Some of the cameras I have owned

Mr Mars' Camera Reviews

I present my analysis of some of the cameras that I have owned. I have no intention of covering every camera I have ever got my hands on, only certain select models. These are generally those that I particularly liked, but there are also some that I have included for other reasons.

These are not intended to be comprehensive reviews of every aspect of the camera, but just my thoughts on the issues that I felt were the most important. For a comprehensive review check out the commercial camera review sites, just remember that they are not impartial and can't entirely be trusted.

Commercial Reviews

Commercial review sites are kept in business by advertising revenue from camera stores. It is in their interest that all reviews be favourable to at least some extent so that people will buy the camera. This means that "recommended" is a dismal failure and "highly recommended" a success. Totally unsatisfactory if you want some genuine advice. More insidious is the pressure brought to bear on these sites by the giant camera manufacturers who cannot tolerate any serious attack on their product. Most of the review sites don't have the balls or the cash to face the giants in court, so in fear of litigation they will downplay or ignore any really serious flaws in a major model. I also think it likely that they are paid by the big manufacturers, under whatever pretext, not to rock the boat.

This does not mean that you shouldn't read these reviews, their purely objective statements about the specs and features are likely to be spot on and their sample images are real. Just keep in mind with respect to sample images that you are only seeing the best. You will never see the OoF shots, nor will you know how many there were. When they say that focus was fast and accurate, just ignore that statement, they won't actually tell if a camera won't focus, it would be too inflammatory.

Be careful of review forums also. Remember that these are NOT independent, no matter what they say, and they constantly censor the posts according to their own agenda. You are never reading ALL the posts, only the ones they want you to see. Paid agents of the manufacturers lurk in these forums, attacking any negative comment and boosting their employer's prestige. If there is a real issue with a model which engenders a run of threads harmful to the company, the agents and the forum administrators will systematically attempt to discredit the negative posters and if that doesn't work they will simply ban them and delete their threads. It is not financially in their interests to have a camera look bad.