I've gotten a lot of responses to the following post; in fact, my In Box overfloweth. No need to tell me that you appreciate what I do. I get enough feedback to know this is true for most of you reading this. But thanks to those of you who took the time to do so.
When I go off-ranch and write about equipment other than Nikon, the fanboys come out and do their thing. It's like I kicked their dog, or something, and now they want to kick me back.
Of course, they don't always read what I wrote before posting, and I noticed a couple of posts on several fora today where some were guessing about what I'll write about cameras they know I'm still testing. I'm also always amused by the "he's just trying to get more site traffic so he can sell more ads" comments, which shows that those people never actually made it to my site.
Still, it sometimes stings. I'm not infallible, nor am I ever 100% consistent in my comments. Sometimes what I write doesn't quite come out quite the way, or with the context, that I intended it. When I discover that, I try to go back and "fix" what I wrote. More on that in a moment, as it's the reason for this little commentary. But first:
One of the interesting feedback points from the last few days seems to have to do with "pocketability." There seem to be a lot of people that say I can't possibly (or shouldn't be) be walking around with a camera in my pocket all the time. Trust me. I just got back from a six mile hike with three cameras I'm testing in my pockets (for those who are curious, it was a vest with very large and deep pockets). One person wrote me in shock about how you can never do that because the lens cap might come off in the pocket and the lens get scratched. I was tempted to write back "get a UV filter," but you faithful site readers will know that I didn't and the reason why.
In truth, in over a year now of carrying my Olympus camera all over the world (three continents and counting) and submitting it to a world of abuse, the only time it's sustained any damage at all is when I dropped it. Pros don't coddle equipment, they use it. And we often find that it's a lot more hardy than people expect. That's not to say that you can't damage equipment carrying it casually like I do. You most certainly can. But it's not high on my list of things to worry about, and somewhere along the line I figured out that I shouldn't be bumping into rocks and walls and doorways when I'm carrying a camera in my pocket. It's called adaptation, and I highly recommend it.
But none of that's the real reason why I'm writing today's entry. I want to remind everyone that the compact comparison reviews are a work in progress, not yet finished articles. I'm currently at an undisclosed location doing more testing (thus today's hike). I'm trying to balance all those requests ("I'm going to buy a compact camera this Christmas, what should I get") with my available time and other projects. At the moment, I don't anticipate truly completing the series and polishing all the articles into completeness until late January.
So, read with a bit of care. And feel free to come back to the complete set when I put the final touches on everything next month (there will be more in the meantime, never fear).
In the meantime, if I accidentally kick your dog, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.