From the bet-you-didnt-see-that-coming dept., your eyes don't deceive you, we've really started a blog. To be more accurate, two blogs, one for our editorial team and one for our developers. Over the last few years we've come under criticism for not being more open with our readership, there have been many reasons for this, not least of which a simple lack of resource.
The good news is that we now have a team, and a good one at that, six on the editorial team, two developers and often floating (bouncing?) between the two, my good self. So here's a channel for us for be more open with you, to try to keep you up to date with what's going on behind the scenes and as a place for us to answer common or topical questions in a more permanent / easily referable manner.
So dig in and enjoy, we've primed the blog(s) with some news and I'll be cracking the whip to ensure we have a steady flow of entries here.
Great idea Phil, it will be interesting to know what is going on 'behind the scenes' at DPR.
Cheers!
Posted by: Neil | 6 Nov 2008 16:37:07
Congratulations! I think the blogs will be quite popular.
I don't care for the small, dense, white on black text format. You have the wisdom to make the reading panels in the fora black on white or light gray (even this entry panel has that format). Since blogs are by nature text-intensive, I'd suggest improving the readability. If you must go with reversed text, please increase the type size for more comfortable reading.
Posted by: BJ Nicholls | 6 Nov 2008 16:52:23
Are there RSS feeds for the new blogs? They would be nice to have. I didn't see them here:
http://www.dpreview.com/feeds/
Posted by: vijaydpr | 6 Nov 2008 17:05:24
This is a great idea and will go a long way towards increasing the trust readers have in your reviews. Too often many readers here think there might be a flaw in the review and there's little way to address any problem noted except in the forums and there it often seems like no one on the staff is listening.
Posted by: Habby | 6 Nov 2008 17:07:01
Terrific move, Phil. It will build a much closer relationship between your readership and you and your staff. Now all you'll need is a 36 hour day. Best of luck.
Posted by: R Webster | 6 Nov 2008 17:23:04
Good addition!
vijaudrp; There are feeds of the blogs: http://blog.dpreview.com/editorial/atom.xml for instance..
Posted by: Elja Trum | 6 Nov 2008 17:37:53
Excellent idea, I've always been interested in hearing Phil's and other staff members thoughts as they spend more time evaluating products at a very professional level in this field than most other people who can be found on the web.
I'd also be interested in hearing about stuff not typically covered such as any thoughts on digital photo related items such as color management, computer software and hardware, workflow etc etc.
Posted by: Michael Brochstein | 6 Nov 2008 17:58:47
Hi
Congratulations for your new blog, it 'is a great idea.
best regard
leonard
http://www.photographemariage.fr
Posted by: photographe mariage | 6 Nov 2008 18:04:39
Congratulations! I read forums daily and read all reports and news for interest.
Your blog is a neat move as I have kept my own daily photo blog for a number of years. Rather than have comments on my blog with all the spam management, replies to a small audience etc, I prefer to carry on dialogue at sites such as DPReview.
Viewers from over 80 countries have visited my blog, in large part due to my participation in the forums at DOReview. You have a truly world class operation!
All the best in the venture!
John from Toronto
John Izatt
http://jbipix.blogspot.com
P.S. Can I suggest a much wider text entry box for the blog.
Posted by: John Izatt | 6 Nov 2008 18:11:57
As a long time dpreview fan, I couldn't be happier to see you guys blogging! Congrats on the launch!
Posted by: Michael Sippey | 6 Nov 2008 18:17:23
Good Idea, thanks for the effort.
As a retired laboratory manager for a large aerospace company, I am very aware of the technical difficulty in conducting tests of competing items in a comparable manner.
Even more difficult is the writing of the report, since many readers have different backgrounds and interests, they intrepret the writings differently. This always results in complaints by someone who does not understand what the report is trying to say. My take is that most of the reports from DPR are quite understandable, and reasonably consistent. Of course, they are not perfect, we are human, and do not have perfect tools.
Posted by: Scales USA | 6 Nov 2008 18:18:27
Phil,
The blog is a great idea and I'm really glad that you're spending the extra time and effort on it. I appreciate the increased openness.
I hope you'll also be open to suggestions for improving the camera reviews, such as using a raw converter that doesn't apply different settings to each camera model like ACR does. IRIS and dcraw are two that provide truly level conversions.
--
Daniel
Posted by: Daniel Browning | 6 Nov 2008 18:20:12
Great idea!
Thanks!
Posted by: joesiv | 6 Nov 2008 18:21:24
Please accept my thanks for creating the new blogs. The more information that reaches your readership, the better. DPReview is much appreciated and just became an even more valuable resource.
Posted by: Carter Hayward | 6 Nov 2008 18:48:12
This is good. It would be even better if my account hadn't been inexplicably deleted, and I could actually log in to the site.
Posted by: Jeff Varszegi | 6 Nov 2008 18:55:55
Congrats to DPR! I shall definitely visit the blogs every day :-) Would be interesting to see some behind-the-scenes photos of DPR staff at work, if its not confidential.
Posted by: Mayank Bhatnagar | 6 Nov 2008 19:02:48
White text on black background? How 1980!
Posted by: jr | 6 Nov 2008 19:24:01
Hi Phil and all other DPR staff. Great idea. Hope you have your anti-flame wardrobe ready ;), that'll be useful now and then.
Good luck, best, Renato.
Posted by: rhlpetrus | 6 Nov 2008 19:26:08
RSS feeds, please.
;-)
Adam
Posted by: Adam | 6 Nov 2008 19:29:41
I echo the comments about the reversed text and the need for it to be larger.... well done though it will certainly compliment DPR even more.
Jon.
Posted by: jon-willy | 6 Nov 2008 20:18:38
These blogs are very welcome, Phil!
As there is no features request/suggestion area, I'll make it here: Why not have DNG support listed as a "plus" factor for a review? Or even having it contribute to the rating of a camera.
Another blog post highlights the beta status of Camera Raw for some of your reviews, but your users won't be able to develop their images until the final release... While if the camera outputted to DNG, users would have day 1 support in 200+ software packages, including most Raw converters (soon, in Bibble, if I understood)
Posted by: PECourtejoie | 6 Nov 2008 20:34:42
Looks like it's been said a fair bit already, but I had to stop reading after a couple of paragraphs. White on black/dark grey for a pure text blog is a no no. My eyes are already swimming after a few minutes of this.
Posted by: Stephen McGrath | 6 Nov 2008 21:36:18
I hope someone from dpreview will ever read this comments.
I've tried several times to send you some info about errors in your reviews using the Feedback form but ... no one answers :-(
Posted by: danyadd | 6 Nov 2008 22:53:51
Congrats. I hope You will have enough time to write some news.
Posted by: Millionfacesproject.com | 6 Nov 2008 23:23:59
Firstly, congrats on a bold move to get "closer" to your readership ... not sure if that's going to end up being a good thing, but I'm looking forward to it.
Secondly, I love white on black - it looks just like my desktop at work and home, a - for anyone having difficulty with the font size and contrast / brightness, there are *computer* controls for that ! ( try the Ctrl key with the + key )
Posted by: Joe U | 6 Nov 2008 23:37:25
Hi Phil --
Congrats on starting the blog (and welcome to TypePad)!
A number of us here are photo-geeks and big DPreview fans, so we were really excited to see that you've started blogging.
Let us know if there's ever anything we can do to help make sure you're getting the most out of the service.
-- Sarah
Posted by: Sarah Sosiak, TypePad Product Manager | 6 Nov 2008 23:53:57
I feel I must respond to Danyadd above.
I have corrected various errors usually typos etc, in the past, using the feedback form. I have always noticed that corrections to the original copy is made quite quickly following my message. I do not receive or want a response.
Posted by: Basiltoo | 6 Nov 2008 23:55:13
Appreciate the site. Suggest that since the glass is so much more important than the camera for getting quality results you focus much more attention to building your lens reviews.
Posted by: R E Witten | 7 Nov 2008 00:13:30
Welcome to the blogosphere!
Posted by: Andre Oliveira | 7 Nov 2008 01:09:57
what am I missing?
How can I place a comment in Lars post about ACR? I see no comments posted and no place to type anything
Posted by: Andre Oliveira | 7 Nov 2008 01:18:16
These blogs are an excellent idea, Phil, and for those who want black on white take a look at this page:
https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html
It was suggested by someone else on one of the other blogs and works well. Drag Zap Colors to your bookmarks toolbar. I'm using Firefox and it works very well. Legibility restored.
Posted by: Jeremy | 7 Nov 2008 01:23:46
Congrats on the blog - greater transparency is the way things should be!
I heartily concur about the white text/black background. Several photographer friends who could use the info here won't touch the site because of it and I can't read more than a few minutes before everything is literally blurry.
Thanks for all your work.
Posted by: Eric in SF | 7 Nov 2008 02:07:25
Are we allowed to post our own subject, as in start a new thread within this blog?
Posted by: Gary Eickmeier | 7 Nov 2008 02:59:21
How does this thing work? Don't see how to reply to an individual comment or post.
Posted by: Gary Eickmeier | 7 Nov 2008 03:19:27
Congratulations for the blog!
It's going to be great to have a little more information of what's going on there.
Alan.
PS: Can I suggest a review of the Pentax W60? I mean... I consider it a camera much more attractive to buy than many mentioned... Thanks.
Posted by: Alan Schamber | 7 Nov 2008 04:14:00
Phil, this is a great move.
DPReview remains my most-visited photography site, something which I've been "religiously" doing since 2002!
Thank you and your team for all the great work.
Posted by: David Chin | 7 Nov 2008 04:39:43
Been a DP Reviewer since the early days - I was on the Sony Forum. Now I'm in Canon. Just had to say that this is a wonderful addition to the overall offering.
I hope you have time to keep it up.
My one request is a schedule of future reviews - I don't need dates, just a list of what's next
Many thanks
Rob
Posted by: Robert Holloway | 7 Nov 2008 06:28:47
Perhaps Phil could explain how a decision is made to ban a registered user for life. I feel wrongly banned.
Posted by: James Mason | 7 Nov 2008 06:32:40