DP Review shut down by Amazon

[paul hofseth]

Witn the fate of DPRin mind; do read the announcement above concerning the future of Nikongear!

The users provide its content, but one cannot expect the owner to keep paying the deficit while we continue to use this site.

 For my part, I am not a consistent Nikon user , although in the distant past I was impressed by the first 21/4 and did briefly use an SP (but I will buy any new more compact and lightweight Nikon  not having the same faults as the Zs) 

I read posts here as an active photographer frequently taking trivial snaps, enjoying optical experiments, but consistently craving  optical perfection (and that the camera only does what I want it to do). I currently  use Nikon Z (despite its shortcomings (Size and buttonery)), for its pixelcount, VF and short mount-to-sensor distance, but use a mix of Angenieux,Kinoptik, Staeble, Leitz, Zeiss (east&west) as well as Nikon optics on it and can report that the much maligned ED-IF- 400-something did very well in the mountains this easter.

Nevertheless, this site is worth a frequent visit even for Nikon-strangers (and is much more interesting than current sales-focussed photo-mags)

Hence I recommend subscribing to keeep this infochannel open.

p.

[Erik Lund]

Thank you, we appreciate that!

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Hence I recommend subscribing to keeep this infochannel open.

Thanks for the pointer; I hadn't realized that the site experienced challenges of the financial nature. I just subscribed.

I used to subscribe to photo.net but it experienced multiple changes in ownership and moves to different platforms, quite a lot of the site functionality disappeared, and so did the number of active participants on its forums. I wonder why even the old articles had to go and be replaced by links to creativelive's video courses. I don't mind those (I have purchased a few on portrait lighting etc.) but am surprised why the old content of the site had to go. I can't imagine it took much space. I guess this is what is to be expected that hyperlinks stop working and people have to find new sources for content that was housed for a long time under the same link.

I am wondering if public libraries should archive online content or just stick to mostly conventional books on paper as their domain. I hate to admit it but I'm not reading as many books nowadays as I used to. But I feel that electronic content is quite volatile and what might seem as permanently archived may not be so. While digital media mostly work, if there is no hardcopy, it can cease to exist.  Of course, hardcopies can burn in fires as well. But I have this feeling that people may not quite appreciate how easily some digital content can be lost.

Although I was not a big fan of dpreview's forums - there was so much of "I know best and everyone else is wrong" kind of attitude there, that it was painful to read. However, they did publish quality articles on technical topics and reviews. I'm wondering what Amazon was hoping to gain from dpreview and what changed their minds regarding the site's future. I can't imagine Amazon is not making enough profit.  What bothers me about Amazon is that traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores don't have as good a selection any more as they used to, especially where it comes to textbooks. I understand that if a book costs 20€ more in a local store, it is difficult for a student to select it rather than purchasing online, but the local stores offered the unique option of actually assessing first hand what one is buying. I just don't feel that online stores offer that, and thus I rarely purchase books from them.

I think it'll be interesting to see what is preserved of present day digital information (say) 100 or 300 years from now, and of course, how it might be accessed, if there is a method.

Thanks for keeping this site up and running and I hope to visit more often.

[Gone]

Just a heads up - don't assume that files saved to DVD disc are safe - my copy of the Nikon repair manuals has suffered corruption despite being stored away from heat and light!

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Just a heads up - don't assume that files saved to DVD disc are safe - my copy of the Nikon repair manuals has suffered corruption despite being stored away from heat and light!

I was told that most home-burned optical disks have a 5-year expected lifetime.

I suspect there are some that do last longer.

[pluton]

I was told that most home-burned optical disks have a 5-year expected lifetime.

I suspect there are some that do last longer.

I have ordinary Sony-branded CD-Rs burned in 2003 that still play in a CD player or computer optical disc drive. Of course, all important music/photos now exists on multiple hard drives.
I had missed the NG financial announcement;  hard to believe that there is a shortage of forum visitors/users that can't cough up €20 once a year. US$20...roughly the same amount of money as €20...isn't really very much in 2023!

[Akira]

One of my CD-Rs failed only within a couple of month after I had recorded the data on it.  Also, some of my music CDs suffered from the deteriorated data layer in several years after the purchase.   

I figured that the most reliable way to keep the digital data intact is to copy them to the new media periodically.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

One of my CD-Rs failed only within a couple of month after I had recorded the data on it.  Also, some of my music CDs suffered from the deteriorated data layer in several years after the purchase.   

I figured that the most reliable way to keep the digital data intact is to copy them to the new media periodically.

I have not lost any data on my own CD-R's, DVD-R's or Blu-ray discs but I have had failed burns happen on each. Fortunately the software does warn about that and then one can try again with another empty disc. However, I don't handle those discs I keep them stored away, only accessing them when I have been unable to find the primary copy.

I was told that if one doesn't frequently use the optical disc drive, it can stop working reliably (I assume from dust buildup or some other reason). I can't recall that happening to me, though.

I think the problem I am facing today is that I have so many images that it would be impractical to burn optical discs. I would really have to cull the images to a very tight set in each project to make it practical. However, on a semi-regular basis some of my hard drives fail and so there doesn't seem to be any easy way to ensure the images are preserved over long periods, unless great care is taken in the organization and making regular copies. That can be very time-consuming.

[Akira]

I have not lost any data on my own CD-R's, DVD-R's or Blu-ray discs but I have had failed burns happen on each. Fortunately the software does warn about that and then one can try again with another empty disc. However, I don't handle those discs I keep them stored away, only accessing them when I have been unable to find the primary copy.

I was told that if one doesn't frequently use the optical disc drive, it can stop working reliably (I assume from dust buildup or some other reason). I can't recall that happening to me, though.

I think the problem I am facing today is that I have so many images that it would be impractical to burn optical discs. I would really have to cull the images to a very tight set in each project to make it practical. However, on a semi-regular basis some of my hard drives fail and so there doesn't seem to be any easy way to ensure the images are preserved over long periods, unless great care is taken in the organization and making regular copies. That can be very time-consuming.

When my audio CD or CD-R failed, the CD player or the CD drive could play or read other CDs without problem.  On the failed audio CDs, their metal-coated data layer became translucent (almost transparent) and I could see through them very well!  So, I suspect that the data layers were not reflective enough anymore to kick back the laser beam shone from the pickup onto the disc.

These only happened only on the discs manufactured in Europe...

[Hugh_3170]

The price differential for media made by premium grade manufacturers and shall we say "economy grade" manufacturers was considerable.  Maybe a case of getting what one pays for? 

Sad that the failure issues have taken years to manifest themselves.  Most of my data CDs have fared OK thankfully.  My Sony external reader/writer seems to do a better job on the more marginal CDs than those readers inbuilt on my legacy PCs.

When my audio CD or CD-R failed, the CD player or the CD drive could play or read other CDs without problem.  On the failed audio CDs, their metal-coated data layer became translucent (almost transparent) and I could see through them very well!  So, I suspect that the data layers were not reflective enough anymore to kick back the laser beam shone from the pickup onto the disc.

These only happened only on the discs manufactured in Europe...

[ColinM]

Meanwhile (having not looked for over a week) I see the demise of DPReview is taking longer than originally threatened

[Akira]

Meanwhile (having not looked for over a week) I see the demise of DPReview is taking longer than originally threatened

Yup.  And new articles have been added as if nothing had happened.   

[mxbianco]

Amazon would walk over our dead bodies if it's convenient for them, maybe they did the announcement to get a few more clicks...

Meanwhile, I acted and paid my subscription to NG, was the right thing to do!

Ciao from Massimo

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Yup.  And new articles have been added as if nothing had happened.   

I recall they said that they are still adding content while archiving (i.e. gathering material to users who requesting their contributions to be sent in some kind of an archive). They also said they had decided not take the site offline (originally they said it was to stay online as a read-only site for some time but would eventually be deleted). I don't this can be expected to be a reversal of the decision to close the site from new content.

[Snoogly]

I recall they said that they are still adding content while archiving (i.e. gathering material to users who requesting their contributions to be sent in some kind of an archive). They also said they had decided not take the site offline (originally they said it was to stay online as a read-only site for some time but would eventually be deleted). I don't this can be expected to be a reversal of the decision to close the site from new content.

Hopefully Amazon just forgot about it!

But in reality this is just a temporary reprieve.