Can't Win For Losing

This is hilarious: According to an article Gordon Lewis found, a study by an outfit called Electronics Hub analyzed data from hundreds of thousands of tweets collected in November of 2021, using machine learning to determine if the tweets had a 60% or greater chance of being a "complaint." They used this to create a series of lists of the ten most complained-about devices in the world. One of those types of devices was cameras.

And guess what—my Sony A6600 ranked as the sixth most complained-about camera! Sixth! Do I have taste in cameras, or what? Hey, at least I'm in good company.

Only a mother------ could love it

On the good side, the article (on PetaPixel) added that "According to the study, cameras actually have the lowest complaint rates for any device category." Suggesting that Electronic Hub's bots don't hang out on DPReview.

The two most complained about cameras were both GoPros. Heck, I've complained about those and I've never even seen one.

Here's the original article on Electronics Hub, which analyzes many classes of devices. You can see the rest of the list there.

Thanks to Gordon...I think.

Mike

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Ernst Haas: New York in Color 1952–1962. "When Haas moved from Vienna to New York City in 1951, he left behind a war-torn continent and a career producing black-and-white images. For Haas, the new medium of color photography was the only way to capture a city pulsing with energy and humanity. These images demonstrate Haas's tremendous virtuosity and confidence with Kodachrome film and the technical challenges of color printing."

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

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

Don Spady: "Interesting article, but does not mean much if you don't know the number of 'whatevers' sold. If the A6600 was the number one camera sold in the world, and the sixth in complaints, that's not so bad. If it is number 50 sold, and sixth in complaints, not so good. You need rates, not absolute numbers.

"Me, I have the A6500 and a NEX-6 and am very happy with both."

Tom Burke: "Interesting. I have a Canon 90D, which is the 9th most complained-about camera on the list, and I have to say that I have seen a number of complaints about it on a camera-specific forum that I frequent. It might be of interest, because all is not what it seems!

"The issue that seems to be a problem is the much higher photosite density on the 90D's sensor (it's a 32-MP APS-C camera). That's much higher than on previous Canon higher-end APS-C cameras—e.g. the 7D mark II and 80D (both 24 MP) or the original 7D which was 18 MP. Many photographers who used those cameras, very successfully, for wildlife, birds in flight and action photography have moved to the 90D (in the absence of a 7D mark III) and have found difficulty achieving sharp focus on the critical part of the image. In many cases the first response is 'there must be something wrong with this camera.'

"The reason, it seems, is that the 90D requires changes in technique, accurate lens/body calibration, and in many cases the highest quality lenses in order for those photographers to achieve results of the same standard as they were used to. Once this is understood, they amend their technique (and possibly buy new glass!) and get the results they expected all along; better, probably, thanks to the higher resolution (which if nothing else allows for greater cropping) than on their previous cameras. But, oh, the endless complaints that pop up in the meantime!—which makes the 90D look like a 'much complained about' camera."

Keith B.: "I frequently work with professional broadcast camera people, and among that group no camera or brand of cameras are more hated than GoPros."

Arg: "'My camera is soooo sick.' Complaint?"

Mike replies: Very good point. I meant to mention this, but I also think it's problematic to take a snapshot of only one month. Interest in specific cameras ebbs and flows, as DPReview's "Most Popular Camera" sidebar makes clear.

Comments

[Aaron]

I would have thought that every tweet--in virtue of being a tweet--had a 60% chance or greater of being a complaint. Wasn't the internet invented to complain?

[John Krumm]

I can only assume that any news is good news with online complaining. Who makes a Twitter post about how well their camera is working? For the Ricoh GRIII to be the top serious hobby camera is a real accomplishment.

[darlene]

Electronics Hub doesn’t reveal exactly how many tweets were used specifically in the camera section ...

Take it with a grain of salt.
Photographers with a plethora of shooting experience are believable, not social media ninjas or an info gathering company that will not reveal their data.

[Yeah, it didn't seem very reliable to me. Taking a "snapshot" of one month doesn't seem like very good methodology either. Interest in specific cameras goes up and down. --Mike]

[Gordon Lewis]

For the record, I didn’t take this “report “ seriously. I doubt Petapixel did either. But it made Mike laugh, which is what I hoped it would do.

[Animesh Ray]

Did they normalize by the number of users or total sales? If 1000 people buy camera A and 2 complain whereas if 10 people buy camera B and 1 complains, camera A still has more complaints than camera B.

[SteveW]

Grain of salt for sure.

I think you're already enjoying your A6600. And I think it will only get more fun for you, my thinking is that you'll be able to explore some different lenses like the Sigma and the Zeiss. And I think you love using a variety of lenses.

[Yonatan Katznelson]

I would be careful about teaching the machines about humanity's tendency to complain. It might hasten the termagadon.

[Craig Yuill]

Adding to darlene’s comments above, I wonder if the technology could also determine if the tweeter is a user or former user of that camera. There seem to be many complaints on the Internet about products from people who have never touched or actually seen those products in real life.

[PaulW]

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" always comes to mind when I read articles like this. Worry not, you have a fine camera.

[Bob Rosinsky]

I've been shooting with an A6600 for almost a year. It's one of the most versatile cameras I've used throughout the past 45 years. It does a great job shooting 4K video. It's a great stills camera. People who complain about the A6600 probably shouldn't have purchased one.

[Kenny Tanaka]

"Can't Win For Losing"
Geez, that sure "takes me back", as my mother would have said! My mother, never someone known for for insightful philosophy, used that expression very often when I was a tot. It's one of my most enduring memories of her. Never knew what it meant, either. But the older I got the more insightful and profound it seemed. And now here it is again!

Don't let the gang crowdsource your satisfaction with a camera, Mike. You chose the A6600 for several seemingly well-considered reasons. Now you're just beginning to saw wood with that new (to you) tool. Don't let anonymous opinions stain your experience, like learning a new girlfriend has a shady rep. Go forth and fall in, or out of, love, on your own. Saw some logs, man!

----

Separately, the Ricoh GR III is among the most complained-about cameras? Really? That's very hard for me to believe, as a long-time owner of one and its ancestors and new IIIx cousin.