This is the question that popped into my head when I saw the thumbnail for his latest video titled "The Nikon Z50 is a HUGE Mistake". One thing that reminded me of Trump was his use of "HUGE" (capitalized), another thing was the fact that he's using a title which he knows will stir controversy among the photography community. And of course my title and artwork are a commentary on this very same clickbait that has become so rampant among online reviewers (and falls well within fair use).Should Youtube crack down on such blatant click bait?
Screen grab of Tony Northrup's video thumbnail from October 12, 2019.While the title is silly, the main issue is that he photoshopped the Z50 into his thumbnail while he never held one. There's no footage of him holding an actual Nikon Z50 in his hands. In reality he's holding a Nikon D500 in his video (I know that from a previous video), and he overlaid a Z50 image on top. I checked Youtube's policies about Spam, deceptive practices & scams and it states:
If you're posting contentYoutube further lists an example related to thumbnails:
Don’t post content on YouTube if it fits any of the descriptions noted below.
• Misleading Metadata or Thumbnails: Using the title, thumbnails, description, or tags to trick users into believing the content is something it is not.
The following types of content are not allowed on YouTube. This isn't a complete list.It's no surprise that the video garnered over 100,000 views in a day with over 1500 comments. It's also one of his most disliked videos of late with nearly 1500 dislikes. People are fed up with this kind of nonsense and are calling him out in the comments. Most of his non-clickbait videos have much less views and reactions.
• A thumbnail with a picture of a popular celebrity that has nothing to do with the content.
I think Youtube should be more explicit here and crack down on these misleading thumbnails, this is not serving anyone in the long term. Yes, in the short term the views increase, and ad money increases, too, but it's making Youtube more toxic and worse in the long run in my opinion.
Is Nikon snubbing Tony Northrup?
I don't know, but I hope they do. In the case of the Z50 it's clear that Tony wasn't included in any media seeding of the pre-production sample, so he might be bitter. I don't really have a better explanation on why is he slamming this camera that most other reviewers as well as most people from the photography community received positively. That's just my impression. Here's the list of large English speaking Youtubers who did receive a preproduction sample of the Z50: Fro Knows Photo, Kai Wong, Gordon Liang, DP Review, Engadget, and Wex. Some smaller channels also got their hands on the Z50, such as: Ricci Talks (who works for Nikon), Practical Photography, and imaging resource.
Related
Read my post about Nikon's October 2019 product launches, and my older post about why you should not trust Youtube channels like his.
Maybe he's presenting his actual opinion and that's why he's being negative?
ReplyDeleteHe has never held the camera in his hands. And he speaks for "average consumers" as if he understands them. Canon has more mounts and more cameras than Nikon, I've never heard him say that it was a "HUGE mistake". Sony's A6XXX series are confusing, did he ever say it was a "HUGE mistake" ? Whatever crap same camera Sony launches, he says it's the best in the world. But Nikon is not putting up with his BS, so he's bitter, because he thinks he's the Jay Z of Youtube photography. In reality he's actually the Soulja Boy of Youtube photography.
DeleteOpinion? More like reading an internal Sony memo that was sent to various Youtubers and actually being the only one who made a video based on it.
DeleteHe knows creating controversy and negativity will generate attention, even if it's bad it still means people will see it. That's why I think the "my response to" videos and "the truth" videos are bad because they just lead back to the controversial source and he knows it. He knows people will get all wild about it but it's generating numbers and the algorithm loves that. He's an algorithm photographer.
ReplyDeleteThe pic really cracked me up!
ReplyDeleteThe thumbnail he made is so fake!
ReplyDeleteI followed your blog because I'm also tired of these Youtubers.
ReplyDeleteYoutube is the wild west and almost every succesfull youtuber bends the rules to get more views and interactions. No surprises there.
ReplyDeleteWhether he is actually holding the camera in his hands is irrelevant to his critique. He is simply pointing out:
1. that the mount is unnecessarily huge for APSC which will be a limiting factor for how small the APSC camera can get
2. that an adequate APSC lens selection will take forever to get developed
3. that using FF glass on APSC makes the kit significantly larger than it needs to be - without the benefits of the FF glass (Wasted glass!)
3. that developing those APSC lenses will take away resources from the critical development of FF glass for the Z mount
4. that having APSC and FF glass for the same Z mount will create confusion among users (Just like DX / FX did for some)
5. that simply making the new APSC mount the same size as DX would be a shortcut that would allow users to immediately access Nikkor huge selection of great glass - making the Z50 extremely competitive when compared to Fuji and Canon mirrorless.
All of these points are just basic logic that has nothing to do with how well the Z50 performs. You can attack his assumptions but the argument is coherent and not dependent on him actually testing the camera.
Oh please, you're either Tony Northrup's burner account, or one of his dedicated followers, which is not a compliment. Tony has no idea about lens design and how resources are managed within a company. Nikon made a great decision here by going with an existing mount the same way they did with their DSLRs. There's a lot of familiarity for existing Nikon users. For people new to Nikon there's that thing called "the internet". It allows you to look up things like lens mounts, lens selection and roadmaps. Tony thinks consumers who spend 1000 USD on a camera are still so stupid that they'll get "confused". If anyone's creating confusion it's videos like this that have absolutely no connection with logic and common sense. Nikon launched an outstanding camera, he's just bitter because the company he keeps trashing over and over is snubbing him.
DeleteTony is an amateur photographer at best same as Chelsea. `The fact they critique others work is so funny, they have no right nor skill to judge *anyones* work.
DeleteI think Tony, who is such a numbers guy, somehow cracked the Youtube algorithm. He knows the secret sauce as to when post, what kind of garbage to post and how to title it. I think privately he's not even doing any photography, he's just acting for the channel, because he cracked the algorithm spending nights and nights in the basement crunching the numbers.
DeleteI agree and the same goes for that Ken Wheeler guy, i mean where the f**k is his portfolio? yeah, exactly.
DeleteAlso if you look at his videos they are repeat themselves so often with the same subject just re-jigged slightly. He is just a guy that is as manipulative as the other shills except he coats his ideals as truths, when the reality is far different. Look at how he spends his money, all on GFX camera gear to shoot..... leaves and flowers and some sh!t statue of birds in his home town in the most garbage light imaginable.
Taipei Geek, you sort of managed to engage with point 4 above. Do you have any counter arguments for the other 4 points at all?
DeleteBAXE, you only listed 5 points, where are your other 4 points?
DeleteLet me spell it out for you: Baxe mentioned five points. Taipei addressed one of them - point number 4. Then Baxe asked if Taipei had any counter arguments to the remaining 4 points - number 1, 2, 3 and 5?
DeleteLet me spell it out for all of you: Tony is just listing bogus reasons to trash an excellent cameras because he knows it will increase his views. There you go.
DeleteSomeone shared your post on reddit and the discussion was pretty heated.
ReplyDeleteCan you share the link? Which sub was it?
DeleteThe mods removed it, it seems...
DeleteIt is quite hilarious that this blog criticizing clickbait has the most clickbaity headline ever! And that the second criticism is about photoshopping to get more traffic - which is exactly what this blog did as well. Just brilliant. Is this some kind of ironic performance art?
ReplyDeleteDid you read this part? "And of course my title and artwork are a commentary on this very same clickbait that has become so rampant among online reviewers"
DeleteIt's a commentary on this practice, not what my blog is about unlike his channel. Secondly, I make no money from this blog, not a dime. No Amazon hot links, no sponsors, no freebies from any camera manufacturer. He turned his channel into a huge business. Apples and oranges?
This YouTuber has replied to Tony and explained why the Z50 is an excellent camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi_eJ0z9wuI
ReplyDeleteA comment under that video sums up how I also feel about Tony, a channel I once liked and watched a lot:
DeleteWell he has 1 millions plus subscribers it is time to milk that! And apparently there is no money to be made on apsc small cameras. I was shadow banned in the comment section because on one of their videos they told the viewers that a 4000$ fullframe camera (eos R) and lens was a great family camera! My comment? I said that a canon M apsc camera with a built-in flash and a small M kit lens was way better of a choice! (no cursing no fowl language banned for it) They constantly push for FF mirrorless cameras in their videos. Now 20mp is not good enough of a sensor! Imagine that! They became sells persons for the brands, that´s the tony and Chelsea channel now. Do you remember the sob story about the 60mp picture of your dog and how you need the new A7R camera from Sony? The McCurry nonsense! Etc etc. By the way I shoot an apsc canon dslr camera with a ef 55-250mm kit telephoto lens and I get pretty good shoots at bird photography and when I see tony´s portfolio of birds mostly shot with a 500mm F4 canon lens (10000$) on a FF camera I have to say I am not impressed at all!! I have a friend of mine that uses a Tamron G2 telephoto (150-600mm 1300$) and get constantly way better results than him it not even funny. They are totally disconnected from reality.
Thanks for exposing his BS. I hope he will stop with this kind of trash clickbait and go back to useful photography tips... I guess not, tho... I donno
It's crazy how bad Tony and Chelsea channel has become.
Delete