Post Selection Evaluation

We ask you to print on your list of 5 to 15 camera form the evaluation of experts. There are many online digital camera reviewers that have a conflict of interest in that they accept advertising and sponsorships. However, remember that in order to attract viewers to attract advertisers and sponsors they must provide useful information. Because Consumer Reports does not have a conflict of interest you might prefer their ratings, which are available to you if you pay for their online service or buy the Consumer Reports magazine. But, the problem with the camera reviews of Consumer Reports is that they do not detail their testing procedure so that you have no idea how they came to their conclusions and the information they provide is brief indeed. In contrast, the online reviewers detail their testing procedures and provide much more detail than Consumer Reports. Because the online reviews almost always favor the same cameras that incidentaly are also favored by Consumer Reports I believe you should adopt a safety in numbers approach. We will recommend that you initally check 2 to 4 easy to get opinions and check all reviews of the final two cameras.

The easy to get evaluations are:

• Jeff Keller of DCRP has a faq list of recommended cameras that is down about 1/4 of a page. To understand why each camera is on the list you would have to read its review.
• Dave Etchell of IR provides his "Dave's Pick" The list by resolution is the easiest to find the cameras on your list. Dave gives a paragraph why he likes each camera on the list.
• CNET digital camera reviews: Sort the list by Editors' Rating high to low and pick a cutoff such as 7.6.
• If you subscribe to Consumer Reports online, you can go there and check their camera list. You must create your own critera such as how far down from the best.

We recommend that you start with the top two reviewers. If a camera has only one positive review check the other two. Remember each site only reviews some of the cameras on the market and their reviews are posted at different times. The first two sites are either "yes" or "no" evaluations. The next two have ratings. Using these sites you should pare down your list to between 3 and 5 cameras to go to the detailed evaluation stage. If you have reviews from another source such as camera magazine you might also consider them.