dpreview hasn’t rated a camera below average since 2002!

I'm afraid you are right.
Jules

Bill Randall said:

OK. Therefore a rating of average means of all the cameras tested it is the worst.
I understand know, thank you.
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WSSA Member #281 on 04-23-09

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Wouldn't it be great is the ESC key on PCs did something?

I would like to know DPR's testing methodology. If the cameras are measured against objective standards, I have no problem with the ratings and the skew towards above average and higher (although "just" and "barely" are a bit disconcerting).

For the reader, a true evaluation should be based on the full review, not just the final rating. Specific negatives (or positives) that may be deal breakers (or deal makers) for some may be of no consequence to others.

BIJ001 said:

BIJ001 said:

Mathematically, up to half would be "below average", and an equal number
would be "above average", with whatever amount in between being "average"

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Actually that is not the average, but the median.

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well, it's both mean and median for normally distributed data.

BIJ001 said:

http://www.conceptstew.co.uk/PAGES/mean_or_median.html

If we have these numbers called henceforth the Wobegon series:

1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 , 2 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

then the avergae is slightly below 2 and almost every one is above average.

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yes - which is the proof that most of us have an above-average number of legs!

on those "not so great" cameras.

Regards,

Joe Kurkjian

Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia

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SEARCHING FOR A BETTER SELF PORTRAIT

jack1000 said:

well, it's both mean and median for normally distributed data.

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Or for any symmetrically distributed data.

Are cameras (that is, their quality predicates) normally distributed? Why? Why not?

--
Iván József Balázs
(Hungary)

lone_dingo said:

Just don't expect them to say a 50D is an average camera
even though it is the average of all Canon's camera...
Right in the middle between the cheapest and the dearest.

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However not every camera is a Canon one. The cameras are compared to the others in their ballpark and not to the other cameras of the same producer.

On the other hand, there are not many producers of DSLRs. There are many many P&S cameras, so the argument about a great mass of below averge ones not making it to the test workbench does better hold for them than for the DSLRs.

These ratings predicates are a convention, and you made good points about the choice of the very words.

--
Iván József Balázs
(Hungary)

Well, thats the drawback of being an industry mouthpiece.

You dont bite the hand that hands the money. And amazon wants to sell all brands of cameras...

If you look through the reviews, especially the lenses, its sometimes really funny.

("Totally blury wide open.... lots of distortion...bad boket... recommended!").

Just use your internal censor and think of everything 2 stops lower. If its not "highly recommended", its average at best

Alpha Jack said:

Maybe they are selective about what they choose to review.

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dpreview reviews every single DSLR

--
Big Mike
http://www.bigmikephotoblog.com

BigMike1 said:

Alpha Jack said:

Maybe they are selective about what they choose to review.

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dpreview reviews every single DSLR

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What's the ratio of new DSLRs to new P&S cameras introduced in a year?

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http://www.pbase.com/soenda

BigMike1 said:

Alpha Jack said:

Maybe they are selective about what they choose to review.

Click to expand...

dpreview reviews every single DSLR

--
Big Mike
http://www.bigmikephotoblog.com

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Penatx K7?

--
When a man speaks at sea where no woman can hear,
is he still wrong?

It certainly would have to be a doozie to balance out all those above average models.
Any candidates?
--
Marabou Muddler
http://MMuddler.smugmug.com/Sports

1. Every time I read the posts in this thread, first thing that comes to my mind is that I have not seen any sub par wines, electronic devices, beer, gourmet cheeses, coffee ratings since years now, and the reason, is because their are none, or they are so few these days. And, similarly, quality of most technology, such as modern cameras is so good, one will have to search far and wide to try and find a sub par one, and likely will still not be successful in such an attempt. For example, all modern stereo equipment exceeds the quality of what the human ear can hear, and likewise the performance of just about all cameras already out performs our eyes and capability to exploit all of their features. Yes, all these vary somewhat depending on costs of similar items in their categories, but that is usually the separating factor now.

2. I tend to prefer Sony wide screen televisions and stereo equipment for my home, and Nikon and Leica digital cameras and photography lenses for my personal use ---- but, at the same time, any modern camera, be it point and shoot or whatever will take pictures, and I could actually use any of them --- and, without dpreview's or any other persons "reviews"; and, regarding this, I'll again remind us that: Folks, the camera we use is not all that matters (heck, my iPhone 3G-S Camera/Video, is great because, it's always with me, whereas other photography gear is not).

3. As, "Your Camera Doesn't Matter", lets get on with more important issues, than dpreview or some other reviewer this and dpreview or some other reviewer that:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

--
BRJR ....(LOL, some of us are quite satisfied as Hobbyists ..)

mpgxsvcd said:

I just find it strange that dpreview hasn’t rated a camera below average since 2002! Only a couple percent of the cameras have ever been rated “average”. So how is that "average" if the vast majority of cameras are actually rated higher than that.

I think it is about time they changed the names on the rating categories. Maybe something like (“poor”, “acceptable”, “good”, ”exceptional”, and “class leading” would be appropriate. I doubt they would ever rate any camera poor though.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default.asp?view=rating

--
ZS3 Sample movies
http://www.youtube.com/user/mpgxsvcd#play/uploads

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I'll go out on a limb here and say that most of the digital cameras manufactured and sold are really marvelous. From the Disneyesque child's camera for $14.95 to the Leica S2 for $35,000 they all take wonderful pictures. Cameras is one field where innovation and range is always being explored. We are so fortunate to have so many choices.

Now if there is an SLR out there that has a lens that falls off when you go to focus and the viewfinder glows hot white when a shot is taken, then I would rate that poor. But in truth all the cameras the DPReviewers get to hold in their lucky hands are pretty darn good, which is above average.

I saw that link. Sigh, it's always the weak link that breaks the chain.

Regards,

Joe Kurkjian

Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia



SEARCHING FOR A BETTER SELF PORTRAIT

many times before. They do not review low end sub-par cameras, so some will at least get a recommend rating and if it gets a JUST then it's probably not that good compared to the competition. A camera that got a Highly Recommend five years ago were evaluated with cameras five years ago, cameras rated today are evaluated with the current competition.
--
Tom

--
An excellent lens lasts a lifetime, an excellent DSLR, not so long.

students with at least a B+ average.

If OTOH the intent of a university is to educate future politicians ... well, they would gladly take any piece of garbage that came in off the street.

So, the outcome depends on intent and how well you do the job. IMO DPR is doing the right thing by weeding out junk and saving time to perform more comprehensive reviews of the better cameras.

Regards,

Joe Kurkjian

Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia

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SEARCHING FOR A BETTER SELF PORTRAIT

Dang it, so Why did I goes to all that bother ta 'git' uh A-?.

No'se Tex'

What you want doesn't serve the manufacturer, reviewer, or user.
We simply don't want that stuff on the maket.
Who wants to shop for bad cameras?

Don't waste resources making inferior product that won't sell and you can't stay in business making.
--

Torch