To find out about new cameras etc I usually just soak up multiple reviews as they flood in plus the early adopters' comments.
Guy
It is interesting to read how we get informed - enough to make a thread all of its own.
I think for many making a camera purchase they are either bordering on financial capacity or scared spitless about making a mistake. They seek a huge amount of re-assurance before fronting up their readies to buy anything. In other words they rely on other suckers to be the pathfinders before they take their own risks.
Myself I tend to work out what I need and look at the price. If the price is outside my price parameters I forget about it - no point in dreaming of a Leica when I have a Ricoh (or M4/3) budget. Then I read specifications, rely on my personal opinion of needs, brand capability, and reliability. If I am still on board I simply buy it. Rarely do I first read the reviews - I only do this if I feel that it is a long term prospect and that I have life in my current gear for a while yet.
For example the GX80 is a camera that I could really enjoy, but the trouble is that I enjoy my GX7 so much that I could not see myself needing to step up until I have at least worn a nice patina on the grip.
So I will read the dpreview of the GX80 when it arrives but I note that I might not have bought the wonderful GRD so many years ago if I had read the review first. Ten or more years down the track I can still pull the Ricoh GRD out and enjoy what it does best whilst its erstwhile rivals are long since junked and forgotten.
The big point is that the GRD review was very fair and the criticisms quite correct. But we buy all cameras despite their failings and enjoy them for what they do well.
A case in point is that my E-M1 has had QC failures unimaginable on other brands that I have owned: Ricoh, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Canon ... but I still truly like it as a camera despite its build tenderness. I intend to have and use the E-M1 for quite a while, but of course if it fails again then I reserve my final judgement on the matter.
That way I seem to get a better picture than just following a few named characters.
Such as... the Pen-F.... many if not most of the early impressions seemed to say the flip-out screen was a mistake, so maybe Olympus should listen and eventually offer a different way of making it multi-angle, or provide A & B models with tilts and with flip-outs. It's points like that I notice as a screen only user, the flip-out sideways design makes it impossible to hold the camera in my usual fashion, so pass on that one.
Nothing like fully articulated screens to bring out the angst. Myself, I have gone from really liking the 1.5" flip lcd on the Canon Pro90 IS to actively hating the huge screens on the recent crop of cameras.
I cannot see that the convenience for video and odd-angle photography is worth the inconvenience of forever flipping and twisting the screen for "ordinary" use. For example if the screen is faced in "for protection" then it has to be flipped out for any use whatsoever. For a casual ramble with a few photographs at intervals this rapidly becomes a huge pain in the posterior. Leave it fixed screen outwards and it is no more than a fixed position lcd and if you decide to use it angled then it still has to be flipped and twisted.
Carry it about with lcd articulated out? How passe .... and watch out when passing.
I am quite happy with a fixed lcd but I see the tilt screen as an extra bonus. Just leave it as "fixed" until the tilt comes in handy. No sweat.
But I hardly wish to start articulation wars. However when it comes to our happy articulators trying to soft talk manufacturers into putting articulated screens into every camera they make ..... red light! I am most happy that some cameras have articulated screens as long as there are others that I like with fixed or tilt screens that I can still buy.
I am also not interested in one of those complex mechanisms that do tilt + articulation - leave them for those who see more point in leatherman multitools than simply buying a tool that is best for the job in hand. If you truly need articulation then get the best one for your purpose, no real need for tilt as well. I get by very well with an occasional tilt - portrait mode? - just shoot square format (smile).
A camera with an articulated lcd screen is not ever on my buy list.
Even more silly are dslr bodies with their wonderful mirror box ovf and an articulated lcd for video. Neither fish nor fowl - I am glad that I now live on another planet not called "Video".
Anyway that's hardware, as for technique then I just go Googling if I need to learn about macro lighting, or portrait lighting or whatever. That way a wide range of advice is offered and I soon can sort the good stuff from the puff stuff.
So following "names" is not for me.
Above I was sort of defending Robin Wong as I see him as an OK enthusiastic camera user, more that than just a person trying to drive traffic to his pages. But I rarely just seek to read his pages, maybe only go there if someone links an article I may be interested in.
Regards..... Guy
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Tom Caldwell
