[Wind Chaser]

He writes...

"The State of California is trying to take this site off the air and put my family in the poorhouse. The California State Assembly should be voting on this Monday morning..." MORE

It's a good thing he understands humor, because if that actually happens, he'll have another career to fall back on as a comedian...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/business/two-hour-rule.htm

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/how-to-afford-anything.htm

[SET Man]

Hey!

   Who the heck is Ken Rockwell? 

   I don't think that I would be comfortable recommend his site to a beginner  Well, maybe that is just me 

Take care,
Buddy

[nathanm]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/how-to-afford-anything.htm
Crikey!  He's got an answer for everything in the world doesn't he?  Heh!  Not that I can argue with most of it, though.  Good preaching, just wish I'd practiced more of it.  Hmph.

[Wind Chaser]

As an ultra newbie, so far I have found of his articles to be interesting and quite helpful, but in his Digital Killed My Tripod article, he seems to defy convention.  He claims... Tripods are no longer required, and actually often degrade sharpness and then goes on to state four reasons why.

He goes on to back up is arguments with four samples of night shots taken without a tripod, but it seems to me the greater majority of competent photographers still use them.

[ooheadsoo]

Krockwell deliberately mocks and plays with the minds of his readers.  He says so upfront, so don't take any offense...

[Wind Chaser]

Krockwell deliberately mocks and plays with the minds of his readers.  He says so upfront, so don't take any offense...

I guess I haven't read enough of his stuff to catch on to that yet.   So why would anyone give him the time of day then?

[rave959]

An awesome post, Wind Chaser!

Thanks very much for sharing this link.   


Cheers,
Ian

[ooheadsoo]

I guess I haven't read enough of his stuff to catch on to that yet.   So why would anyone give him the time of day then?

It's all mixed in there.  Once you get to know his style, you come to know when he's just going off.  He has a lot of good hard info, it's just his opinions that often don't count for much.

Have you noticed that he reviews equipment he's never seen before in his life?

[Wind Chaser]

Have you noticed that he reviews equipment he's never seen before in his life?

That's funny, but no, I haven't read any of his reviews.  He seems partial towards Nikon and I am going in another direction so there really isn't much point in reading his reviews.

[jqp]

I value his opinions, even though I do take them with a grain of salt. He uses hyperbole as a technique (for example, to afford things you want, by saving money, "don't have kids". He has 2 kids that he loves very much).

He hates Microsoft and loves Apple. I love neither Microsoft nor Apple, but I love computer technology.

I think I like to read his site because he is an engineer, really thinks about things, is passionate, has hobbies that we as audiophiles tend to have. Seems to be a good guy too, and he is not really a Nikon shill (or Canon), even if his Leica enthusiasm is a little annoying (who would really buy the Leica stuff he is enthusiastic about!).

[JohnR]

Have you noticed that he reviews equipment he's never seen before in his life?

I ran into one of his "reviews" of the Mamiya TLR lenses while searching for info about them. I was surprised and intrigued, I didn't know KR was using medium format. It turned out, he had an opinion, but he had never used them. Lots of links to his affiliate providers though.

This is, to me, the point where credibility takes a bit of a beating. But I have say - it's a mixed bag, as he has information on his site that is simply not available elsewhere, such as shots from a range of lenses at a range of aperture settings. Those shots are very very useful information, if the lenses happen to match what you are interested in. But on the whole I tend to treat his site with a bit of suspicion now and prefer to seek information out elsewhere if I can.

Not that it makes any difference what I think - KR has, I have no doubt, a keen sense of who his readership is, and in particular the ones that really matter i.e. the ones that click on the affiliate links and (possibly) purchase. Good luck to him is all I can say - I do admire his savvy in the Internet marketing area, I think it takes real courage to put yourself "out there" for criticism by one and all.