Just Wondering (Blog Notes)

Did you notice that TOP hasn't had any posts about gear since February 18th? That's because some people were complaining that they thought the site had gotten to be too much about gear. I thought I'd try doing without it for a while to see how you liked it.

What do you think? Do you like it better this way, or worse? Have you been happier and more involved with the site in the past two weeks or so? Or did you catch yourself going elsewhere to read (or view videos) about gear? Just curious!

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Want to help?

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Mike R: "Look at it this way : TOP is your oyster, and you provide the irritant, resulting in the pearls of comments. Do both."

Peter Croft: "Yes, I noticed and I miss the gear posts. To be frank, Mike, your tastes in images don't coincide with mine. I skim your pieces about random excellence (really?) and the books, but only metal and glass gets me excited."

 

 

Comments

[LARRY JOHNSON]

Over the past five years I've abandoned several gear-oriented blogs because they were poorly written and mostly one dimensional. I value learning about equipment (and stuff) because it interests me, but it's most useful when it comes in a form with perspective, context and how the product might relate to the user. I enjoy reading your OT reminiscences and arcane or even obtuse treatises on a range of subjects (Fiat Spyders, tube amps, brewing tea). If an essay doesn't strike a chord with me, I just skip over it. No harm, no foul. I like your mix approach. I can't see a time when I would be enthusiastic or interested in M4/3, but I know others are. I look forward to your remarks on the big Fuji GFX or even the new Lumix S1R, not because I'm on the verge of getting one (I wish!) but because I appreciate and celebrate technical advancement and achievement. I've sold hundreds of prints, dozens of them huge (from three to twelve feet, long side) so I pay attention to gear and techniques that enable the photographer to do that kind of output, even though I'm mostly retired now. That said, my decades as a music performer and conductor makes me receptive to content that features experiences, insights, nostalgia or trivia about the soundtracks that accompanied our lives. After following the comments you elicit for eight years, I'd say there's a high percentage of generalists who check in with your blog regularly. Whatever the subject, the prose is what keeps us coming back.

[David Comdico]

I don't mind the gear posts. After all, circa 2019 is the second great wave of digital cameras. It's a tsunami of GAS. But the focus and insight on photography that is to be found here is unique and so of more value, whereas gear talk is as common on the internet as empty beer cans in a Walmart parking lot.

[Mim]

One more vote for the "I like how you write, so write whatever you want" camp...

[Jason Melancon]

Generally, gear talk is intensely interesting when I'm in the market and something I skip over when not - like when you're shopping for a car you notice all these vehicles that would have just been background otherwise.

But TOP gear talk that mixes in picture taking and photography in general with the gear commentary is almost always interesting even if I have zero interest in the particular gear nominally under discussion.

And often the comments include little gems of information or just interest that one would not likely find elsewhere.

[Ram]

I know you have to make a living, and gear posts get more clicks. Keep a balance, as much as possible, among all the topics you have indexed on the right. Thanks for asking.

[Rod Thompson]

Really like posts about photgraphy generally, gear specific ones less so. To me, the "deeper truth" is in the craft, not the tools.