Equipment review ratings

[ROA44]

I like a number of others are looking at new lenses and when reading reviews eg Photozone and DXOmark for the most part what & how relevent are some of the ratings. For example a lens on Photozone with a 3.5 rating, but with say a " should not be over looked comment". EG relevent to test lab & reality.

This is a half baked question I know, but about to head out the door, but thought this could be a good issue for new & older members who are still getting our heads around some of this stuff.

Cheers

[ricktas]

Hi

Not sure what you are suggesting, asking. Are you asking that AP members give a rating to reviews they post on AP, and other members give a rating as well, if they have that lens?

Or are you seeking to find a way to clarify what say a 3.5 rating really means on photozone etc?

[ROA44]

Probably a better understanding as to if there are points in some reviews that may in general terms be less relevant to a lot of photography and may be getting to technical if this makes sense, not quite sure how to explain better.

Can reviews be to critical in that a lens may have a lower rating but not necessarily be a bad lens and still worth purchasing.

I'll try with this one PZ give the Sigma 50 -150mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM a 4 star thumbs up rating and DXOmark give it I think it was about a 20 (can't check at the moment connection is having a bit of a go slow) I haven't finished reading all of the reviews in depth and some ratings may be relevant to the camera used and I understand this is a relevant factor.
But at this point I would be thinking the Sigma is worth a good look. having said am also considering the 24 -70 since I've heard a bit more about it.

Does any of this make sense?

Just saw PZ & DXO both using D7000's

[hoffy]

There are no crap lenses - just crap photographs

OK, I have taken my grumpy pills today, I have to admit. But too many people read too much into these ratings. Yes, some lenses have better this or better that, but for the whole, most quality modern lenses will suit most people fine.

Just sayin....

[ROA44]

Sorry hoffy, I can understand that some of these issues can be a bit frustrating possibly similar to the FF/Crop sensor issue which I must admit took me a little while for it to click but now have a better understanding of it and this I suppose can in at not dis-similar way be related, not trying to upset anyone just trying to get a more balanced perspective of it all.

Cheers and hope tomorrow is a better day had more than a few crap ones over the last 4 years especially the last 12 months myself.

[ApolloLXII]

Ratings are just somebody else's opinion. A lab test is always a fairly rough guide but nothing beats practical experience with a lens that you are intending to buy rather than reading some review or listening to a sales pitch. After a few shots, you will know if something is worth investing in or just plain sucks.

[ricktas]

it also depends, especially when on a website! You need to know who created that rating. Is it one person, a group of reviewers with known skill, or is it just people who visit the site. People will just randomly click a 1 or a 5 based entirely on the brand of the lens..like Holden/Ford. People who do not own the lens will rate it simply cause they read a good/bad review somewhere else, or a friend of a friend's second cousin had one and liked it...

If the reviewer has shown by what they have stated that they know what they are talking about, fair enough, but all to often we see something like 3.5/5 which is an aggregate of a heap of ratings, when we have no idea about the 'qualifications' of those who contributed a rating.

[swifty]

I think cross website ratings don't mean a lot.
Within the same website, it largely depends on their testing methodology. Some of the more 'scientific' tests will tell you about some of the characteristics relative to other lens tested using the same method but this may differ to how it handles in real world use.
Conversely, user reports (even from fairly well known testers) potentially tells you more about how a lens behaves in the real world, but always with a slight reviewer bias.

I find reviews useful but I rarely give much consideration to the final x star rating. I'm more interested in the 'meat' of the discussion and I extract what's useful to me out of it since we're all different and what's critical to me may be very different to others. Unfortunately for many beginners, they may not know what they want to look for in a lens and will hence have to rely more on a simplified rating system.