3 Great Places to Read Camera Gear Reviews

Got some money burning a hole in your pocket do you? Ready to drop some serious cash on some new camera equipment and expand your arsenal of gear? Yea, me too.

Hold on a minute, though. Before rushing out and parting with what could easily be one or two thousand dollars or more, you need to do your research. In order for you to find the best digital camera or lens for your needs, you’ve got to read some legitimate reviews and figure out whether the item that you’ve got your eye on is actually going to work for your style of photography, or whether it will hold up to the abuse that it’s likely endure under your care.

I’m sure that most of you already know where to find these kinds of reviews, but I thought that I’d get them out there anyway. Hey, it never hurts to have the right resources at your fingertips, right?

1. B&H Photo and Video

There’s no better place to shop for photography gear online than B&H. Not only do they have just about every camera, lens and accessory that you’d ever need, they list reviews for most items. The reviews are usually concise, and they list pros, cons, best uses and whether the reviewer is a pro, semi-pro or enthusiast. That helps you quickly identify the reviews that are written by users like you.

And if you don’t know already, B&H has a free iPhone app (coming soon for Android) that includes reviews along with all the tech specs and info that you can find on the regular website. It’s great for reading reviews on the go.

2. Amazon

I’ve used Amazon to review everything from cameras to coffee makers and I’ll even pull it up on my iPhone to review something that I’m considering buying while actually standing in the store. Admit it, so have you.

The great thing about Amazon is that it’s written by a wide cross section of people and they’re usually fairly detailed. If people like an item, they generally tell you why, and if they don’t, they’ll tell you that as well. Of course, you have to occasionally take reviews with a grain of salt because sometimes they’re written by people who are a bit opinionated.

I’ve found that the best way to sort this stuff out is to check out the most negative reviews first. You can usually tell whether negative comments are justified, or whether they’re just written by someone who is just pissed off or who probably didn’t even use the product in the right way. After weeding those out, you can average out what the rest of the group has to say about the item.

3. PhotographyReview.com

Photographyreview.com is a great site that offers a wide selection of reviews, pro reviews, gear writeups, how-to articles, choice awards and buying guides for photography equipment of all types. They also have a very active forum that’s visited by a large camera-using audience, including me. (As if that has any sway…)

If you need any information about a specific camera, lens or piece of photo gear, or if you’d like to write your own reviews of products that you’ve used, then you should definitely check out this site.