Reviews For Popular Photography Magazine

I have been a subscriber for more years than I care to remember. Back when Herbert Kepler was at Modern Photography even. I don't have a problem with repetition and basic photography articles. I've found there is always something to learn even from the basics. I really miss Kepler and Cora Wright Kennedy. They always had something interesting and useful to say, and they spoke primarily to amateurs. What bugs me about Pop Photo now is that it has succumbed to two things. First is that the content is driven more by the graphic design artists who design the magazine layout rather than the photographers who write for it. Second, it has decided that the average photographer has the attention span of six-month old child. Most of the articles are ridiculously short and give just a smattering of information. Those of you who have been in photography for a lot of years may remember "Photograpic Magazine" by Petersen Publishing. That was the best magazine ever. The articles were probably four to five times longer than Pop Photo's, and they were loaded with information. Unfortunately we will probably never see the likes of that magazne again. Actually, my wish is that someone would start a photo magazine dedicated to the amateur photographer and would use writers who actually use the camera gear that most people can afford. I won't hold my breath on that one.

I subscribe to this magazine.....Its good skimming through type of stuff.
Everynow and then a helpful article comes along. Mostly, its always about Canon and Nikon, with press releases included for other manufacturers.
I just renewed, for the heck of it, but it is just recycled articles from the previous year, i.e. a review of last year's replacement rebel, etc. I liked it better when they had articles like day in the life of a paparazzo, a playboy photographer, NFL photographer, etc.
Even the shooter of the year is online.
This mag has a shelf life of about 2 more years before its all digital.
Shutterbug blows it away.

Honestly, I appreciate the very indepth articles, the reviews, and the advertisements. I like this magazine, and would recommend it to anyone just entering the photography field via the digital camera. The articles provide a lot of training tools to increase your style, and learn your craft.

I have been a subscriber for a few years and have found alot of the articles repetitive and not all that educational. Recently I have subscribed to Shutterbug which is a much better magazine for both the novice and professional photographer. Its articles are insightful and even after many years they still can teach this old photographer a few new tricks !!!!

This definitely a magazine for gearheads. It's pretty much just equipment reviews and advertisements. I would have given it a higher rating but for two things:

1) I don't think I've ever seen Popular Photography not LOVE any piece of equipment. The reviews can still be useful if you're just wondering what features the new gizmo has, but still, they ought to be a bit more critical if they're going to be such a review based magazine.

2) Many of the ads are from vendors with bad reputations. I believe they make some sort of claim about requiring a certain level of honesty from anyone they sell ad space from, but it sure doesn't look like they have ever kicked anyone out of the magazine to me.

So what do you have when you have a magazine full of uncritical reviews, the occasional beginnerish article about technique, and a lot ads from stores of dubious virtue? At best a 2 star magazine.

As others have said, this magazine is maybe useful if you're a total beginner. Every issue is essentially the same--so much so that I can't even tell them apart from looking at the covers. Also if you own a camera already, much of the magazine is irrelevant product reviews.

This magazine truly caters to the lowest common denominator. Letters to the editors are petulant and unnecessary (one even complained about the use of the word "photo" instead of "photograph"). Don't expect a single to issue to go by without some uninformed digital vs film mudslinging.

This magazine is not about photography as art so much as photography as a technical process. The pictures included are usually techincally very good and aesthetically interesting, but very very conventional landscapes, wildlife, and portraits. Don't expect any innovation and risk here. For a magazine that focuses on the art of photograpy consider something like JPG magazine.

If you're a beginner this may help you out, and if you're on the market for a new piece of equipment the reviews could be useful. Otherwise, expect to find the same information rehashed ad nausium, ignorant pundants trying to sound important, and columns and articles that manage to spend several pages saying nothing. Oh, and you can see some nice but generic pictures.

I didn't notice how many ADs were really in this magazine.
You would think since this magazine isn't free, and you do have to pay a subscription, that ADs wouldn't be so overwhelming. Well...Out of the 152 pages this magazine has...108 of those were ADs.
Ummmm...Maybe they should rename their magazine.
Popular ADs & some photography.
Atleast this subscription was given to me for free.
If you want an artisticlly creative magazine with photos from people like YOU! then subscribe to JPG mag. You post your photos on their site, [...], and people vote for the specific category...if it gets the most votes, it gets in the mag. And no, I don't work for JPG...I just am very fond of their works.

Very basic info in every issue. Ok for someone who has never used a camera but not very useful for someone who wants to expand creatively and technically.

My daughter has not started receiving the magazine. When will she start getting it. I ordered it in December. ?????

As a budding amateur photographer, I was hoping this magazine would have good tips and interesting articles. But, instead, there's a lot of product reviews for things that I don't need. It's fine to have one section on products, but I didn't know that's what the whole magazine was about. I have a year subscription, but I just keep throwing the magazines away when they arrive. I don't have the inclination to look through them anymore.