BillB said:
I think it goes back to DPReview falling in love with the Exmor sensor and Sony's mirrorless technology, and then starting to use Dynamic Range to describe shadow lifting at base ISO. DR became a magic number and Sony's DR was higher than Canon's, and that was pretty much all that mattered. Things have pretty much gone downhill from there, or at least that is my take on it.
I can see that, but also add that many reviewers seem more oriented to technical details, and minutia that, for most users, get used a very small fraction of the time and put little emphasis on items that may be a bit boring but get used by most users all of the time. So, DR, high FPS, # AF points (past a certain point), flip screens, 120/240/xxx FPS in video, etc get dwelled upon, while ergonomics, durability, dependability, customer support, menu systems, AF consistency, etc hardly get mentioned. This isn't just DPReview.
Also common with reviewers is that they focus on items that are quantifiable like DR (thanks to DXO and others) for sensor, or sharpness for lenses. It is the "holy cow I can put a number to it and tell you XX has a higher number than YY" syndrome. But, of course, those tend to be in vacuums and ignore other facets of the camera/lens.
Also with DPReview, I find that they write from a perspective that is very centric to them, to someone that picks up and plays with multiple cameras for a couple of days to weeks and then puts them down and moves on. I really think they would benefit from considering the perspectives of different audiences. Those of us that are highly invested in current systems but might upgrade, those that are considering buying into a new system, or those that could care less about a "system" and just want a camera and if it is an ILC, might never buy more than the kit lens.
In short, for the longest time, I just found DPReview's comments to not be relevant to any decision that I would be making. In fairness, the last couple of reviews I've read are a bit better and they have added some tools or are using tools a bit more that are useful. So, IMO, there is hope.
But this is why I've always liked The-Digital-Picture and Dustin Abbott also does a nice job of talking about things that are relevant to decisions that I am making. Just to name two that like.
