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This week the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) released its annual awards. This year journalists representing various magazines in the category imaging met in New York to debate the merits of products and decide the awards.
You won't find any TIPA-related press releases on DPNow because we aren't confident that the awards actually mean anything.
Each year there are products that have netted awards that make us wonder... why? This year is no different. Fundamentally, I ask how can a product receive an award when it's not yet on the market and nobody has tested it yet? Take the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2. TIPA has awarded it 'Best Compact System Camera Advanced'. There is no doubt that the G2 is a very interesting and promising camera, but it doesn't go on sale for two months. Nobody has yet tested a production version. So how can TIPA give this camera such an award?
And maybe it's me, but the awards seem to be often evenly distributed among the big names, as if to ensure that no important brands are left out.
TIPA award logos are regarded as a valuable resource for manufacturers and their marketing, too. It's the same with the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA), which represents a wider category of magazines, but includes photography mags. Their awards also throw up strange oddities most years.
So, you know what DPNow thinks of TIPA and EISA awards - what about you? Do these awards have any impact on your thoughts about photography products? And what would be the best way to conduct an industry awards system anyway?
The manufacturers of course are aware of this and are therefore willing to pay large sums of money to people like TIPA in order to get the accolades and in so doing sell more gear to the fickle and unsuspecting public. Its hard to believe that TIPA or any other similar organisation will not reward a company that has paid a shed load of money to them.
Reading some of the brand specific forums is interesting sometimes when there is new gear out. The level of interest escalates when a review somewhere says what a great camera the new E-Dxxx is, or that it comes a poor third to a comparison test with the other 'Big Boys'. People like to know that their kit comes out well and almost take offence when it gets a negative comment from a magazine reviewer. I suppose its much the same with TIPA awards......................they sell cameras. At the end of the day though we should take all these things with a pinch of salt if what happens is as you say and TIPA members don't even handle and use the cameras
I often consider the opinions of people that have bought these things with their own hard earned cash, to be some of the most honest (althought there are those that simply will never admit to having got it wrong and say it's good no matter what)
SO: When I see "Owners" reviews that are at odds with these "Experts" opinions, that is when I know something is not right (and so should they)
The so called "BIG 2" are not so big in the eyes of the owners and while the Nikon D3s get a respectable 90.4% score from its owners, the Canon 7D gets only 87.6% and the G11 84.4%
Interestingly the Olympus E-PL1 get a healthy 91.8% rating.
BUT:
The "Best" Prestige Camera is far from being held in such high regard by those that have bought one...
[URL="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=leica_m9"]http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=leica_m9[/URL]