• Ken Rockwell

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Overview

Ken Rockwell has a rating of 2.83 stars from 12 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Ken Rockwell ranks 15th among Photographer sites.

  • Quality
    2
Positive reviews (last 12 months): 0%
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Neutral
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How would you rate Ken Rockwell?
Top Positive Review

“I always value Ken's opinion before I purchase any camera equipment.”

Stephen G.
1/22/21

Ken has been around for years and I always pop over to his site to get another opinion before I buy any camera equipment. I'm a Nikon user and I find his reviews pretty accurate so I do end up usually taking his advice. Never been wrong yet! His knowledge of the different models of Nikon lenses is invaluable and has prevented me from buying anything S/H that I regret. Keep up the good work Ken!

Top Critical Review

“Biased Reviews... Promotes Some Poor Photo Techniques”

Michael F.
3/3/22

Ken's technical reviews *can* be good as long as he sticks to the facts and doesn't drift off into the lunatic fringe and injects opinions tainted by bias. He also pushes a lot of photo technique approaches that most pro photographers I've spoken with write off as rubbish, e.g., his assertion that you don't need to shoot RAW... all you need is JPG. I followed this advice many years ago and quickly came to regret it. So, approach his reviews with a great deal of caution... and be sure to look elsewhere for other info to be sure you get a good flavor of what you're trying to learn.

Reviews (12)

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Thumbnail of user michaelf3302
1 review
3 helpful votes
March 3rd, 2022

Ken's technical reviews *can* be good as long as he sticks to the facts and doesn't drift off into the lunatic fringe and injects opinions tainted by bias. He also pushes a lot of photo technique approaches that most pro photographers I've spoken with write off as rubbish, e.g., his assertion that you don't need to shoot RAW... all you need is JPG. I followed this advice many years ago and quickly came to regret it. So, approach his reviews with a great deal of caution... and be sure to look elsewhere for other info to be sure you get a good flavor of what you're trying to learn.

Quality
Thumbnail of user bobm937
2 reviews
3 helpful votes
April 27th, 2021

Sorry, but no matter what gear you are shooting Ken's anti-Nikon rant has cost him all credibility. Seriously Ken, maybe it's time to retire.

Thumbnail of user deeb300
1 review
1 helpful vote
July 24th, 2021

I like a lot of what Ken says and he is right about many issues. However his vendetta against Nikon isn't justified. He may be a photographer but so are many others and not many share his one sided view. Sony and Nikon make good products. Period! I know some camera models have features that set them apart, but these features are not unique to just Canon. I shoot Nikon AND Canon and find them very similar in many respects. I don't shoot Sony but have seen very impressive results from them. I personally own the R5 and while it's a great camera, it isn't the second coming. I also own the Canon 6D and a Nikon D750, both about the same price, but the Nikon is a much better buy. Try sticking to just the facts and leave your sales commissions out of it Ken.

Thumbnail of user stepheng1085
1 review
1 helpful vote
January 22nd, 2021

Ken has been around for years and I always pop over to his site to get another opinion before I buy any camera equipment. I'm a Nikon user and I find his reviews pretty accurate so I do end up usually taking his advice. Never been wrong yet! His knowledge of the different models of Nikon lenses is invaluable and has prevented me from buying anything S/H that I regret.

Keep up the good work Ken!

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Thumbnail of user brettb417
1 review
6 helpful votes
February 14th, 2020

Ken is enthusiastic and very opinionated which is fine, hey that's a lot of what the internet is, but I had to deprogram for quite a while after reading his articles as a budding amature. Things like "don't waste time with RAW formats" hurt my image quality for a long time. I had no creative control over the image after capture and my subsequent edits ended up damaging the original image (jpg) or introducing such horrendous artifacts that the images were unusable. As a real estate photographer and astrophotographer, it would be unconscionable now to shoot anything but RAW as that is how the highest quality, most accurate images are produced from our limited photographic tools. I would never be able to sell a single image if I had continued to use this misguided advice and relied on a lossy format and limited exposures that don't represent the true dynamic range of what the human eye sees when looking at an interior space with widows. Now when I read Kens stuff it's to get a laugh at how wrong a lot of his posts actually are from a more experienced, holistic perspective. Ken has his place in the internet world, and as he points out every chance he gets, he's trying to make money, but seriously. If you are a photographer just starting out, take ol' Ken with a healthy heaping spoonful of salt. Ken comes off as presenting his reviews and advice as photography gospel which is just misguided and often horribly wrong. Read him if you want but he really got me off to the wrong start and I've learned so much more from broadening my search to professionals who actually make a living with the lens.

Thumbnail of user jrj9
JR J.
2 reviews
6 helpful votes
April 4th, 2018

I used to visit Ken Rockwell's website frequently in the past. Especially when it was Nikon oriented (many years ago) He was critical, and I bought what he recommended. But I've seen him shifting his judgement on specific lenses very often (from bad to really good). Following Ken Rockwell did cost me money
(I know, my own mistake :-)

Nowadays Ken Rockwell is nothing more than an ordinary 13 in a dozen advertisement site. "But this one, I did!" . He's getting very lazy. Limited, standard copy and paste reviews. You hardly see any decent photography either. Come on, look at the ugly brownisch colours of the interiors he photographs...

But It used to be a fun site in the past, long ago... And the old reviews might still come in handy. Maybe he can retire from his earnings, I don't know, I hope so :-)
Otherwise I think it is an ending story...

Thumbnail of user daisys
1 review
9 helpful votes
June 29th, 2009

When i first started reading about and learning about DSLR cameras, this guys site would pop up a lot in search engines. At first I thought it was usefull because he had a lot of reviews about things I was looking at. But the more I read his reviews the more I started to really dislike his website. He rarely has anything good to say about any product. I have yet to read a real review instead just his opinion which I don't really care for. Someone please crash his site so it will stop popping up in search engines!

Thumbnail of user peters131
3 reviews
10 helpful votes
July 21st, 2014

I've read Ken Rockwell's reviews on just about every piece of photo equipment that I've purchased over the years. I don't agree with everything he says, but he gives pretty good advice. If I am looking at a piece of equipment to buy I read every review that I can find, not just Ken's. I appreciate that there are entrepreneurs out there in the world of photography that are willing to share there expertise... For Free! Thanks Ken.

Thumbnail of user skabbyj
1 review
10 helpful votes
August 1st, 2013

Ken is kinda filled with a bunch of hot air. Some of it is tongue-in-cheek (like "best camera ever made" about a relatively ho-hum camera he likes for a dumb reason)
It's ok information if you don't take it too seriously- However, many people think in absolutist terms.
The BS about "free digital camera" is stupid (he's talking film cameras, neglecting the cost of film and processing)
He'll nix a camera if it cannot use a lens made in 1972, but he'll ignore the fact that it has 10 other horrible features. His photography is totally cheezy. His choice of automobiles speaks volumes. Probably compensating for his small penis.

Thumbnail of user richardb3219
1 review
1 helpful vote
August 26th, 2021

Ken Rockwell website provides detailed camera information including manufacturing country. By giving his unbiased opinion based on years of experience his candid views can be very helpful. See no particular reason for people not to like his fact-filled website.

Thumbnail of user chrism22
1 review
5 helpful votes
June 26th, 2013

This is an excellent site. The informatoin is free and he does give a lot of good opinions about a multitude of optics products. The site has a TON of info and it's free. The site survives on DONATIONS for crying out loud! How many people feel compelled enough to simply donate money after reading free information? Apparently a lot because the site has been around for a long time.

Ken Rockwell is a guy who has a passion for cameras and optics and has dozens of reviews for these types of products. The reason I found kenrockwell.com is because I've been searching for a new DSLR. 90% of the sites I've found review just features of the camera, so 90% of the sites say the same exact thing; a feature is a feature is a feature, it doesn't change between sites. Other than consumer reviews on amazon and other such places, there are very few expert review sites that give opinions about actual products instead of just reviewing features. I'm not sure what the other reviewer was talking about, this is a great site.

Thumbnail of user abimanyuboentaran
1 review
0 helpful votes
October 3rd, 2023

For those who did not shoot raw.you should have shot both raw and jpeg.that's what I did.don't just follow blindly.

But I agree.where are your new artistic photos? They are the same old same old.but the final straw was the photo of Yosemite with the fake sky.OMG that was such a rubbish photo...

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12 reviews
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