Camera review bias? 📷🔍

What are camera embargo videos like as seen with the Panasonic Lumix S9 launch? Why is Insta360 not wanting video creators they work with to disclose they are sponsored? Let's talk about it! I've been uploading to this channel for over 13 years. While I haven't achieved a level of popularity to be invited to camera equipment embargo trips, I do have experience with being sent "free" product in exchange for featuring it in a video as well as all of the business, taxation, and other aspects like FTC guidelines I've learned along the way. This is an important topic that iPhonedo and Gerald Undone brought up with their respective companies they had to deal with.
Gerald Undone's video talking about his experiences with brands and specifically embargo videos:
• Camera Reviews Need to...
My article about Gerald's video:
www.photograph...
iPhonedo's Insta360 video:
• Insta360 Asks People T...
The related Threads post iPhonedo had noticed:
www.threads.ne...
FTC Guidelines:
www.ftc.gov/bu...
www.ftc.gov/bu...
My collaboration terms webpage:
photographyban...
#CameraEmbargo #Lumix #Insta360

[@paulm8157]

Kudos for the topic and summary of your collaborations, Scott! More posts like this from lots of channels would be a plus. YT has become more of an advertising platform than anything else, IMO. Embargoed “reviews” are released en-mass, clearly as part of marketing campaigns. Sponsored content, affiliations, paid promotions - disclaimers not withstanding - all pollute the streams. Viewers w/average smarts should see right through the “honest review” charade. If credible “negatives” about a product are echoed across multiple channels, then that’s believable. Host “disclaimers”, in general, are a joke to anyone with half a brain. Sad how the smaller channels have become little more than adverts - I’ve unsubscribed to most of those. Even their photos tend to be poor - not good exemplars. OK, rant over. Old joke, said to be a quote from W. C. Fields “You can fool some of the people some of the time, and that’s enough to make a good living.”😊 BTW, host head decapitated in this vid within a few PIP bits. Cheers!

[@ScottJWaldron]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm of a mixed opinion on embargo videos. I enjoy them as entertainment and can get some information out of them. Though, I do think the creators involved it it need to make the situation very clear at the start or end of the video. I also hope for their sake they have done their research on taxation in regard to those paid flights/hotels/etc for the ones in the USA. Though, I could be wrong about them potentially needing to pay income tax on the value. I also understand that me occasionally getting "free" gear to make videos on will not sit well with some, so all I can do is say it and let them decide of they want to watch. Yeah, this edit is probably pretty rough. I started editing the recording last night and it ended up taking until 4:30am CST to fully finish it so I was probably half asleep for some of it. 😅🤣 I have a tough time leaving my "old youtube" mindset in the rough look and unpolished overall feel. (that said my background should be changing a bit somewhat soon. Though it might not look better to some... I'm getting a shelf to put gear and whatever other random stuff I feel like behind me). I haven't put a ton of constant effort on this channel because it's extremely stagnant, if not getting worse, from a viewership standpoint. I make stuff for my tech channel, food/drink reviews, and streaming stuff with the hope one of them finds an audience that can make all of this sustainable. Though diluting effort has its negatives as well, but I like variety so that's a plus.

[@mtbboy1993]

9:10 They should send it as a gift. No contract, nothing written, just send it, mark it as a gift on customs label. Maybe a lawyer could help with this, but I don't see a reason why you should pay tax on it, unless there's a written contract where you agree to review it and the item is the payment. 10:47 They should've covered the cost.

[@mtbboy1993]

If I were the boss of a company or some kind of social media, marketing person I would not mind sending you a free gift with no obligation, for you to try especially if the budget allowed that. But I'm not. But a honest review of a good product will help the company, and if there are bad things it will help with working on improving things. But sometimes products are pure junk, those should be discontinued. I've seen that in the cycling industry there's a lot of that. If the product is not complete junk then there should not be a problem sending it for a review. But refusing to send it for review just cus of a honest review is silly. But maybe renting gear from a camera store can be an option.

[@ScottJWaldron]

Yeah, that's likely how I'd approach it too. I've considered renting, though with my current viewership even a few hundred dollars would make most videos net negative for years. That's partly on me due to not making stuff a lot of people want to watch.

[@mtbboy1993]

@@ScottJWaldron camera and gear reviews ar popular. I would watch it atleast when in the market for gear or something sparks my interest. Currently for that's heads. I'm considering a few. Sirui is the cheapest option. But been recvomneded Aerotech ball head those aren't cheap, nor sold anywhere in Norway. What's your head experience? If you have any vid son that I will watch them.

[@mtbboy1993]

21:10 If you had time, there wouldn't be anything wrong making a video on it, even if it's short and you would not use it just cus of one bad thing. good or bad product, reviews get views.

[@mtbboy1993]

17:22 I don't know your PC specs, but IF you want fast software Rawtherapee is nice, but not as powerful as Lightroom especially with sky mask, that's for sure, but was fast on i7-4790K. But not tested it properly on a old and slow low end pc, But loads fast even on a slow pc I forgot the CPU it had, but didn't try to edit on it. But I think I tested Adsee, it was fine on my pc, but it's a super fast beast. But for some reason I did not go for it. I don't remember if it was due to ARW compatibility or the software it self, or the price. But when working with images where there is sky, I need to use HDR to edit it in Lightroom. So I need a software that can do this, in addition to a good sky mask.

[@ScottJWaldron]

I've used Rawtherapee a bit. Seems pretty cool. I'm still on an old Intel i7-6700 based PC build though I'd like to do another build hopefully sooner rather than later. I did swap my GTX 1060 6GB for an RTX 4060 8GB somewhat recently which helped extend the system's usefulness a decent amount. I'll carry over the GPU once I'm able to get other components. Looking at CPU scores compared to the i7-6700 there isn't a whole lot worth spending probably over $800 to get the rest of the components. Maybe the new 9000 series AMD once the 12 core version comes out.

[@mtbboy1993]

@@ScottJWaldron That seems like a decent cpu and slightly better than the one I7 4790k I have in my previous pc. But with GTX 980 it did not do well for editing. Had to render at slowest speed when I use 2.7k video in resolve. RTX Asus 3090 TUF does it fast at max speed. 🚀👌 I se eit scored 213% higher in Passmark CPU Mark, sa wit on technical city, just discovered that site now.

[@jimgiraffe5253]

long term loans is a way to evade taking a gift. this is the brands way of helping these shills pay less tax as its "technically" not a gift, but it might aswell be. tax fraud/ evasion is a crime and a bit shady? being facilitated by these brands. its crazy

[@ScottJWaldron]

It's difficult for me to discuss taxation as I don't have a background in it, but they apparently can't sell the equipment. At least in the case of Lumix. It's odd to me with potential liability holding onto the camera for a long period of time as well. The situation would probably be different for news organizations versus individual video creators because one would be part of a larger company with a different taxation structure. That said, if they haven't disclosed the long term loan I definitely see that as a problem. Hopefully moving forward we see people simply tell viewers what is completely going on and then they can decide if the information is useful to them or not.

[@mtbboy1993]

If it's a long term loan, you have to return it. But I've heard of companies that did that but never asked for it back. I forgot what it was and who and which company.

[@mtbboy1993]

21:12 I think you should get rid of that camera. Sell it. Once you can afford it a pricier camera. But no camera is perfect, the A7 IV works well for beyond 30min in 4K 60fps, it shouldn't be an issue, but turn on hot mode and it will not shut down. Shame the Z30 has silly firmware. did you ever find a hot temp mode? to disable this limit? this was the issue with A7iv when I tested it as a web cam, it would shut the screen off and render the camera useless until I rebooted it. But if Z30 doesn't have this, and never will, sell it.

[@ScottJWaldron]

The Z30 doesn't have any options for allowing extra heat buildup like Sony has. I've got some recordings about this I need to edit where it overheated in 1080p 60 fps HDMI out with a DC Coupler/AC Adapter instead of a battery after 2 hours and 45 minutes. I'm definitely selling it at some point. I'm currently looking at a used Sony A7iii, Nikon Zf, or maybe a Sony FX30. Though all of them are more than I'd want to spend right now.

[@mtbboy1993]

@@ScottJWaldron I'm curious why A7iii.

[@ScottJWaldron]

@@mtbboy1993 Cheaper

[@mtbboy1993]

@@ScottJWaldron Look for deals see what you will find. I did not see decent cameras until the A7IV came, and then the lens I wanted. Later I saw another A7IV i think but it sold the same day in few hours. But saw a few A7R V later. I see the A7 III is cheaper yes, But I got the A7IV for just a bit more than the A7III costs new. But yes a second hand A7III will likely be cheaper. But see what's available, you never know what might pop up. I'm glad I checked regularly.

[@mtbboy1993]

@@ScottJWaldronShame there's no firmware update for that. I assume you already cheeked.

[@mtbboy1993]

These videos are mostly useless. Sometimes you might just get some useful info, if it lacks one feature, or see something you don't like or like you might have it just on the look at it later lis, but it's rare for me to find info, I would not find by seeing the press photos, or short preview. I was skeptical with Insta 360, but I will boycott them. One mistake like this can ruin a company's reputation. I see the stock price dropped with Intel after the failing CPU and wrong microcode issue with 13 and 14 Gen. Probably might have happen with Insta 360

[@ScottJWaldron]

Yeah, Intel has had pretty serious problems. They've claimed to have fixed the issue through microcode recently but we will see.

[@Zetaphotography]

long time follower of certain Photographers, but now they are clowns trying to put out first video for these Sponsored videos because they put out mediocre video just to be first.

[@ScottJWaldron]

I see, that's too bad.