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DPReview is closing... And no it's not April's joke
#1
Closure coming on Apr. 10th... Giving users until Apr. 6th to request their data.

Sad day as this was the penultimate photography site remaining from the early days of my studying the subject... Photozone / OpticalLimits is thereby remaining the last of the bunch. Let's say there's been not as much - not nearly enough - to fill the resulting gaps.
#2
WOW. And the fact that, after a grace period, the site will go away with all its data and reviews is a great demonstration of how volatile is the web. Crazy.
stoppingdown.net

 

Sony a6300, Sony a6000, Sony NEX-6, Sony E 10-18mm F4 OSS, Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS, Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS, Sigma 150-600mm Æ’/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, Samyang 12mm Æ’/2, Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN | A, Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan 100mm Æ’/2.8, Samyang 8mm Æ’/3.5 fish-eye II | Zenit Helios 44-2 58mm Æ’/2 
Plus some legacy Nikkor lenses.
#3
Yeah, I guess we should start archiving items of interest from the site. But this is kind of insane now that I'm thinking of it... Checking the few photography sites for news - DPReview first, OL second - has become my established morning routine for... years? And now it will be broken.

I'm getting a feeling that as life goes by, pieces big and small are being removed from it, but hardly anything is ever added.
#4
The first thing I did was to check the calendar on whether it was April 1st ...

I was always wondering why Amazon acquired them - it had very little to do with their core business.
That being said - if dpreview wasn't profitable, which site is?

OL is just held together by enthusiasm, too.
Chief Editor - opticallimits.com

Doing all things Canon, MFT, Sony and Fuji
#5
It's a good thing because there isn't a chance of some guy from the "parent company" coming and saying "That's it, we're shuttering your whole shabang and you might start looking for a job 15 minutes ago"... while you can do zilch about it. If you ever decide to throw the towel in, it will be by your own volition. Not that I'd wish to live and see that day... I'll be left with (almost) no good things to read on photographic gear.

Heaven help us if Ken Rockwell remains the only "authoritative" source around. That scares me as few things do.
#6
«The team was laid off in its entirety as part of the latest round of cuts at Amazon, which like other companies has been tightening its belt — or, perhaps also like other companies, using the excuse of macroeconomic headwinds to perform reductions that at any other time would seem needless.»

(TechCrunch)
stoppingdown.net

 

Sony a6300, Sony a6000, Sony NEX-6, Sony E 10-18mm F4 OSS, Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS, Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS, Sigma 150-600mm Æ’/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, Samyang 12mm Æ’/2, Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN | A, Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan 100mm Æ’/2.8, Samyang 8mm Æ’/3.5 fish-eye II | Zenit Helios 44-2 58mm Æ’/2 
Plus some legacy Nikkor lenses.
#7
It still seems weird that they weren't able to get a management buyout, even if it was just for a $.
But they probably didn't have any revenue other than from their subtle Amazon ads and YouTube.
And we (here) know that the Amazon ads are peanuts.
Chris and Jordan were probably the only profitable assets.

FWIW, I just realized that we are probably the last of the Mohicans from the early days. The origins of OL date back to 1995. Time flies ...
Chief Editor - opticallimits.com

Doing all things Canon, MFT, Sony and Fuji
#8
I had to laugh hard when reading this comment here in the dpreview comment section:

"I just imagine Bezos sitting in his armchair dialing a number in his smartphone and then saying: “Execute Order 66!“ "
Chief Editor - opticallimits.com

Doing all things Canon, MFT, Sony and Fuji
#9
I always wonder how much of the current inflation is companies jumping on the bandwagon to increase profits? Kind of like when gas in the US went from a buck and change all the way to five. Then when it came back to around 3 everyone was happy.

Quick check, Photography Review still looks in check. http://forums.photographyreview.com/forum.php Klaus still has some company.

I'm floored they're going away. Did they have some IP or infrastructure JB was able to sell and make money on?
#10
I am surprised DPR didn't try to push subscription plan and make it even more specialized for photography and video.
My second thought is that for Amazon to make such decision the loses are probably $2M +. How many companies would fund this?
  


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