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Do you still read Kirk Tuck and Ming Thein?

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TheEye said:
Black tape? How gauche! You really need to airbrush the brand name! The tape could fall off. :-P
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In film days I once had a Nikon F70 (N70) and I taped the name because the big bold "NIKON" in white annoyed me on that black body. That makes the camera "disappear" a bit as then there's nothing on the front to read.

Later sold it to a pro who used it as a backup camera, it took a year before she realised that the tape was still on it, and then decided she liked it that way so kept it on.

Having nothing on the front to read does help, just like the 12-40/2.8 has no writing around the lens front, so that helps make it "disappear" as well.

Regards..... Guy
 
Guy Parsons said:
TheEye said:
Black tape? How gauche! You really need to airbrush the brand name! The tape could fall off. :-P
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In film days I once had a Nikon F70 (N70) and I taped the name because the big bold "NIKON" in white annoyed me on that black body. That makes the camera "disappear" a bit as then there's nothing on the front to read.

Later sold it to a pro who used it as a backup camera, it took a year before she realised that the tape was still on it, and then decided she liked it that way so kept it on.

Having nothing on the front to read does help, just like the 12-40/2.8 has no writing around the lens front, so that helps make it "disappear" as well.

Regards..... Guy
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I guess you thought I was kidding.
 
TheEye said:
ABCMO said:
I stopped reading Ming Thein after the hissy fit he threw about Olympus in his review of the OM-D E-M5II. Putting a piece of black tape over the Olympus name on the front of the camera? Give me a break.
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Black tape? How gauche! You really need to airbrush the brand name! The tape could fall off. :-P
TheEye said:
But I really like Robin Wong. Yes, he is now an Olympus employee, but he is also upfront about that, so we are fully informed that way. He is quite a photographer and writer, and I find his reviews very useful.

Al
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Kirk Tuck yes I do read him, he has good insight into cameras and being an average working pro. He is a camera fan like any camera fan, agnostic about brands, yet able to be a fan about a brand then fall out of fanship. He often writes stuff that doesn't relate to me, and his street images can be uninspiring, but I like him.

Ming Thein yes I subscribe to his blog and occasionally read his articles if a skim looks promising. His photography is hit and miss and he vastly overrates himself, and runs these super-high-concept photography courses that are as someone else mentioned a bit snobby, but more importantly promotes and sells his own complex system-approach to photography that I have not examined in depth but the results he posts can be (not always) very sterile and unengaging in pursuit of some concept of perfection. Also he insists on the importance of titles given to photos but he is very very bad at it and can ruin many a photo with his titling.

Robin Wong I don't read regularly because I cannot trust a single thing he writes about any piece of gear. But I do like his photos and personality, so I keep in touch.

Mike Johnson yes, I must agree with earlier comment that he draws me like a magnet. Has a vast overview of photography, probably because of his background, and IMHO actually underrates himself even though he is unafraid to give opinions as you must if you offer a portfolio feedback service.

Thought I would throw in a word for J T White. A super-organic style that actually seems to be looking at me more than I am looking at it. Actively anti-camera even when he is reviewing them, "I have stopped paying attention to the newer cameras. Somewhere along the line I’ve sort of realized any camera is probably “good enough” whether it be new or old."

A final word for Eric Kim's blog on street photography and philosophy that really speaks to me.
 
situman1 said:
TheEye said:
ABCMO said:
I stopped reading Ming Thein after the hissy fit he threw about Olympus in his review of the OM-D E-M5II. Putting a piece of black tape over the Olympus name on the front of the camera? Give me a break.
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Black tape? How gauche! You really need to airbrush the brand name! The tape could fall off. :-P
situman1 said:
But I really like Robin Wong. Yes, he is now an Olympus employee, but he is also upfront about that, so we are fully informed that way. He is quite a photographer and writer, and I find his reviews very useful.

Al
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DaveLemi said:
Glen Barrington said:
DaveLemi said:
dv312 said:
I follow Robin for some of his insights on Olympus gear, especially on new gear annoucements

Kirk, not so much, I found his work mediocre and boring

Ming Thein is a DSLR FF guy so don't read him much either

I do like to read Thom Hogan's, He's a Nikon guy but has lots of good insights into the camera industry

Used to read Luminous Landscapes but now that they require subscription, I skipped them

I no longer have a favorite photo site, except this forum ;-)

Cheers,
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LuLu is only $12/mo, but it's not very content rich. You'd think there would be more post subscription only.
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Garry Schaefer said:
Just Robin Wong for me. Shutter therapy all the way!
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Robin always posts some very eye catching, compelling images that are well processed and presented. I can see the appeal.

But I'm waiting for the time that for whatever reason, he 'defects' to another camera system. It will be ..... er .... fascinating, to observe how the opinion of some people around here will change then ;-)
 
Big Ga said:
Garry Schaefer said:
Just Robin Wong for me. Shutter therapy all the way!
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Robin always posts some very eye catching, compelling images that are well processed and presented. I can see the appeal.

But I'm waiting for the time that for whatever reason, he 'defects' to another camera system. It will be ..... er .... fascinating, to observe how the opinion of some people around here will change then ;-)
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He's publicly bought and owned a Fuji X100, a Sony Alpha camera and a Panasonic camera just within the last year.
 
ABCMO said:
I stopped reading Ming Thein after the hissy fit he threw about Olympus in his review of the OM-D E-M5II. Putting a piece of black tape over the Olympus name on the front of the camera? Give me a break.
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? I found the tape came off (I spent 30 years with a silver Leica M3 covered with electrical black tape) so I now fill in the Olympus name with a dark blue marker pen. Why draw attention to yourself?
ABCMO said:
But I really like Robin Wong. Yes, he is now an Olympus employee, but he is also upfront about that, so we are fully informed that way. He is quite a photographer and writer, and I find his reviews very useful.
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Agreed!

Mike
 
It is like good reviewer are not necessarily good photographers (like on dpreview) and good photographers are not per se good reviewers.

Ming has done reviews which moreless stopped in their tracks since he did not like a cam in the first place so didn't do much with it. He new this was very subjective but still found it was a good reason to give the cam half the attention it usually gets, introducing a clear bias. He doesn't liek video, so he disregarded that too.

So I never found him good at all. I like his photography much better, a nice and very personal style that is very clean like you say.
 
Guy Parsons said:
samtheman2014 said:
Robin Wong posts some great images though as an Olympus employee I take a lot of the things he says with a pinch of salt.
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I am OK with Robin Wong, he declares up front who he works for but then is not afraid to apply strong criticism where it is needed. I like his writing style and his photographic results.

The others are much more a "look at me" exercise.

Regards...... Guy
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Hi Guy , as I say I am always a tad suspicious about people with a clear vested interest doing "reviews ". However on the upside he does show a lot of excellent photos . I cant say I have seen any "strong criticism" in the articles I have read ,though I have seen some rather effusive praise of Olympus gear that I would certainly take with a pinch of salt. :-) Until this post I had never heard of Ming Thein
 
DaveLemi said:
Their attraction to m43 gear first drew me to their sites and I thoroughly enjoyed their content, but since they've moved on I no longer find those 2 blogs "must read" anymore. Ming is extremely clinical and obsessed with perfection. As much as I enjoyed his gear reviews in the past, his photography is borderline sterile.

With the exception of Robin Wong, who is artistic and extremely talented, I'm not reading many blogs these days.

Am I alone?
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samtheman2014 said:
Hi Guy , as I say I am always a tad suspicious about people with a clear vested interest doing "reviews ". However on the upside he does show a lot of excellent photos . I cant say I have seen any "strong criticism" in the articles I have read ,though I have seen some rather effusive praise of Olympus gear that I would certainly take with a pinch of salt. :-)
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As one example the recent criticism (not really strong) is in his Pen_F review where he really doesn't like the over-abundance or positioning of dials on the camera. A tame reviewer would be silent about that as Olympus has made a big deal about all those dials and knobbly bits.

He has always been an enthusiastic photographer and definitely seems to put praise and blame in the right places at the right time.

But hey, he's just another voice in the Internet, just like I am. It's all basically noise and nothing really matters until we try the cameras for ourselves.

Regards...... Guy
 
Tom Caldwell said:
DaveLemi said:
Their attraction to m43 gear first drew me to their sites and I thoroughly enjoyed their content, but since they've moved on I no longer find those 2 blogs "must read" anymore. Ming is extremely clinical and obsessed with perfection. As much as I enjoyed his gear reviews in the past, his photography is borderline sterile.

With the exception of Robin Wong, who is artistic and extremely talented, I'm not reading many blogs these days.

Am I alone?
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reggieandtfe said:
Big Ga said:
Garry Schaefer said:
Just Robin Wong for me. Shutter therapy all the way!
Click to expand...
Robin always posts some very eye catching, compelling images that are well processed and presented. I can see the appeal.

But I'm waiting for the time that for whatever reason, he 'defects' to another camera system. It will be ..... er .... fascinating, to observe how the opinion of some people around here will change then ;-)
Click to expand...
He's publicly bought and owned a Fuji X100, a Sony Alpha camera and a Panasonic camera just within the last year.
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Excellent. I like his writing style and I'm very interested in the new Sony's. Don't suppose you have a link? I did a quick google and couldn't seem to find anything recent or anything at all about him buying one.
 
I'm not a big reader of both and haven't been to either of Tuck's or Thein's sites in ages. So I reviewed their sites to remind me of what they have to offer. And frankly, I don't see much to dislike in either of them.

They both seem to be pretty good professional photographers, who understand that one simply CAN'T earn a living just selling photos. A career in photography will require branching out and trying to earn revenue from other photography related activities.

I don't think they are correct about everything they say in their blogs, but I don't see anything SO wrong that they need to be condemned to the depths of hell over either.
 
Glen Barrington said:
I'm not a big reader of both and haven't been to either of Tuck's or Thein's sites in ages. So I reviewed their sites to remind me of what they have to offer. And frankly, I don't see much to dislike in either of them.

They both seem to be pretty good professional photographers, who understand that one simply CAN'T earn a living just selling photos. A career in photography will require branching out and trying to earn revenue from other photography related activities.

I don't think they are correct about everything they say in their blogs, but I don't see anything SO wrong that they need to be condemned to the depths of hell over either.
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