FAQ

We get lots of email, feedback and forums comments from people asking the same questions about the site. This FAQ is designed to help answer those questions.

Can I email you?

To contact us, please use our feedback page, which also contains a link to the public feedback forum. We get well over 200 emails every day and thus it's very unlikely that we will be able to respond to any email sent. All feedback sent on our feedback page is read.

Please note, we can not and do not answer requests such has:

* These questions will be answered on your manufacturers website

What about your ethics?

The authority and credibility of this site has been built on over 14 years of quantitative, consistent and totally transparent testing, with all results available for inspection, and unmoderated feedback through the user forums ensuring all visitors have the right to question our conclusions. Products are supplied for review on the understanding that the manufacturer / distributor has no right to influence the final conclusions or ratings.

No content is ever written in exchange for money, gifts or the promise of advertising. No advertising will be accepted unless it is with the understanding that advertising on the site does not guarantee any coverage for the advertiser whatsoever, be it news, reviews or other editorial.

Manufacturers may request the re-testing of certain parts of reviews (within reason) or the correction of mistakes (with notation to the original) however requests for changes of subjective content such as reviewers opinion will be ignored.

We will never attempt to mislead visitors by mislabeling previews as 'reviews' and will never attempt to draw in visitors from search engines by the use of the word 'review' in articles, tags or URL's (hidden or not) where the article in question does not have any quantitative measurements undertaken on our own premises.

Our writers are expected to uphold absolute ethical neutrality. We always strive to maintain the perspective of a potential purchaser.

All products are provided to us 'on loan' and are returned at the end of this loan period (typically 2-3 weeks). In some circumstances we may ask for this loan period to be extended for the purposes of comparison. We have no reason to believe that any product has ever been 'specially prepared' for review, we have in the past compared our test results with those of purchased models and found no differences. Should we ever discover a manufacturer attempting to do this we would of course immediately publish this fact. We have also received 'DOA' (Dead On Arrival) products which have to be replaced.

What's a preview / review ?

Editorial definitions:

What do "pre-production" and "production" mean?

A pre-production digital camera is one prepared in a small batch for testing and training purposes. These small numbers of cameras are normally quite difficult to get hold of, however we often request them to enable us to deliver reviews to you more quickly. Typically finish quality (and even sometimes image quality) is not as good as the final product and we therefore clearly mark reviews based on pre-production cameras. A production digital camera is the same as one from the shelf in your local electronics store, it's made in the same mass production batch as all other digital cameras and will have a full serial number.

How come you gave camera X a Gold Award in 2021 and the new camera Y only a Silver Award this year?

Ratings are given at the time of review based on the state of the competition. Camera Y may well be a far better camera than camera X but it receives a lower score because of its performance in comparison to other cameras in the same category at the time of review. It is impossible to rate cameras based on a 'future prediction'.

In what order is your review 'overall conclusion' rating?

Best to worst, pre 2009:

Since 2009 our scoring system has changed. Visit this page for details.

Can I get a list of your reviews sorted by rating?

Yes you can, just click here.

Why has a preview of a camera not turned into a review yet?

Previews (in depth, hands-on articles published at or near the time of announcement) are produced, where possible, for all major camera launches. Previews usually contain a lot of information and commentary (and may be tagged as a 'first impressions review', and may have image quality samples and some studio tests. They are some of the most popular content on the site. But they do not take anywhere near the amount of time a full review takes. We simply do not have the resources to turn all previews into reviews, but we will always try to keep adding to a preview (images, test results etc) so they become a more useful resource over time.

How come you review brand X more than brand Y? Are you biased?

We often get accused of having shady agendas when deciding which product to review, when, but the truth is that we base our decisions on a number of factors, including the level of interest (as measured by search queries, traffic, feedback, forum activity and so on), our own interest in the product, the level of innovation and, of course, availability. It's not unheard of for reviewable cameras to be unavailable for weeks, sometimes months after launch.

What we do not base our decisions on are commercial pressure from advertisers or retailers (we have never been asked, and we would never do so). Our editorial team does not know, or care, how much revenue is generated on any retail product links, nor do they have any visibility into advertising spend or scheduling. If we were paid for content we would be required by law to fully disclose that information.

Finally, we do not 'favor' one brand over another. We make every effort to produce accurate, objective review content, and a look at our reviews scoring and awards spread across manufacturers certainly supports this. In the past 14 years we have been accused of bias towards, and against, every single manufacturer, and of 'loving' or 'hating' them all. This too would suggest that our favors are applied pretty evenly.

There is one thing that is true, however. We do tend to favor popular cameras when prioritizing our review schedule. If we can produce a review of a product from brand X that will be read by 10 or 20 times more people than a review of a product from brand Y then we will review the brand X product first. We try to make sure that we dedicate a large proportion of our resource to covering products we know people are coming in the largest numbers to read about. We have to disappoint some proportion of our audience, and we're trying to keep that proportion as low as possible. It is only by covering these popular or high interest products that we can even afford to spend a month reviewing products that will never cover the cost of producing them.

How come you've not reviewed camera X yet ?

Probably because the manufacturer hasn't sent us a review sample or that they have and it's simply too pre-production (too flaky, not representative of final product) to review. We also have a limited amount of resource to review cameras, we'll often select the most interesting / innovative or popular camera to review in great detail rather than trying to review everything in a shallow manner.

You said you're working on a review of this camera, how come you've not posted a review yet ?

There are many reason a review can be delayed, just some of which are listed below:

I'm posting on the forums, is my email address protected?

Yes, in a word. Please refer to our full privacy policy for details.

Can I copy your news / reviews / articles / etc. and put them up on my site?

No. Please read our copyright statement. If you're interested in licensing material from the site then please contact us.

Where can I see full forum rules?

Forum posting rules are explained in our community guidelines.

Do the community guidelines apply to private messages?

We offer as part of our service the ability to contact other members directly, using the Private Messaging feature. Although these messages are not displayed publicly we request that members follow the same basic rules of civility that they would in the public forums. The swear word filter is operational in private messages.

Does anyone else have access to my private messages?

We are committed to making DPReview a welcoming and inclusive environment for all of our users, and we appreciate the trust you place in us when using our services, that we will use information you share with us carefully and responsibly.

Private messages may only be accessed by DPReview administrators to the extent necessary to operate, provide, and improve the products and services we offer. For example, your PMs may be used to investigate complaints among users and/or moderators, allegations of fraud, harassment, illegal activity, or commercial solicitation. We do not share your PMs, or information contained therein, with any third party unless we believe disclosure is appropriate in order to comply with the law.

For a full list of prohibited activities on our site and use of our services, see our community guidelines.

How can I find out how to enter or host Challenges?

Please visit this page for details, or ask in the challenges forum to ask for advice

How do I upload to Galleries?

Please visit this page for for information

How can I write for DPReview?

We are always looking for new freelance writers. Please contact us using the feedback form (category 'General Feedback') or contact an admin directly.

Can I change my username?

You may now request a change to your username on your settings page. You are welcome to change your username at most once every 180 days. If you have any questions about this policy or issues with the process, please contact us using the feedback form.

Can I close my account?

You cannot close your account yourself, but you can request an account closure via our feedback system. Please note the following:

If you wish to close you account please contact us using the feedback form or PM an admin directly.

Note: Once your account is closed, it cannot be re-opened in the future.

I've forgotten my password or log-in email, how can I reset it?

You can change your email address or password by choosing 'Change email/password' from the drop-down menu next to your name in the top bar. If you've forgotten your password you can reset it here. If you can no longer access the email address you registered with (which you need to log in and to reset your password), please contact us using the feedback form.

Where can I get help with other user or site issues?

Contact us using the feedback form — this allows you the option to ask questions in public (using the site feedback forum) or privately.