Back in 2015 I used to find Ken Wheeler (aka The Angry Photographer aka Theoria Apophasis), a Kentucky based commentary Youtuber, quite entertaining. In addition to that, I found he offered some value when it comes to old Nikkor lens recommendations. I started to watch him when planned to purchase my first Nikon DSLR, and was looking for my first lenses, and his videos were recommended by Youtube. I'm sure I wasn't alone in this. He used to be the guy who "went against the mainstream", and recommended old cheap used AI/AI-s and D-Series lenses by Nikon, instead of the expensive new modern lenses. He was controversial from the start, and often obnoxious in his videos, but that was fine. I didn't mind it at that time, it was kind of a quirky infotainment, which often delivered a nice chuckle and some grain of truth. As months passed by he started to put his face more in front of the camera (his first videos were anonymous), and his channel grew steadily in subscribers and video views. He started to get more and more haters and critics, but at the same time also more and more fans, because he was not only reviewing lenses anymore, he was also sharing various opinions on the camera industry in general, opinions on other Youtubers, and even on magnetism. In 2015-2016 his channel was still relatively small compared to others, and Ken, as eccentric as he was, still seemed somewhat genuine. In that period he started to like Fuji X cameras as well, and established himself as a Fuji & Nikon centric Youtuber. Some of his reviews from that time were widely well regarded, like his Nikon D500 and Fuji X-T2 review. These were thorough and informative, and offered a lot of value to his viewers.Fast forward to 2018 - what happened?
The Angry Photographer is not the same person anymore in 2018! I don't know whether it's the internet "fame" that went into his head (he's nearing 150,000 subscribers this month), or it's the air in Kentucky, but something seems off with him lately. Here are some things I've noticed:
1) He's becoming the same click-bait YouTube channel like the ones he used to rant against
Recently he's even praising them on occasion (he obviously wants to be part of the "community" now). That's pathetic. He's also deleting critical comments just like Tony Northrup (the Youtuber he vocally criticized in the past), when followers catch him lying or distorting the truth. He is mainstream now.
2) He used to be against expensive gear, but today he's shooting with Fuji GFX
2) He used to be against expensive gear, but today he's shooting with Fuji GFX
He owns a body and a few lenses that cost around 15,000 USD in total! That's the same thing I (and he) criticized Tony Northrup for. In addition he also owns several Fuji crop-sensor cameras. His current Fuji gear is worth well over 20,000 USD in total.
3) He has no portfolio!
3) He has no portfolio!
He has a few snapshots of cats and flowers on his Flickr and Instagram, that look like they're run by a 9 year old kid (judging by his ability to write in English and draw various diagrams). He has NOTHING to show photography-wise. Nothing. Imagine a car enthusiast talking about cars and car accessories who doesn't know how to drive? Would you take advice on cars from such a person? That's basically who he is, and sadly lots of people follow him and take in his BS as if it was the best thing since sliced bread. He's not a photographer, and his opinion on photography gear has no value and merit.
4) He's conspiracy theory nut
4) He's conspiracy theory nut
He's repeatedly called Einstein an idiot and is posting these kind of images on his instagram. Does this look like a mentally sound adult to you? He also claims to be expert on various magnetism theories, and says he wrote several books on that, but when you see his level of writing, you realize it's barely above that of a 9 year old. I would not be shocked, if he sits in his basement and wears a tin foil hat every other day. Since 2020 he's also become an active Anti-Masker and was escorted out of a mall by a cop, because he refused wearing a mask. He's repeatedly making posts mocking masks, here a few more examples:
He started his Youtube channel with giving advice on old Nikon lenses by reading information about them off of Ken Rockwell's blog, and here and there asking for some PayPal donation. But because Nikon was too main stream, he realized Fuji is much more of a niche community and has a more delusional fanbase, so he switched to Fuji, and started to feed that community with his BS, because they were likelier to donate money to him. As of 2018 his channel looks to me more and more like a donation scheme, where people give him money because they are so happy to hear good things about Fuji cameras and bad things about Nikon and other brands' cameras. It's so obvious what he is doing, but people still fall for it.
6) He's become a total Fuji fanboy
There's no more sound judgement of cameras and lenses in his videos. He will defend and try to minimize any kind of large flaw on Fuji cameras, and blow up any kind of minor issue on Nikon, Sony or Canon cameras. We used to get somewhat well-balanced and well-thought out videos that offered some good analysis and food for thought in his first year as a Youtuber, but in his recent videos on the new Nikon Z mirrorless cameras he's just talking like a crazy fanboy. I'm not saying that the bar was very high before, but these infantile outbursts of Fuji fanboyism are beyond anything we've seen in the past.
And it's not that he doesn't understand why Nikon cut some corners with their new Z Series Mirrorless cameras (unlike Sony and Fuji, they still have a huge DSLR business), he's just purposely disingenuous and wants to influence people away from Nikon Z, because he's so obsessed with Fuji right now and feels threatened by Nikon. I guarantee you that he will get his hands on these Nikon cameras only to offer a negative review which he will script in advance.
In conclusion
Youtuber Darren Miles recently interviewed Ken, and the portraits he made of him clearly show that Ken is not the same anymore. He's very toned down and subdued in the video, which is probably due to being hosted on another channel, but all in all he looks to me like a sad and lonely man with very expensive photography gear (Fuji GFX) which he's mainly using to take snapshots of flowers and cats. But what's even more sad is that people still watch his garbage channel and even give him money.
6) He's become a total Fuji fanboy
There's no more sound judgement of cameras and lenses in his videos. He will defend and try to minimize any kind of large flaw on Fuji cameras, and blow up any kind of minor issue on Nikon, Sony or Canon cameras. We used to get somewhat well-balanced and well-thought out videos that offered some good analysis and food for thought in his first year as a Youtuber, but in his recent videos on the new Nikon Z mirrorless cameras he's just talking like a crazy fanboy. I'm not saying that the bar was very high before, but these infantile outbursts of Fuji fanboyism are beyond anything we've seen in the past.
And it's not that he doesn't understand why Nikon cut some corners with their new Z Series Mirrorless cameras (unlike Sony and Fuji, they still have a huge DSLR business), he's just purposely disingenuous and wants to influence people away from Nikon Z, because he's so obsessed with Fuji right now and feels threatened by Nikon. I guarantee you that he will get his hands on these Nikon cameras only to offer a negative review which he will script in advance.
In conclusion
Youtuber Darren Miles recently interviewed Ken, and the portraits he made of him clearly show that Ken is not the same anymore. He's very toned down and subdued in the video, which is probably due to being hosted on another channel, but all in all he looks to me like a sad and lonely man with very expensive photography gear (Fuji GFX) which he's mainly using to take snapshots of flowers and cats. But what's even more sad is that people still watch his garbage channel and even give him money.
