DPReview.com to close

[TNcasual]

DPReview.com to close

It is with great sadness that after nearly 25 years of operation, we must announce that DPReview will close in the near future. This difficult decision is part of the annual operating plan review that our parent company shared earlier this year.

www.dpreview.com

Hmmmm.

 

[Kevin]

That is most unexpected.

EDIT: Apparently I never noticed that Amazon owned DPR. Surprising to see them shut down a site that was likely drawing sales to the Amazon.com mothership.

 

[Tili]

I guess it shows what a niche this camera market has become. Yikes.

 

[Herman]

That's bad news.

 

[TNcasual]

That is most unexpected.

EDIT: Apparently I never noticed that Amazon owned DPR. Surprising to see them shut down a site that was likely drawing sales to the Amazon.com mothership.

I didn't know Amazon owned it either. That makes this less surprising.

 

[Pauhana]

wonder if part of Amazon cost cutting……

 

[rayvonn]

Well I think it's sad. Many people don't like it, but I did. You just had to know how to use it to your advantage.

 

[agentlossing]

Why the hell wouldn't they sell it rather than shut it down? It's a market mover in the camera space, I can't believe no one else would want it.

 

[wt21]

Wow, wow, wow. Tells you the state of the photo gear industry. Also, I am sure this is part of Amazon's push to turn to profitability. They have lost BILLIONS (literally - billions) on their home hardware business, and have announced more layoffs today.

Prepare for more traffic on sites like this one, I'll bet. And the moderator headaches that may come with some of the more "loose cannons" finding a home (maybe we can point them to reddit pages, haha)

 

[wt21]

Why the hell wouldn't they sell it rather than shut it down? It's a market mover in the camera space, I can't believe no one else would want it.

Agree. And where are Jordan and Chris going to end up?

 

[rayvonn]

Wow, wow, wow. Tells you the state of the photo gear industry. Also, I am sure this is part of Amazon's push to turn to profitability. They have lost BILLIONS (literally - billions) on their home hardware business, and have announced more layoffs today.

Prepare for more traffic on sites like this one, I'll bet. And the moderator headaches that may come with some of the more "loose cannons" finding a home (maybe we can point them to reddit pages, haha)

I was actually wondering whether this might affect Fred Miranda which up till now I've seen as a Dpreview forum but without the arguing. (To be fair, FM is a lot better than that).

 

[wt21]

I was actually wondering whether this might affect Fred Miranda which up till now I've seen as a Dpreview forum but without the arguing.

Yeah, I'll likely be visiting there more often I suppose. Camaraderie and FM might be the go-tos for me.

 

[TNcasual]

 

[Irene McC]

From an article I've seen... so sad to think that poof all those years of content will just be gone

DPReview.com will remain active until April 10. Following that date, the site will enter a read-only mode for a limited period. After that, the website will go offline, its massive library of content seemingly lost forever. It's a major loss to photographers.

 

[wt21]

It does seem like a MASSIVE removal of really solid content. For decades (though I'm sure Amazon will data mine the site and use it for AI training or whatever)

 

[wt21]

I guess photography will retreat back to a hobbyist niche, now that mass-market (outside of phones) is dead.

 

[TNcasual]

Prepare for more traffic on sites like this one, I'll bet. And the moderator headaches that may come with some of the more "loose cannons" finding a home (maybe we can point them to reddit pages, haha)

Absorbing the mu-43 purge wasn't that difficult here. As they general attitude between Cameraderie and mu43.com was similar and/or complementary. I'm not sure the same can be said for DPReview refugees. We shall see, I guess.

 

[gordo]

I haven't posted there in years, but it's still a shame to see the site just evaporate.

DPR had a nice repository of info regarding cameras and lenses I would reference now and again.

 

[MoonMind]

Prepare for more traffic on sites like this one, I'll bet. And the moderator headaches that may come with some of the more "loose cannons" finding a home (maybe we can point them to reddit pages, haha)

That crossed my mind when I read about it. We'll have to wait and see. I have no time for "loose cannons" of the type you're referring to, though - I made only very few attempts at joining discussions on DPR before becoming frustrated with the tone and quality of the responses over there and giving up on the forum. I'm certainly not going to put up with anything of that kind.

However, the staff has done a lot of great work over the years and the site became a kind of hub for me when looking for solid technical information; the quality and consistency of the content is really second to none. So, DPR grew into the entry point to my daily photography news roundup. I'll miss the site for that reason alone. I hope the online archives will allow us to access the content for the foreseeable future, though.

As for Chris and Jordan, I'd be surprised if they didn't find another home - since they joined, the DPReviewTV channel has grown tenfold (at least).

M.

 

[TNcasual]

Chris and Jordan are their own brand. I see them just continuing as their own channel, or being re-absorbed back to The Camera Store. Maybe this will also allow them even more creative freedom. As they are the best when they are being creative.