How accurate is Ken Rockwell?

[tecboy]

Some of Ken Rockwell's articles have some good points. Just wonder, where he gets all those information.

 

[Scatterbrained]

This ought to be fun.

Word of advice, take Ken with a grain of salt.

 

[Overread]

Ken Rockwell is not consistent nor reliable.

some of his gear reviews are good and most of the facts are correct, but his shooting advice and methods are often wrong or just very heavily biased. His style is to present HIS approach to things, discounting and dismissing any other approach to photography. As such he's often not very good to read if you're a beginner because he'll not give you choice, instead he'll give you his way or no way. And experienced photographer can pick through the opinions to find the fact; but at that stage he's not really saying much that an experienced photographer needs to read.

So he's mostly good at promoting himself - heck his stances on things like tripods often works greatly in his favour at generating discussion and debate and thus more attention. So he ranks well on Google and is a fantastic example of why "just google it" is not a valid answer for many questions when you've high ranking sites putting out opinion as fact or just plain wrong information.

 

[lambertpix]

Opinions vary pretty wildly. My personal suggestion: anything he (or anyone else) writes is just one opinion and one data point. Like other bloggers, I take his stuff with a grain of salt. Though it's generally pretty well-written and easy to read, I trust it as just one guy's opinion.

There are a handful of review sites that have information available about how they test and what they do to keep results relevant from one test to the next, and I'll typically place a bit more weight on information from sites like that, but still, I usually find that truth emerges when you start hearing the same thing from lots and lots of sources.

Except Facebook -- don't ever trust anything you read on Facebook.

;-)

 

[Derrel]

He has some very useful information and is pretty "up on" a lot of cameras and lenses, since he has the means, and the "type of job" where buying and trying and using different camera gear is a part of the job. In recent years he's moved away from being all-Nikon, and has acquired Canon, Sony,Leica, and Fuji equipment, and has begun reporting on how he likes that stuff.

I think Rockwell has some good advice for people interested in practical picture-taking and hobby photography, and for people who want a strong, plain, simple opinion on equipment under consideration. Today's major corporate-type sites, like dPreview for one specific example, (dPreview is owned by Amazon.com) really tenderfoot around issues and problems with things under review. Ever since AMazon.com bought dPreview, their reviews have tended to gloss over issues or weaknesses with carefully-worded phrases, and an overall effort to mention-but-minimize weaknesses in products.

Just yesterday, I was going to tell a new potential buyer this bit of advice: Go to dPreview and carefully read the review of the Pentax K-30 and the Nikon D5200, and then note each instance of an "issue or problem", and then give each mention of an issue or problem about three times the weight in your mind as to how big a problem that issue is. Rockwell is not like dPreview; if something is stupidly designed, he states it that way.

On the other hand, Rockwell is tricky to use as a review source on some things because his reviews and comments are all mixed together over the span of years, and things can, and do change over time. At ONE TIME, the Nikon D70 was a great d-slr...today it's pretty lame by comparison. I used my D70 late last year...OMG...what a turd that thing is. But if you pull up a KR review of the D70, it's lauded pretty heavily. Same with his Nikon D40 reviews. And you know, for a time, the D40 WAS hot stuff! The old-mixed-with-new is one reason each new generation of zoom lenses is touted as, "The sharpest ___ to ___ lens ever!"

The one thing you will get from KR is an opinion. Clearly stated, no punches pulled, and I think that for the hobbyist and non-gearhead, his buying recommendations are usually pretty good; like what a competent,capable camera salesman would tell a customer. The more-advanced a shooter, the more-likely he will disagree with Rockwell, since Ken's buying advice is geared toward MAKING PICTURES, and less toward buying a war chest set of gear, which is what the majority of internet forum posters tend to favor. For example, KR (and Thom Hogan as well) both favor the Nikkor 16-35 f/4 VR OVER the 14-24mm f/2.8 for ACTUAL USE and CARRY; the 16-35 costs less,takes filters, is smaller and lighter, and has a wider and more-useful range of lengths; they prefer the 16-35 for most uses; on forums, that preference for the 16-35 over the 14-24/2.8 is regarded by buyers of the 14-24 as heresy, and so, people will bash him because he will buy and use lenses that they consider "inferior". I see that all the time here too.

 

[sscarmack]

I only listen to people who have the work to back up what their saying.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Seems to have a certain amount of knowledge but what he writes seems to be his own opinions - I find it somewhat entertaining and sometimes informative but if you read something on his site I'd look it up elsewhere too. I don't take his site too seriously.

 

[TCampbell]

All reviews are opinion... but I prefer to read reviews where they endeavor to show evidence, and when something is opinion, to be honest that it's an opinion.

Of all the reviewers that I've read, Ken is possibly the most controversial. From time to time I would read something so outrageous that it made me wonder if he could possibly be that mis-informed... (which is a bit difficult to believe if someone has been in the industry for years) or whether they're stating something because they deliberately want to stir up controversy. Controversy drives traffic (even if the point of the traffic is to flame). Traffic drives rankings. Rankings drive revenue generation.

 

[runnah]

Photography wise he is a mixed bag, but man he can hit 3-pointers all day long.

 

[Derrel]

All reviews are opinion... but I prefer to read reviews where they endeavor to show evidence, and when something is opinion, to be honest that it's an opinion.

Of all the reviewers that I've read, Ken is possibly the most controversial. From time to time I would read something so outrageous that it made me wonder if he could possibly be that mis-informed... (which is a bit difficult to believe if someone has been in the industry for years) or whether they're stating something because they deliberately want to stir up controversy. Controversy drives traffic (even if the point of the traffic is to flame). Traffic drives rankings. Rankings drive revenue generation.

And Ken addresses some of his motivation, directly, on the site. About KenRockwell.com

A small excerpt: "Apparently the world finds my opinions very useful, but remember, they are the opinions of one man. I have a big sense of humor, and do this site to entertain you (and myself), as well as to inform and to educate. I occasionally weave fiction and satire into my stories to keep them interesting. I love a good hoax. Read The Museum of Hoaxes, or see their site. A hoax, like some of the things I do on this website, is done as a goof simply for the heck of it by overactive minds as a practical joke. Even Ansel Adams kidded around when he was just a pup in the 1920s by selling his photos as "Parmelian Prints." I have the energy and sense of humor of a three-year old, so remember, this is a personal website, and never presented as fact. I enjoy making things up for fun, as does The Onion, and I publish them here — even on this page."

 

[nzmacro]

About as reliable as white balance

Danny.

 

[480sparky]

.........I occasionally weave fiction and satire into my stories ..............

Here's the proof (NSFW!!!!!!!)

 

[mikeyidaho]

I only got seriously into photography a year or so ago and at the beginning I put a lot of stock into what Ken Rockwell said which did me absolutely no favors and took a while to recover from. I followed his advice which means all my photos from when I first got a DSLR were shot in JPEG basic instead of RAW which just about killed any post processing potential.

Definitely focus on widening your horizons, don't take any one review site or blogger too seriously until you get a good knowledge base. Jared Polin has turned out to be my favorite YouTube channel (FroKnowsPhoto), and DigitalRev for some comedy.

Essentially just take every opinion you ever hear with a grain of salt, or a handful in the case of KR

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[robbins.photo]

This ought to be fun.

Word of advice, take Ken with a grain of salt.

And a dash of paprika.

 

[480sparky]

This ought to be fun.

Word of advice, take Ken with a grain of salt.

And a dash of paprika.

And a full frontal lobotomy.