I'm the eternal optimist. I look for and see the up-side of life while keeping a skeptical eye out for the down-side. When I read DPReview was being closed, I admit I was first, very surprised, then saddened. I've been a DPReview reader for well over a decade and have used the site for general photographic information (learning), research for posts on this blog as well as to find information when deciding to buy new gear. I appreciate the hard work and extraordinary amount of photographic information the men and women who have worked there produced over the site's lifetime. I will truly miss it.
When I think of DPReview closing shop, I kind of think of things like placing your hand in a bucket of water. When you pull it out, immediately the water fills in where your hand once was. That, ultimately, is what I think will happen when DPReview goes away. Maybe not quickly, but eventually. One door closes and another opens. In this case, I think many more will open to fill in what DPReview has provided.
That said, I have read predictions of the demise of the photo industry because DPReview won't be there to provide information for potential camera buyers. I've read criticism of its parent company, Amazon, and exclamations of "How could they?" Generally, it seems everyone attuned to the online photo communication industry is dismayed DPReview will no longer exist. Rightly so. There is especially angst that the site's database of an extraordinary amount of useful information will disappear. That would be a great loss to all of us.
Well, as I say, I'm the optimist. Amazon has become a very successful company. One of the many reasons for their almost unprecedented success is not by keeping the parts of the company that don't make sufficient profit, but by jettisoning them, whether by sale or closure. I suspect DPReview wasn't and hasn't been pulling its weight and didn't make enough or any money and was a losing proposition for Amazon. But that happens with any prudent business. You don't continue operations that lose money unless you have other aspects of the company that more than make up for it. And then for only specific reasons. Amazon also just went through a round of thousands of layoffs. In fact, each week I read about another company laying off hundreds or thousands of employees. The current economic situation is not really great right now. So there's that.
Let’s kind of make a crude and very simplified historic analogy for DPReview’s closure. Back at the beginning of 'human' time, there were groups of hunter/gatherers. They bartered with each other as well as other small groups for food, tools and weapons. That was basically how goods and services were obtained. I’ll trade you some of what I have for what you have.
At a point in time money (in some form) was invented and bartering took a back seat. Individuals and small shops popped up. Farmers and hunters sold their goods to those small stores so others could go to one place to buy what they needed. Very much a change from thousands of years of how commerce was accomplished. Bartering for the most part went away.
That business model became very successful and the smarter shop owners who became very successful were able to reduce the prices they paid for goods by buying in larger quantities. They could sell goods at a lower cost than small shops, which then started to put the small mom and pop shops out of business. Another change.
That then progressed to these stores becoming so prosperous that they then enlarged their market to multiple locations. The largest became national. Big box stores then replaced the regional stores. Change continues.
Several years ago along comes the internet, shopping for goods and services can now occur without leaving your home. Overhead is reduced and prices drop even more. This current model is on its way to replacing a good number of the big box stores. Only the largest and most prosperous survive. And so it goes. Change is constant.
I know this is very simplified example and timeline but there is a point. Research shows that as change comes everyone fears job loss and/or being left behind. Research also shows that more jobs are created with new technology and change than were lost. New industries and services, not even thought of in the past, replace the old ways. Sometimes it is painful and sometimes not. It seems to depend upon how prepared you are when the change occurs. You have to be a forward thinker and keep up with future trends.
As for how this relates to DPReview, as I said, I'm an optimist. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the DPReview employees or another group of people, with investors, may be negotiating with Amazon to purchase the assets of DPReview so the site can remain. That is certainly feasible. Maybe they can make a go at profitability being independent, reducing costs and revamping business practices. Look at the Olympus model. Olympus made cameras and lenses for over 100 years. They were a premier and trailblazing photographic marque. However, in today's new digital photographic economy the camera and imaging group were losing money year over year. They sold their photo/optical division to OM Digital Systems and, after a change in the business model, they seem to be making money once again as an independent entity. It can happen.
Another possibility is that someone or some company is negotiating to acquire DPReview's massive content to add to their existing site. A third possibility is that other successful photography related sites will begin to produce the kind of content DPReview provided by expanding their existing sites. We see this happening with PetaPixel picking up Chris and Jordan and having them continue with the fine video content those two produce.
Change happens constantly. There is no stopping it. Be prepared if you are in a vulnerable position. Exercise your due diligence so you aren't caught short. Life and the camera industry will go on without DPReview, albeit a bit differently. People will find other sites from which they can research cameras and lenses to assist them in buying decisions. New sites will emerge and existing sites will morph, add content and thrive. That's just how things work, in my opinion.
Another example can be made by examining what has happened with blogs. At one time, they ruled. Over the past few years much of the blog audience has shifted to YouTube. What will the next shift be? My readership is down to just under half from a few years ago and no, there is no way I’d move to YouTube. I have a face for print or radio! Lol
All that said, I don't like it when such a long-time trusted source of information which I have used in the past goes away. This isn't the first time and won't be the last. We just have to adjust to the new normal, as we had heard constantly during the height of the recent pandemic.
I’ll say it once more. The only thing constant is change. Now, who moved my cheese? (See what aI did there?)
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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