenue has decreased by 80% since 2013. Today, opticallimts.com is more driven by passion rather than earning money. Yet this doesn't change the fact that there are costs for running the webservers, cameras, rental gear and required testing equipment. As we all know, some popular review websites went already under the bus - dpreview, imagine resources ... - so if you like to keep us alive and kicking, please consider joining our Patreon page. Since this can only be a side job, and the testing simply takes quite a while, we can't guarantee to entertain you every week. It is our goal to process about 20-30 lenses per year. We'll provide early access to review charts, and sample images."
I wish them success and might join to keep them going.
"Operating a review website costs money. In the glorious days, advertising covered all needed, but the ad revenue has decreased by 80% since 2013. Today, opticallimts.com is more driven by passion rather than earning money. Yet this doesn't change the fact that there are costs for running the webservers, cameras, rental gear and required testing equipment. As we all know, some popular review websites went already under the bus - dpreview, imagine resources ... - so if you like to keep us alive and kicking, please consider joining our Patreon page. Since this can only be a side job, and the testing simply takes quite a while, we can't guarantee to entertain you every week. It is our goal to process about 20-30 lenses per year. We'll provide early access to review charts, and sample images."
I wish them success and might join to keep them going.
