I have subscribed to Popular Photography for about 5 years. I intend to continue subscribing because it has the most product reveiws of any photo magazine that I have encountered. It allows me to keep up with what's new in the way of equipment. Of particular interest are the lens tests. Pop Photo tests most new lenses for 35 mm cameras, which is more than any other source that I know of. Now to the bad part: I find that the articles that are not related to products reviews are primarily intended for novices, and they are very repetitive. If you've subscribed for more than a year, you will find that many basic subjects are treated over and over again. And I have always been disappointed in the subjects of the articles, which are just very unimaginative. Photography is such a huge subject, with many interesting and idiosyncratic techniques available. There is no need to stick to the same handful of subjects. It's uninspirational, and it's bad editing, frankly. I do like Herb Keppler's monthly column. He's a plain-spoken guy who usually has something useful to say. More evidence of editorial laziness is that Pop Photo essentially puts their annual product guides in the magazine. This means that several of their issues are dominated by pages and pages of charts telling you what is available this year in SLR's, point-and-shoots, film, zoom lenses, etc. There is very little else in those issues. Other magazines put their product guides in a separate publication that is available on the newsstand.
In summary, Pop Photo has a wide audience and a lot of potential, but needs a better Editor. The product reviews and tests are worth the price of the subscription to me, but that is really what the magazine excells at.
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Pop Photo is a good general purpose photography magazine. The coverage of new trends and products is good and the techncial reviews of equipment can't be beat.There is a tendency for the editorial staff to be combative with letter writers (check the letters to the editor). This can be annoying, and fortunately they've mellowed out a bit over the past couple of years.
Good travel photo column, and the readers photos segement is the first thing I look for every issue.
One caveat, if you're a digital photographer looking for in-depth digital how-tos this isn't the mag for you.
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The Good--------
* This is a nice magazine for the price.
* It has some informative articles, which maybe useful to newcomers to photography in general or the digital aspects of photography.
* If you are getting started in photography, or you are at a beginner/amateur level, this magazine can be very helpful as a stepping stone
* If you are an experienced amateur/pro, you can still like this magazine, but don't expect many in-depth/advanced topics.
* The Monthly Lens reviews are helpful to SLR/DSLR users
* For people who like to flip through magazines and even look at ads from different vendors, this is a good resource.
The Not so good
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* The technical reviews of digital cameras are skin-deep compared to the in-depth technical reviews by the online photography sites (such as dpreview).
* Sometimes the reviews are word-smithed in such a way that they avoid saying negative things, so -at timesyou have to pick-up on what is not said in the review in order to figure out if there's something wrong with a product.
* The "News" are 4-12 weeks behind real time.
* If you expect in-depth or pro-level articles, those are rare.
Consumer beware segment
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Towards the back of the magazine there are plenty of ads from various mail-order vendors. Some of them are very reputable, honorable and reliable vendors such as B&H and J&R.
However, some other vendors are less than stellar to put it in mildly. You will recognize them by the too-good-to-be-true super-low prices, and they usually practice "bait & switch" among other things. These have been documented on various websites and photography forums. If you are not familiar with all these, and you see prices that are very low, you may want to do some research before purchasing.
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As a budding amateur photographer, I was hoping this magazine would have good tips and interesting articles. But, instead, there's a lot of product reviews for things that I don't need. It's fine to have one section on products, but I didn't know that's what the whole magazine was about. I have a year subscription, but I just keep throwing the magazines away when they arrive. I don't have the inclination to look through them anymore.Save 74% Off
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