Reviews: Top Photography Websites

A wide variety of information about photography is available online, including camera reviews, message boards for discussing photography, tips on improving your photos, free downloadable camera manuals, and more. Here are details on some of the top photography websites I have reviewed...

PHOTO.NET: This is a popular photography website which offers many camera reviews, a variety of forums, camera buying guides, a top photos section (based on ratings), photo of the week gallery, classifieds (for sale, want-to-buy, auction), and tips on taking different types of photographs. It has discussion and information on both film and digital cameras. Some functions of the website require registration (such as rating photos or buying & selling equipment in the classifieds section), but it is free. Advertising on the website is minimal and mostly text-based. Photo.net has been online since 1993.

DPREVIEW.COM: Another top photography website, Digital Photography Review provides news, product reviews, and other information on digital cameras, as well as discussion forums with separate sections for a number of different brands. According to a May 14th, 2007 news item on the website, dpreview.com was recently acquired by amazon.com. The website looks to be updated frequently, and offers a wide variety of information, including a digital camera history timeline and a weekly newsletter (can be viewed on the website or subscribed to by e-mail). There are banner advertisements at the top of the pages and square ads on part of the home page's right-hand column, but the amount of advertising is not excessive.

APUG.ORG: According to apug.org, the Analog Photography Users Group is an "international community of like minded individuals devoted to traditional (non-digital) photographic processes." Their website features a chat room, classifieds (wanted, trade, for sale), forums (with sections on 35mm, panoramic, rangefinder, instant, medium-format, and other types of cameras, along with various photography subjects), a link page of related websites, and a blog service. Forum registration is free, although you can make a donation through PayPal.com (or check, cash, money order) if desired. There are banner ads along the top and some small square and rectangular advertisements.

FLICKR.COM: Flickr, a very popular photo sharing service, is now part of the Yahoo! network, so it is easier to post photographs (and comments on others' photos) if you are already a Yahoo! member. It has a huge database of photos which can be searched and viewed without registering, with results for just about anything you might search for. It is also useful for seeing what photos taken with a particular camera look like (but keep in mind that this will vary depending upon the film and the photographer's skill). Before you can post publicly-searchable photos, your account has to be approved by the staff, which seems to take a fairly long period of time (it is supposed to take up to two weeks, but my account is still "pending, awaiting review" after more than a month). However, this is not necessary for showing friends photos you have posted. A paid "pro" account is available with extra features and capabilities. Unlike many websites, Flickr has a clean, fast, easy-to-use design with rather minimal advertising.

While these are just a few of the top photography websites, all four offer excellent sources of information and photography-related online services.