This week’s PetaPixel Podcast episode is brought to you by OM SYSTEM. With summer in full swing, wildlife photography season is officially here. Check out how the talented Ben Knoot uses the OM-1’s Pro Capture Mode and read his ten tips for bird photography today: https://petapixel.com/2022/07/07/10-tips-for-capturing-incredible-photos-of-birds/
We use Riverside to record all our episodes in our online recording studio: https://creators.riverside.fm/Petapixel
This week, Chris and Jordan are joined by DPReview editor Richard Butler to talk about what really happened with Amazon, DPReview, and Gear Patrol. Also, Nikon is already recalling the Z8? Phase One has a new $62,490 “travel camera” and speaking of medium format, how about a new stereoscopic camera?
0:00 – Intro
3:39 – What REALLY happened with DPReview and Amazon
26:26 – What have you been up to?
36:00 – Explain the cameras in the DPReview group photo
38:26 – Phase One’s new $62,490 travel camera
44:29 – Baseball takes out a photographer’s lens at a game
48:04 – Nikon Z8 recall
50:12 – A stereoscopic medium format camera?
55:41 – The Pixel Fold review
58:35 – Never read the comments
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What's the movie podcast Jordan recommended? Flight Check?
OMG. One thing i was devo'd about losing was the Camera Timeline. That things is pure gold. I hope it is now saved!
I am, however, very pissed i deleted the link in my bookmarks toolbar and didn't notice how many clicks it had got! Will miss a couple of the most recent years clicks to restore it from a backup.. i guess thats the lesser of the two evil and i'll take keeping DPR for that data loss. 😛
I know what REALLY happened… Bezos is a secret PENTAX fan, and he was so enraged that you never properly finished the K3-III review that he just decided to shut the whole thing down. (full disclosure, I switched from Pentax and bought an A7RV, in no small part thanks to a certain fly fisherman) Joking aside, glad everyone landed on their feet. I mean, this was BIG… and I think the butterfly effect of DPR going away would have had far reaching implications that I'm glad we won't have to see now that GP saved them from the "dustbin". Even with that great news, I get the feeling that enough forum subscribers did jump ship and found new homes elsewhere that they may take some time to come back to DPR, if at all. I know I'm spending more time at FM these days before I invest myself further in DPR forums. Now, about finishing that review…
Considering the technology didn't exist to fake the moon landing in 1969, it would've been far cheaper to just go to the moon in the 1960s.
It was a conspiracy in plain sight!
It was all about Chris and his 35mm lens hate speech and the 35mm zealot backlash.
When they jettisoned Chris they (somehow miraculously, wink, wink) found a buyer.
For the sake of Petapixel, Chris, please keep your 35mm bigotry to yourself.
In every other way you are a great reviewer and wonderful human being.
Who knows, with the advancements in AI (and not just cropping) in the future they may be able to make 35mm lenses that don't have that 35mm look that so turns your stomach.
For that matter I and others don’t want to keep chasing you and Jordan around the internet from TCS to DPReview to Petapixel to…who’s next?
When will it all end?
Put an end to it now while you have a chance to make a new start.
On a related note, not very prominently shown in the news, Court of King's Bench of Alberta or ABKB (Alberta's supreme court) recently ruled, from their silhouette docket, that one doesn’t have to review a 35mm lens or it’s equivalent if you have a long-held belief that 35mm lenses are not natural.
Also in a separate ruling one cannot accept nor reject any given grouping of focal lengths to provide a more diverse set of reviews that better reflects the proportions of those focal lengths in the whole of the population of lenses but rather that they must be chosen on an individually measured, merit-based system.
Look it up!
Please note that the above should in no way be seen as a commentary, for or against, any recent, otherwise perhaps related, rulings or political leanings but is entirely tounge-in-cheek.
Whether or not you consider 35mm or any other focal lengths “natural” the association was made solely for humor’s sake, not to make a point.
Therfore, truly, please provide only a-political but photographic comments.
Sounds like you guys are lucky to escape a toxic work first – life balance second environment. Having been owned by Amazon I guess I can't say I'm surprised. Hope things improve for the folks left behind at DP review which I've always enjoyed.
Not sure about calfs, but there's a site with photos of celebrities' feet…just saying
I like that OLYMPUS XZ-1 on table.. I have one too 🙂 Old cameras are still good if properly used.
DEFINITELY WAITING FOR PENTAX K3III REVIEW 😀
Glad DPR stays alive, but Chris and Jordan were the firsts to abandon the sinking ship.
So Bezos decided to have that tenth deck on his big boat then and needed your wages?
Glad to see you guys continuing on. New sub to Petapixel due to you being there.
DPReview is great. I have to say, I can't always say the same thing abou the DPReview audience. I found the responses to questions so mean-spirited that I eventually adopted a personal policy to never ask a question or comment on DPReview.
Sudden, inexplicable, decisions and lack of clarity. You don't know anything about a thing until it happens. That is how Amazon works. Their decision of closing DPReview shocked me, their execution not, it was perfectly in their style.
You three "Richard, Chris and Jordan" deserve Big Thank you. Also thanks for this video.
It's pretty obvious that the conspiracy revolves around the fact that Jordan and Chris were on the verge of discovering the formula for the perfect photography pants. It turns out that Amazon has spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars over the past twenty some odd years on exactly the same thing and have absolutely nothing to show for it. Once Amazon caught wind of how close Jordan and Chris were to achieving their goal, it immediately set off a chain reaction which is why we are here today.
Please stop saying "you know". We are watching because we don't know.
It reminds me a startup I worked for some 10 years ago. Everybody was speculating when we'll be bought and for how much. Then one day CEO gathers a meeting, everybody goes expecting great news. And the CEO starts by saying that they failed to secure new investments and the company will be shutting down.
Richard should join the podcast team! Lots of chemistry here
The moment Panasonic introduces a micro 4/3 camera with phase detect autofocus (as in the S5 II), I hope for a G9 mark II, I will buy it. Waiting impatiently.
I like your work at DPReview and PetaPixel. But, maybe your new name could have a different name. For example, your supporters could be called, Petaphiles. ha, ha!
@Richard Butler- I shut down/deleted my account at dpreview about a year ago as I realized it became a bit of another Facebook for years already in the forums. I am raist3d- I emailed you directly several times and you kindly replied.
Just wanted to say congratulations on the great work during this transition and best wishes in the future/new things and job stability.
@Chris/@Jordan – love you guys since camera store TV (specially Chris – cough cough *ahem*). Would have loved to see you back at dpreview but it's inevitable you had to watch the land you were stepping in. Best wishes too.
What irony, I just made a post in DPreview and had just finished editing it after I had already posted it. But the edit wouldn't take. The site DPreview has just crashed.
I don't think we'll ever see the complete fallout from this notorious scandal shocking the world. I only hope we'll be stronger going forward.
I'd like to see an episode bringing attention to the anti-consumer practices being introduced into the digital imaging industry or the ones that have already been there.
I feel like it's very important for us as a community to put pressure on camera manufacturers for the choices they make.
3rd party lens support should ALWAYS be an option, for ALL brands. It helps bring innovation and new ideas to the market.
Being able to service your own camera equipment should be a right. If you're paying thousands of dollars you should OWN your camera gear.
I'm just now learning that you need proprietary software for certain repairs for a Sony camera body!
Gordon Bennet, you do go on…
F…K amazon
Still have my dad's Realistic Stereo (3D) camera ('50s). Shot film slides, and you'd buy a special projector (or handheld viewer.) Have never shot it, but also have hundreds of slides he shot. Very cool!
Love you guys and what you're doing. The podcast is a very fitting format, listened to all of them and each just flew by which is always a good sign.
My guess is that Amazon was having cutbacks, and DP Review was just a line item. No context other than it was a oddity, and could be removed. After the announcement, word reached management that there was interest, that they had something of real value, and got some attention. I have seen this before, it really only take 1 person with passion, the right ears listening, and decisions can be changed. At this point, run rate had been reduced, and they could possibly recoup some of their investment, as well as stay in better graces (image) with the community. Amazon is smart enough to know that even a small thing and bite them in the future. You always want to minimize the exposure to blow back.
It's telling that many of the DP Review audience looked for a successor, and didn't find anything that really fit. They even created a site that tried to mimic DP Review Forums, because nothing could effectively replace it. Glad to see DP Review Lives. And thanks to Chris & Jordan, PetaPixel is now also on my daily reading/listening list.
Jordan, you can come live with us if you need refugee shelter after calling Canada Geese "garbage birds".
Thanks for sharing. What happened to Rishi?
Well so what REALLY happened?
37:45 A 1977 Pentax K1000 was my first camera in my HighSchool photo lab. To this day I still have my own ME, MX and LX. They all could shoot better photos than I could take.
@ 51:00 It's not just for 3D (stereoscopy). When compositing it can be crucial. Because of the stereoscopy you can generate / get depthmaps out of it, which can be crucial when you want to incorporate computer-generated images with whatever you shoot.
I would like a sensor that was 6×6 to go in my Mamiya 6. One day this will happen and I will have a cheaper? travel medium format camera.
I feel so seen
So, everybody raise their hand if you never heard of Gear Patrol before 🙂
Ah man Chris, sorry to hear of your trailer woes! Had similar with a campervan which turned out to be excessively corroded underneath – thousands spent on that van! Hope your trailer is good for some time to come now it's been fixed, glad you had a good time in it on your most recent trip
Reminder that a $1.3 trillion business headed by a guy worth $152 billion is cutting costs that save them dollars a month, if that, considering advertising covers most DPReview costs. What does that say about the actual worth of these companies and the disgustingly wealthy people at the top?
I don't know if someone else in the Nordics whips with spruce but atleast where I live in Finland it's birch, spruce needles would be a bit too extreme
It was Richard all along! He was behind this elaborate plot to get rid of Chris and Jordon and traumatize staff and readers so that he could take over dprtv 😂
(What's happening with dprtv by the way? Is Richard or someone going to make more content now that dpr is still running?)
I'm so grateful that DPReview is still alive. It is the site I visit more than any other.
i was spared the horror of a future where i have to get my camera reviews from influencers. there just might be a god
Used gear is great. And I have gotten some real good stuff off of Kijiji. I have a 5D3 that I got for the equivalent of ~$425 US. You can have lots of fun with Magic Lantern on that! And most of my lenses are DSLR lenses and they're excellent on both my DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Really great deals you can get on used stuff now. On the other hand, you get pretty funny listings from private sellers sometimes, like people trying to sell their ancient Rebels for $1000!
19:10 nice the Smiths reference 😊
this is great news! thanks guys!
Red and Blue lights work so well for with you guys. So cool!
1. Enjoyed this one, it’s nice having C&J running the show, tbh
2. OnlyCalves (in case no one’s made this joke yet)
3. Glad to see that the DPR crew landed on their feet.