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 p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Best online site(s) for detailed, dependable Canon lens reviews? | |
sebjmatthews wrote:
OP, the-digital-picture's text reviews aren't worth much because it's mostly copy&pasting generic SEO paragraphs, but the site does carry useful sharpness, vignette, and distortion tools, so it can be worth checking there if you want very 'dry' comparisons between lenses in purely technical terms.
The same goes for DxOmark, though they are much slower to publish results because they don't get early freebies, instead waiting for retail production units, and they test multiple copies and average them in order to produce their results. They rarely publish reviews, but like TDP, their various charts and comparison tools can be useful, given that every other aspect of a lens is entirely subjective anyway. They are definitely the most detailed, once you understand what their testing procedure is and how to interpret their results.
OpticalLimits are another decent source for dreary 'lab tests' on an individual basis, though they're not so good for comparing lenses against each other as they rarely go back and re-test lenses on newer platforms, so if you look at reviews that were done more than a couple of years apart, there's a good chance the lenses were tested on entirely different bodies.
For full text reviews, I'll throw my +1 to Dustin Abbott. Some of his much older third-party reviews were a little suspect, in that he only very briefly disclosed his relationship with manufacturers, though he's been better about that for years now, and now gets most of his review units from shops or rental anyway. He does go in-depth in both technical and artistic aspects, and he's one of the few reviewers around who has his head on his shoulders when it comes to price and where products fit in the overall market, rather than simply going "ooh it's sharp, so who cares that it's £50000, you NEED it" like so many others.
His reviews are produced in text, as well as in both full and shortened videos, so you can get them however you like.
The other I'll mention, though they mostly cover news and camera bodies more than lenses, are Tony and Chelsea Northrup. They get a lot of criticism because every fanboy perceives them as being biased against/for every brand (Canon users say they're paid by Sony, Sony users say they're paid by Canon, Nikon users say they are paid by Canon and Sony, etc...), but that just comes with the territory of being an actually independent reviewer of anything. They're actually very trustworthy specifically because they're so independently wealthy that they aren't beholden to any manufacturer, and can just buy or rent whatever products they want to cover, even if a manufacturer doesn't want them to. They were loaded years before they started their channel, so they don't have to suck up to anyone, and the only shops they're associated with are independents and second hand dealers.
As a very general rule, the publications, websites, and individual reviewers who the fanboys don't like are the good ones who will critique a product within the context of the whole market and fully convey to you their experience and impressions without leaving anything out. They're unpopular because they dare to say that the latest hyped-up product the fanboys have pre-ordered isn't faultless.
The outlets who the fanboys like are the useless ones who are just going to tell you to buy everything, unless it has become trendy to not like something, in which case they'll jump on that clickbait train and tell you it's the worst product ever made, too.
#1 is an infamous hack who nobody in the industry will touch and grifts based on reading out rumour sites' headlines as facts.
#2 relies on getting preview units under agreement from manufacturers, thus has a vested interest in appeasing them.
#3 is a horrific person (pay close attention to some of his literature recommendations in his earlier videos) and very crooked, having been caught out reselling review copies. (I should know; I bought one, not knowing it was him until I saw the return address on the parcel!)
I'm not sure you could have picked a less-trustworthy trio of channels to promote.
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Informative posts. Personally, I always wonder those reviewers who get a sample lens from manufacturer, won’t they be given cherry picked ones? Kind of make the reviews useless…
+1 for Dustin Abbott because he was the only reviewer of 70-200mm gm ii who mentioned the OSS is useless, as in he doesn’t see any adv over non-oss lens like 35-150mm. Something which I found out after I did my own tests….
I never knew the tony guy is rich….
I like Philip Reeve because their review on rendering is good. Not many sites even review bokeh at the transitions. They also buy their own lens?
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Or non-third-party-friendly brands. 