Magazines for reviews?

Question

A friend called me down for citing Popular Photography as a source for reviews on cameras and lenses. I don't know who else does the extensive testing that they do. In the most recent issue, they addressed some issues with comparision tests, stating that they request equipment and if the manufacturer can not provide it in time for pres deadlines, it can't be in the comparison, but that makes sense.

What's your opinion of their tests for cameras and lenses?

Do you have any suggestions for other publications for high quality reviews?

The exact quote is: "Dr. Sam, you need to stop using pop-photo as a reference, their credibility is mud! Like you said before, they took the Sony Alpha from Camera of the year to last place in one issue."

There is an explanation of why certain cameras were considered and others were not. Also, they were apparently called on the Camera of the Year choice, but said that the Sony was still a great combination of features for the price and still deserved the recognition.

Here's the actual quote defending the Sony as the right choice for Camera of the Year. This was in response to a reader's letter to the editor saying that Pop Photo's testing was "very inconsistent and the reviewers even worse."

From Pop Photo letters page, April 2007:

"Of the cameras in the February 2007 shootout, only the Sony and Nikon D80 had been tested by the time we picked the 2006 Camera of the Year. The Canon EOD Rebel XTi was tested in January 2007 and the Pentax K10D and Samsung GX-10 test results were first published in the February shootout.
"Despite the Nikon's excellence, we stand by the Sony as the 2006 Camera of the Year for its great price, built-in image stabilization, and solid performance. It certainly met our criteria for "the camera that best refined and redefined photography" that year.
"Could we name a Camera of the Year without first testing it? That would be ... inconsistent or even worse."

Okay, I understand now.

Answer 1

Pray tell, what's all this about?
I just looked at a few reviews on their website and they seem to be unbiased and thorough. With lens reviews they even do their own take on MTF charts. You don't see that a lot.

I'm afraid I can't recommend any (other) magazines... just the regular list of websites: for camera reviews
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default.asp?view=alpha and
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html
For Nikon lenses
http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html
and for other lens brands, flash guns, etc. I usually search
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/
and the user forums in
http://www.dpreview.com
for informed opinions and links.
---

added:

Popular Photography gave the A100 a great review in July 2006. That was before the Canon XTi, Nikon D80, and Pentax K10D were announced. As it turned out, they though all of those cameras were slightly better.
In December 2006, for their camera of the year award, they gave the Sony the nod based largely on value for money (they still hadn't tested the Pentax):
http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/3440/the-camera-of-the-year-2006.html
Then in February 2007, they did their 10MP shootout and focussed largely on technical merrits. In that comparison the Sony sank back to last place:
http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/3569/10mp-dslr-shootout.html
Both of those rankings are fine by me, as are all of the in-depth reviews for the individual cameras.
The problem is that an editor should have added a paragraph to the 'camera of the year' article as well as to the '10MP shootout' article to explain their qualifications in more detail - you can't just call the Sony top choice in one article and last choice in another and leave it to the reader to reconcile those statements. Stuff like that DOES damage Pop Photos credibility.

Answer 2

Thanks to the extra efforts provided by a kind gentleman on the opposite side of the world, I was able to read that review for myself, even though I could not find that magazine for sale here in Australia.

I guess I was expecting more of a "dpreview" style comparison drilling down to the finer points of metering types etc. Then again this article was designed to give more of a hands on assessment rather than reviewing spec sheets which are available everywhere.

What did impress me about that article was that they even made mention of the ergonomics, menu layouts etc. The sort of information that you want about a camera before you commit, which can be hard to find. When reviewing such things there is always a risk that you are dealing with the reviewer's personal preferences, but this is still information I want to hear prior to a purchase.

I detected no particular bias in the article I read. I did not get the impression they were adjusting their methods or output in favour of one particular brand.

As for your practices Dr Sam. I see you help may people. I see you cite a range of resources to back up what you say. I know you have a brand preference, but to this day I have never seen you rubbish another brand.

I believe you are doing your best in an unbiased manner to provide helpful information to those who seek it. Your phenomenal best answer score would indicate that the general population agree with my sentiments.

Please keep doing precisely what you are doing, in precisely the way that you are doing it. There are often multiple answers to a question and ultimately it is up to the asker to assess which advice they wish to take on board.

Thank you for your help and support to me. I can assertively say that information you have provided to me has started me on a journey which has already led to better pictures.

Answer 3

I've been reading Popular Photography for years, and I think their tests are generally unbiased.