If you are into photography, don't watch popular Youtubers

This will be hopefully my final post about photography channels on Youtube, and my issues with them, because I'm frankly tired of this topic, but I still feel compelled to get my message out one more time in a comprehensive way. I was one of the first blogs that made comprehensive lists of photography Youtubers (2016, 2017, 2018). Initially I had a plan to make a 2019 list, but then I decided not to do it, because I stopped watching them. It's just became so bad in only a few years that I completely changed my mind when it comes to this topic.

Why you might wonder? I realized they are for the most part a big scam, and a massive waste of time. I'm talking about the popular ones, those that have like 100,000 or more subscribers. There are still a plenty of smaller channels run by hobby photographers that offer a lot of great content, but whoever chooses to go the commercial route - don't give them your eyeballs and time, because they have increasingly less to do with photography, and more with selling things to you, and/or to make you upset. I surely don't begrudge them for figuring out how to make money, but what worries me as a consumer is how they are doing that. There's so much that bothers me here, so let me break down for you all these things.

How photography gear marketing has changed

Here's an overview of how camera brands and photography gear brands are approaching marketing in the present times as compared to the past (pre-social media times, let's say before 2010). Keep in mind that this is a very simplified overview, and approaches will heavily differ region by region, brand by brand etc:



As you can see, with the emergence of social media platforms like Youtube and Instagram, the so called online influencer has taken a very central stage in the way brands are marketing products after 2010, but even more so in the past 5 years. Sony has been the leader here ever since they have introduced their Sony Alpha mirrorless series. The established camera brands like Canon and Nikon dominated the traditional photography market, but they were a bit detached from the latest generation. It took them a few years to realize that they have to follow Sony, if they want to capture the mind of the millennial consumer. They began not only to copy the way Sony marketed their products, they have even developed products to compete in that very same segment Sony created (full frame mirrorless). Sony was smart to aggressively target online influencers early on (people like Jason Lanier, which ironically backfired), that's the reason why you see so many former hobbyist or professional photographers with a Youtube channel getting converted to either being exclusively Sony shooters, or switching from a preferred brand (Canon, Nikon) to brand impartial (at least on the surface), so that they got included in Sony's media seeding (Matt Granger was known as "That Nikon Guy", today he goes by his personal name and reviews every brand. Fro Knows Photo was a Nikon centric channel, today he reviews every brand).

Renowned photographer Tyler Shields made a video about the difference between Youtubers and photographers.

The problem with online influencers

Some of the first photography Youtube channels popped up some 10 years ago, and were relatively small in their first few years. They were hobby channels and made no money aside from some change through Google ads. About 5 years ago a lot of them turned into small to medium sized businesses, with employees, production studios, business plans, and agendas. They grew together with the growth of Youtube and social media. They started to focus mainly on two things: Making more money, and growing in subscribers and views (to maintain or grow importance with brands). To do so they realized they needed to keep you engaged. They had to find ways to make you watch their videos over and over again. So how do they keep you engaged every single day? Here is a basic overview of that, a few key things:

1. By producing a lot of content, that's the first thing that Google's algorithm needs. Preferably daily content.

2. By creating click-bait style thumbnails and titles. As you will see in the examples below, they apply all kinds of tactics here: Suggestive and misleading thumbnails that enhance the effect of the video caption, parts of the caption written in ALL CAPS for emphasis, and often flat out lying in the title yellow press style. When you see that, it should be a warning sign for you to stay away from these channels.

3. By choosing controversial topics. For example, you love Brand A, so they will say right now Brand B is better for xxx bogus reason. Brand B is proclaimed the winner! A short while later they make another video and say Brand A is actually better. Or they say they are switching from Brand A to Brand B, because Brand A "doesn't innovate anymore". A short while later they will make a video about why they switched back. And the more you watch, engage, and argue over these videos, the more powerful they become. Google plays a big part in that. Deception and conflict thrive on Youtube these days, and a lot of channels are making good money from that.

4. They mostly recommend the latest and most expensive gear

5. They mostly lack any real photography and videography skills

Have you ever seen a large Youtuber produce anything like this video? I have not, but boy do they love to criticize cameras on their video features. Would you listen to a car reviewer who doesn't know how to drive?

Examples

Let me share several examples of how popular photography Youtubers try to influence and affect you, and why you should stop watching them and spend your time working on your photography instead.

1. CREATING NARRATIVES

About the EOS R: It was the Northrups that created a controversy about this camera when it was launched. They were criticizing the fact that it just had one card slot, that it had bad video features, that it was an overall disappointing camera. A few weeks later they BOUGHT IT for vlogging! The truth is, the camera was never bad or flawed to begin with, but they created a narrative most likely to stir controversy.

About the Panasonic S1-S1R: They are talking about a camera they have never held in their hands. The whole video is speculation, and creating several false narratives. You cannot judge a product like a camera without having used it for a while.



About the single card slot: A commentator with knowledge exposed Tony for not using the right method of sampling and analyzing poll data, but Tony still went with it. He's again using all caps in the title, and implying things that are untrue: There's no causality between one card slot and photos being "DESTROYED", nor did "SCIENCE ANSWER" anything in his video, because he did not use a scientific way to come to conclusions, but just his opinion based on a flawed sample size.

In his next video he claimed how an SD card failed him during vlogging, which is very interesting. I cannot disprove that it actually happened, but it is a big coincidence, when you spend a week pushing that one card slot issue narrative that an SD card happens to fail. Fast forward to a few weeks later he proceeds to buy the same camera, and he is fine with it. Go figure!

2. BEING HYPOCRITICAL

About the camera companies lying: I hope you see the irony here, because I do.

About hating to make negative reviews: I don't believe that. Some of their most viewed videos are negative reviews, because they know the fans of that particular camera brand will be upset and the fans of the competing camera brand will be happy. These controversies increase views, comments, and pushes such videos to the top search results for that particular model. And it's totally fair to share opinions about models, and say one might be better in some regards than the other, but it's about how you do it. The method and intention are very important here.

3. FOCUSING ON ONE FLAW

Tony Northrup about the Nikon Z7 image quality: The key message of that title is "BANDING IS REAL", with all caps to make sure the viewer doesn't miss that. Fact is, the so called 'banding' occurs with most mirrorless cameras under very unlikely conditions of heavily underexposed photos. It's a non-issue for 99% of people who buy mirrorless cameras. The Nikon Z7 sensor is one of the best FF sensors out there, this camera is an outstanding product. But the point here doesn't seem to be focusing on the truth, but to upset Nikon users and pacify Sony and Fuji users by putting emphasis on a very minor issue. That creates more controversy, more clicks, and more views. It's a simple formula that is applied very often. Fact is: Most cameras produced in this decade are amazing, and more than good enough for any hobby photographer.

Matti Haapoja about the Canon EOS RP: He says the camera is "not good for anything" because it has no Dual AF in 4k video and no 24 fps option in 1080p. He says "it's a completely useless camera right now", and urges his followers to "cancel preorders". He also says Canon is losing people who buy cameras for video "with stunts like this". Once again how quickly is an excellent and great value full frame camera dismissed just because of one perceived shortcoming. Which company would create a lower priced product and give you everything? It's basic economics, that a 2300 USD camera will have more features than a 1300 USD camera. Matti Haapoja is a great example why people generally don't like millenials these days, and he's never produced any meaningful video.

4. STIRRING UP THE COMMUNITY

About Micro Four-Thirds being DEAD: He starts the video with: "What I think is gonna happen is Micro Four-Thirds is gonna die, not immediately, but slowly, over the course of the next couple of years". That's something very different than saying "Micro Four-Thirds is DEAD". So why is his title saying something different than the video itself? To stir controversy in the online community? To provoke Micro-Four Thirds fans, and to make full frame mirrorless shooters feel good about themselves? Probability is high on that.

About the photography community being toxic: They're nurturing that very same toxic community with some of their videos, then pointing finger at them. It's just another example that would also fit into the hypocrisy category. This is very alarming.

5. BOGUS BRAND COMPARISONS

Three Blind Men and an Elephant: He compares an entry level Canon full frame mirrorless camera EOS RP to the X-T30, an entry level consumer APS-C camera by Fuji, and says the latter is better, hence the Canon is DOA. Can you take someone like this serious? The EOS RP is an amazing product, so is the X-T30, but saying the EOS RP is bad because you believe the X-T30 is a better value is not very logical. This is the "throw away" mentality of today's consumers that is making us complain all the time instead of enjoy the marvels of modern technology.

David Oastler about Sony finally overtaking Canon's Dual Pixel AF: The whole video is basically a speculation that a future update will improve Sony's current video autofocus to a point that it will be better than Canon's Dual AF. It's basically 12 min of drivel and speculation, while he is scrolling through a website. He never thoroughly tested anything to be in a position to make any such conclusion, his claims have no backup. He's basically pulling all of that from the place where the sun doesn't shine. I'm just amazed that 18000 people watched this garbage. I see most comments were made by Sony users who feel validated. He's preaching to his own cult.

6. BRAND TRIBALISM & SWITCHING

Jason Lanier on 10 reasons why the Sony A7 ii is the best camera in the world: Jason was a known Sony shill and one of their ambassadors, but was last year removed for some mysterious reasons (I have blogged about that here). Of course the A7ii was not the best camera in the world at that time, it had terrible autofocus, and was overheating. Best is relative, so when people talk in superlatives like this, you know they have an agenda. You can't take them seriously, even if they talk about your own preferred brand.

Fred Ranger on switching from Sony to Fuji: I have written about camera brand switchers in one of my previous posts. Be wary of these people, they either suffer from gear acquisition syndrome, or they just look for cheap clickbait (it's probably both). They have very little to do with photography.

7. USING RIDICULOUS LANGUAGE

On the "mirrorless wars": There is no such thing as "mirrorless wars", this is a construct that was created to divide people into brand tribes, feeding further into the gear acquisition syndrome and general tribalism. This is what nurtures the online toxicity. Why not a title like: "Opinion on multiple camera brands focusing on mirrorless technology"?

On the Matt Granger's thumbnail: Imagine a grown man spending time to create that thumbnail.

My advice

Don't watch popular photography Youtubers, don't subscribe to them, don't support them. Watching their videos equals support here, because the bigger they get, the worse it will become for all of us. Most of them are not improving your photography, because the majority of them are not photographers. What many of them want you to do is focus on gear and specs, instead of mastering the skill of manipulating light and composition. A lot of them are also constantly promoting the latest and most expensive gear, because they work with brands and other sponsors, and they make money through hot links to Amazon, B&H or Adorama, or through book sales, Lightroom presets, and a few other ways. Let me give you one example that showcases what I am talking about:

1) Here is a photo taken by a Youtuber who had photography gear worth over 20,000 USD when he took this shot during a trip to Morocco



2) Here is a portrait taken by a redditor with gear worth 300-400 USD, manually focused:


The lesson here is: Expensive gear doesn't make you a better photographer, and people who preach about cameras are often not good at doing photography. Photography is about emotions, not about numbers and specs. Go out and shoot, share your photos on sites like Flickr or Reddit, if you feel compelled to interact with other photographers online, but don't waste your time with these popular photography Youtubers. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about, I used to obsess about them, I used to binge watch so many channels in the past, but I finally realized that I was wasting my time. Being out and taking photos would have been a much better investment for me. If I can do it, so can you. If for some reason you can't stop watching them, scale down, and be more selective (always check their portfolio). I hope my post helped you.

Related

AUG 27, 2018: The downfall of The Angry Photographer
MAY 29, 2018: The downfall of Jason Lanier - Removed as Sony Artisan
MAR 4, 2018: Why you shouldn't trust channels like Tony Northrup