A readers comment..and my reply..and the FAKE Steve Huff

60 Comments

1. Steve, I am always surprised how much importance you give to other people and what they say. Look this form a simple point of view. What some people seek is “audience”. What can anyone do to give himself importance than audience. Now, it is up to you to give importance to such people, and, once you do. they have reached there goal, you become part of their audience. By entering that game, you become part of it. I have told you in many posts, that you have nothing to prove to other people. You have decided to test gear, publish your opinion, people share this opinion or have their own, and if they are willed to discuss and find a consensus between you and them, all is ok. We never get what we want from others, but if, at least, we get a harmony that lays within the golden mean, what is 100/60 proportion, we can say that we made a big job.

   I wrote you an e-mail, explaining you some of how human mid works and thinks. You did not and do not have to reply, nor do you need to be interested in philosophy, but let me tell you that it helps much to understand how our world works, how humans think and act, and how to avoid to play and enter in their nasty games.

   The whole life is a game made out of 5 parts, 2 teams, + and -, one referee, a public who is amused, and those to whom it serves, those who organize the game. So, never enter a game, unless there is some money to earn. And here, someone plays a nasty game with you, and you enter it, again at again, For me, all I am interested in is the game you play for your own, what you do and what you write about cameras. You don’t need to justify for anything, you do YOUR things, and you do them well, is that not enough.

   Look, for anyone of us, if we turn a full 360 degree turn, there are 22000 km on every degree before we return to the same point, so anyone can find there what he seeks for. If Steve Huff does not fits, there are thousand s of sites that will, don’t you think so. So; my advise, stop playing other people’s games. Enjoy life, and, don’t care what people say. Look at those that like you and enjoy your pages, ignore the others. What would we become if we had to satisfy the needs of just anyone? ….sic

   So, keep on going the way you do, you are on the right path, your path, you are the creator and create all around you, the whole world to your image. And that image is what makes your happiness, and, on the end, is that not what you are her for.? The Lord guides you in every thing you do, and that Lord is YOU, never forget that? You think, you analyze, you decide and do, and that is what becomes. Fire, Air, Water, Earth, YHWH, the ray of creation.

   • Well I do things that I do, not what others tell me to do as you are here. I appreciate what you say but I have ALWAYS written posts like this, 1-2 a year since day one. I see it as part of the reason this site is a success. It is real, I am not afraid to say what is on my mind or talk about others who talk trash. I will continue doing what I have always done, what I feel I have to, not what others tell me I should do. Thanks

2. Steve,

   All I can say is thank you for making the effort to put forward your opinions and making camera life a bit easier.

   With thanks,

   Andy

3. I’m very happy with all the new content and reviews, though I could use a lot less of Seal.

4. I visited your site since day one and sometimes I miss the intimacy and non-perfection of then (made with iWeb) – this was very unique.
   Nevertheless I also enjoy the current Steve Huff with this website – one of the very best out there! Besides, everybody has the right to change and to evolve.

   Always work on yourself and never give up! Great work!

5. Can’t please everyone I suppose… As far as I’m concerned, you’re pretty damned cool and rather open minded. I don’t always like what I see, but I totally love the approach; it’s fresh.

   Anyway, keep up the good work and let’s not worry too much about this folk 😉

6. Well I dont care for “daily inspirations” either. Also, I am not interested in Seal.

7. Well you can’t please all the people all the time….. It’s your site so it’s up to you what’s put up on it and in what proportion and then it’s up to everyone else to decide if they want to look at it or not…. If your site traffic is up… well that says it…IMO

8. Just wanted to say that I love your site and the energy and enthusiasm you bring to it, whatever you share with us. Keep up the good work.

9. Great site. Don’t let the trolls get you down. Keep up the good work!

10. To be perfectly honest I always wonder why people are complaining about content that they are getting for absolutely free! C’mon people seriously. But I guess that’s today’s generation. But my intention is not to start any discussion …just my 2 cents
    Steve, I think you’re doing really good work here. Kudos 2 you. Enjoying every review!

11. Since I discovered your blog I enjoy reading your posts, I like the way you afford the reviews and I like a lot how you show others works (where I guess people gives us the best of them, as you do). It requires a lot of effort keeping an active site (I gave up doing it twice yet), and more than a lot, I supose, such an active site like yours. It looks like you are giving us 100%, really, and I, personally, and many other people, sure, thank you really much the work you do. Calling shame anybody´s work and effort, this is a shame.

    Keep on working, Steve!

12. Dear Steve,
    I’m one of the readers who love your site. It’s a fresh and personal addition to the photo world online, and I’ve come to await your reviews more than I do from the technical sites. As far as I’m concerned, you can carry on!
    Sincerely,
    Max

13. Hi Steve,

    Let me start by saying how great it is that Steve has people who follow his blog and are not afraid to let him know how they feel. What makes a blog such as Steves so essential, is not just Steves ‘Real World’ reviews and thoughts, but also his readers thoughts and views on the very things Steve provides for us.You need both sides of a coin to make it valuable. Stevee is providing us with valuable and often entertaining information, this is the perfect recipe for a great blog and provides the platform for dialogue we can all be involved in. Debate is healthy as is opinions on all areas of Steves site.

    So bring on all the things that make this site so enjoyable, great reviews, fabulous ‘Daily Inspirations’ random rants and even the unhappy views from those who feel they would like to share those feelings with the rest of us.

    In the end my suggestion for those who don’t like certain types of articles is a simple one, skip it and move onto the stuff you love. I myself don’t read everything Steve or other contribute to this blog, simply put I am not interested. But hey as Steve reminds us ‘You can’t please all of the people all of the time’ but we can all keep trying to creat the best community we can by contributing to all aspects of this site ‘The Good The Bad and The Ugly'(those Sony’s).

14. Hi Steve,

    All I can say is keep up the good work. Your passion for all things photography inspires us all. I do not personally think that you are a Leica fanboy you just like the stuff and who really could blame you. Leica is like the holy grail. For some of us anyways. Now I know that there may be better options out there but who cares I want one too. But for the moment I am extremely happy with my Oly EP3 especially with the new m4/3 lenses that have just been released. Incidentally it was through your reviews that have persuaded me to go m4/3.

    Your daily inspirations are a good source of inspiration. We can learn heaps from people around us and what better than to learn from people worldwide?

    Your site has opened numerous doors for me personally to connect with people in my own country. At the end of the day, it is not only about camera gear. It is about imagesand sharing of those images as well as connecting with people.

    Keep going as your are. Your site is awesome.

    Luke

15. Plenty of hyper critical, technical (and sterile) cameras review sites out there. While I have sometimes thought you were “soft” on some equipment, I enjoy the positive attitude and appreciate that you review some lower end stuff, as Leica is not the be al and end all of photography, and those fair reviews of the bargain stuff serve a purpose as well..

    Example: I was just in Minnesota for a wedding and while in a Target store I was going to see about grabbing a spare SD card. I did not have my camera bag on me and the woman there asked me what kind of camera I was looking for. I told her I was just looking and so she began to give me advice. “1st, decide your price. Pick what you want to pay.” OK. So far so good. “Then,” she continued, “look for the one in that price range with the most megapixels and the longest optical zoom.”

    I actually gave her a half point for the “optical zoom” part, because if she had pointed out the difference in optical zoom and digital it would have been a service, but really people need help with just the basics and people reviewing cameras of all ranges and pointing out the really good ones might not fit the “formula” is a great service. I recommend your site to people who are looking around all the time as I think you do a great job on that front, as well as the Leica stuff. And anyone wanting more stuff on Leica daily is just asking to be let down, anyway.

    I love the balance of personal stuff, reviews, and guest post. My only complaint on daily inspirations is they often don’t link to larger versions of the pics. I wish you could get more of your fans into sharing their higher resolution copies. I love it when they do. That isn’t just your site it’s a web thing. When even laptops are able to show 1024 with room to spare on the screen it seems a shame so many places are showing stuff limited to way fewer pixels.

    I credit you for showing more and more of yours linked to full size files. And for helping connect the community out here with the “wasted time” on the workshops. So you’re a fan… but don’t think other fans should get any time with the person you are a fan of??? You really don’t need that kind of fan.

    Keep up the good work, and hope to catch you at another event sometime.
    Randall Kelley

16. Steve,
    Any chance of a review on the new voigtlander 35mm f1.2 nokton asph ii? Cant seem to find a review on it yet.

    Also keep up the good work, i enjoy the mixture of content you have on your site (including the personal thoughts) as i think this keeps your site “fresh” and personal. however i do agree its a bit different than when i first started visiting (havent seen a leica review in a while) but regardless your site is still one of the best out there. Real world reviews, easy to understand, and most importantly, brilliant images to back up your articles.

17. Hi Steve:

    If you still have access to the GXR m-mount, could you please snap a few shots with the Zeiss 50mm Sonnar? If I were to get a m-mount module for my GXR, that (the Sonnar) would be the one that I would seriously consider as a portrait lens.

    • Yes I do and yes I can. Ashwin has some with that lens in the review as well BTW.

18. I meant to write “workshops”.

19. Steve – thanks for all the variety! I think you have more, detailed content than other sites visit. You also open us up to new cameras such as the pentax Q that I might otherwise not know about. I also appreciate the testing of non Leica lens on the M9. Your worships are very good and very reasonable. It is great to see the photos of those you participated. Keep up the good work!

20. Dear Steve: please continue with your daily work on your page, as you have been doing since the beginning. It’s excellent.
    I live in Argentina and much of your reviews is simply unbelievable future to me.
    Keep on going. Don´t stop!!!
    Jandri

21. Je suis très contente de voir combien tu es soutenu par autant de fans! A propos de ce ” mal-luné”, ne te formalise pas, c’est la rançon du succès! Tu en verras sûrement d’autres.Cela ne veut pas dire que tu dois tout accepter, au contraire, c’est bien d’en parler, “ils existent”…! Pour ma part, “Vrai Steve”, j’aime beaucoup ton site, même si je n’ai pas toujours le temps de tout voir et tout lire. Tu m’as bien aidée à retrouver le goût de l’image et je t’en remercie beaucoup, même si je ne possède pas un équipement photo très “lourd” et un grand talent, je m’amuse bien…et c’est ça l’essentiel, des “clics” et encore des “clics” dans la bonne humeur! Continue, my friend! 😉

22. I’m not so sure that you were 1st with an X100 review Steve, you guys in the US got the X100 a few months after us in the UK and there were several review of it online with in days of it’s release here

23. Hi Steve, i’m not a Leica guy (out of my ballpark $$ unfortunately) but have visited your site daily for several months. what i like is the inspiring photos you post, the honest evaluations of the latest gear including m43 and nex, and your enthusiasm for photograghy. It all helps keep me enthused about picture taking. Keep it going the way it is.

24. Hey, if you do “A”, then half of your audience will be mad that you’re not doing “B”.

    And vice versa.

    If everybody’s pissed at you, you’re probably about right.

    When they stop caring enough to write in, you’re in trouble.

25. Steve your reviews are great, and there is usually so much detail and comparisons that my finger gets tired scrolling to the bottom. Hard to not see the huge amount of effort you put into them. Keep up the good work, your site is definitely my #1 go to for any new camera/leica info.

26. LOL at FakeSteveHuff “If you take a #Leica Noctilux and shine a flashlight through it…at the moon…you can make a Bat signal.”

27. Hi Steve,

    I came across your comment about having already reviewed almost all available Leica-Gear.
    To be honest – i dont think so…

    I am sure you know about the Visoflex 3. Try it with a couple of lenses (65 V-Elmar & Head of the 135-Tele-Elmar!
    I am sure you will enjoy it – it is fun 🙂

28. Steve,

    Count me in the camp of people who appreciate what you’ve done with the site. Sure, I get all excited when you review a piece of gear that i’m interested in. But I’ve really gotten a lot out of your other features, like your daily inspirations, etc. I think it’s a healthy thing that your site has evolved and grown so much over the past year. Change can be painful, but it’s a good thing overall. And you’ve opened my eyes to cameras and ways of shooting that I might not have considered otherwise.
    If I could make any request, it would be for more discussions from you of technique, including analysis of some images, how you do some post-processing, etc.

    Thanks for all the good reads and the great knowledge,
    David

29. I agree entirely with Steve, I think everything he is doing is good for the site, the only changes I would make are:

    1) Let’s see some film stuff, not just digital.
    2) Maybe a little less Leica…

30. you have a great site running all by your self. The personal touchs and the extras like daily inspirations is what makes your site stand out from the rest.

31. No need to defend yourself Steve, I think it’s pretty obvious that your traffic is increasing and diversifying. You have tones of loyal readers who appreciate your unique site. Keep up the good work!

32. All,

    This site gets better by the day. Yet, someone always has to complain about something; the Internet is rampant with this. Let’s all stay positive, admire and interact with what we like, skip what we don’t and recognize that diversity in tastes and preferences makes the world a very interesting and exciting place. Getting everything 100% someone’s way means 0% someone else’s way. Let’s learn to share fun and respect differences. For those who have negative statements to make, just try focussing (manually of course) on stating the positives instead; a little bit of this + a little bit of time = great satisfaction!

33. Hi Steve,
    Just keep going the best you know and can do, because if someone stops a bit to imagine your workload will not criticize you the way some people dare to do.
    Does this mean your site is “perfect”, thankfully not as that would too good to be human and one interesting thing about it is that you don’t talk/write just about gear but you also expose yourself and your experiences. Thanks for sharing the way you do.
    And one reason you are not able to please everybody at the same time is because you are not focusing just one brand name or camera. I did start visiting your site regularly by the time you started writing about the X100, that I actually bought, but I’m not in the market for every new camera, so my interest on some of the other gear can’t be the same…and Leica is just a ghost that I can neither put aside nor invite to my home…
    And, apart your input I’d like to stress how interesting contributions your site did receive from the Daily Inspirations.
    All the best.

34. Keep doing what you are doing, Steve. If you see more people looking at your website than you are doing something right. Daily inspirations are great and the travel reports I like a lot. Reviews are good but we like your focus on shooting versus testing. Everybody who runs a blog may know how difficult it is to even post stuff every few weeks. Just focusing on reviews would be boring and not much of interest for you as a photographer. The Seal tour seemed to be fun and now you have a record cover. That is far better than having done 10 more reviews during that period. D!RK

35. Hi Steve,

    I enjoy reading your site on a near daily basis. Eventually, when money gets better, I’ll be investing in a new camera system and your site has helped shape the way I see the many choices I have.

    You are never going to please everyone. Just do what you love, write about the things you want to write about, taking tips and comments with a grain of salt along the way. Last time I checked, I don’t pay to come here, I don’t ‘expect’ anything of you, I am grateful for what you do give to the photography community!

    The Leica fanboy thing used to bug me..but honestly, it gives this site character, a point of view. I like knowing that you have a bias, a passion, and you don’t feel the need to pretend it doesn’t exist. There are plenty of people who can (and do try) to “review cameras,” but end up failing because they lack the studio equipment to properly test them and/or they don’t inject their passion into the review. Guys like you and Kai (DigitalREV) do for camera gear what Top Gear does for cars. Keep it up and thank you!

36. Well I think your site is fantastic. I log on several times a week. I like you style and I bought an X100 on the strength of your review (no regrets)

37. I’m in the camp that feels your site has gotten stronger as time passes. One of the reasons is your personal story and how you let the community here share that. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I feel it’s the core of the site.

    The other reason is your curiosity with camera gear which I share. I moved to the X100, then off to the Nex-5N, and might get back into m4/3 when Panny or Oly release a pro camera. I love playing around with new gear and enjoy reading the thoughts of someone who is the same way. Of course I’m constantly reading books and trying to get my overall photo technique to a higher level, but I can’t help the gear lust;)

    Keep up the great work!

38. Steve,

    I’m getting back into photography after a 10 year hiatus and your website it the best and most interesting photography site I’ve found. I like the fact that it’s not just another camera review site that copies and pastes 20 pages of specs for it’s first look articles. You actually give us your first look and your reviews are unsurpassed because they are from a real world use point of view instead of annoying pictures of books at every possible ISO setting.

    Another thing I love about your site is the fact that it is constantly changing based on your interests and not stuck in some formulaic morass. It’s constantly evolving and I look forward to every post to see where it takes me in the wonderful world of photography. Don’t worry about the few Negative Nellies — there is the silent majority of Steve Huff Fanboys that love the site just as it is.

    –Roger

39. I read your site since less than a year. I’m inspired by your words and photo’s. Sometimes I feel like CAPITALS, but that’s OK! What inspired (and still does) me the most is that you take in account the photographer. So it’s not dry (don’t know if that’s the way to say it in English) but ALIVE! And OPEN. And maybe I don’t agree or like everything, but that’s ok too. Wouldn’t it be boring?!
    Thanks for so much work!

    Since I read your site I take less photos and show less photos, but the ones I take I appreciate more and are also more appreciated (but people are often very kind…).

40. Love your site Steve. Love your reviews and daily inspirations. Thanks for giving us a non-Canikon point of view. There’s already too many of those sites floating around 😀

41. As your site grows, you’re “reader criticism” will grow too.

    • You are spot on, Per! As with anything that grows in size (or this case, viewers of the site), the number of disgruntles will also rise.

42. Steve is daily photographic inspiration. Go Steve go. Best regards from Germany my. Home is 15 km far from The Leica Factory in Solms Wetzlar.

43. Always seems silly to write into a website to tell them what you DON’T like. Don’t like something? Don’t read.

44. In defence of Pete; carry on regardless…your site is getting more interesting as time passes,what with all the new reviews (some of them firsts,) like the Pentax Q, Oly 45,etc .
    Please do also review the Nikon J1 small camera,which can shoot at 60fps.

45. Steve,

    Your problem is that everyone sees you as a Leica guy, but Leica has virtually no new products. Leica isn’t like Nikon that rolls out new PoS, err, P&S cameras every 6-9 months and introduces a new set of DX or FX lenses. Or introduces a brand new mirrorless line.

    Regarding time lag on reviews after new product introductions: I’m an owner of a bunch of Leica lenses that cost thousands of dollars each and I’d hope you would spend the time necessary to provide first-hand use reviews. Pictures are interesting, but its not into you put a lens into field use that you understand the value of build, ergos. Some reviewers open the UPS box, mount the product on a tripod, and shoot at a blank wall in their house, and then produce a review. Some of these lenses are over $5k! I want to really understand what the lenses are like to shoot with.

    You take your time and provide credible data and perspective. If it takes another week or two for your full review, that’s fine by me.

    Heck, since I shoot RAW, I actually prefer for the software to update (another month or many more months) to understand the real sharpness and color, since most test shots are JPG. And, if I need to wait another month or two to see RAW tests before I spring for an expensive X100, that’s fine by me.

    In other words, your method of testing is great. I don’t want you to rush and reduce the content and quality of your reviews. I wish every manufacturer released a new lens or camera every month, but they dont. And I’m fine waiting.

    Keep up the good work

46. Steve, no one is interested in you lame excuses. What, are you sleeping two hours every night? You need to cut that out and focus on your blog. Forget the fake Steve Huff – you need a clone. Keep up the excellent work!

    • Thanks Jeff 😉

47. Hey Steve: I never comment or submit to your site but i’ve followed it daily all year since I bought into the m43 system. This coincided with moving from a location with easy to shoot mountain+ocean landscapes, to Boston offering all altogether different beauty and a lot of new challenges to me. Your blog/ideas forced me to look closer in front of me and helped renew my interest in photography. Thank you for (single-handedly) maintaining this site and I hope one day I’ll get to join you in a street photography workshop one day!
    Btw: there must be others like me that don’t show their presence but definitely appreciate yours, statistically speaking ;).

    • Thanks Lara, I appreciate the kind words!

48. I think he has you mistaken for the other photo review websites, which have actually been pretty lazy recently. Ove the last six months Dpreview in particular has become incredibly notorious imho for their previews of very interesting products that never EVER have a fallow up, and sloppy half asses reviewing when it does happen.

49. I thought it was about right…not enough crazy though…like a three camera bungie jump or someth’in ; ]

50. The Fake SH’s tweet is an absolute cracker of a read! Steve, u can’t please everybody!… Keep up the great work for the rest of us.

    • Thanks SuperP! Yea, some of those posts made me laugh out loud!

51. Hey Steve,
    thanks for your great work, it’s a daily pleasure to lurk on your site and even participate to some of the threads.
    Keep up the good work !
    Jean-Marc , btw I just bought a M8 and leica glass after selling some of my Nikon gear…:)

    • Thanks! and congrats on the M8, let me know how you like it!

52. I don’t agree with all of them, but I somehow agree that I don’t enjoy your site as much as I did last year. You’re best known as ‘the Leica guy’ and I don’t really see any more Leica reviews these days.

    Even if there’s no more, revisit them. It’s always interesting to see new pictures.

    • Thanks for the comment! Well, the problem there is I have already reviewed just about every Leica product known to man. I asked Leica for their newest lens but they did not have one available for review. I will be re-reviewing the Zeiss 50 Sonnar this week on the M9 🙂 It is funny that when I wrote about Leica all the time I was pegged as a fanboy and boring because I always wrote about Leica. Now that I write about other cool cameras more and more my traffic is going up but Leica guys are not happy. Cant please everyone all the time! I just write about what I like so I am sure when the new Leica things come out in 2012 there will be TONS to talk about 🙂 Thanks Pat!!

      Steve

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