Consumer Reports Ranks The Nikon D7500 At The Bottom (Page 6): when CR rates the best camera at 79 and the worst at 72 - what kind of freakin' rating system is that? the problem with...

jonjacobik Loc: Quincy, MA

when CR rates the best camera at 79 and the worst at 72 - what kind of freakin' rating system is that? the problem with consumer surveys, most people can only judge the camera they know. Complaints on the most popular cameras show up in their surveys with distortion.
If you're unhappy with a product, you'll rate every characteristic with 1. If you love your product you'll rate everything with 5. The average Joe just isn't going to know that in low light situations, snapping 10 exposures in 3 seconds while saving both raw and fine jpg images - is faster on a D500 or a D7200.

Besides . . . CR's audience is well over 60. Old and grumpy whiners like me.

mp97070 Loc: Central Oregon

Wonder where Consumer Reports ranks in the category of “best review organizations”?

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

jonjacobik wrote:

when CR rates the best camera at 79 and the worst ... (show quote)

Agreed. Well said.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Steve Perry wrote:

Meh, I wouldn't pay any attention to CR. I remembe... (show quote)

Illustrative case of a picture being worth 1,000 words.

Very nice.

Interesting that they rate several FX cameras higher. Duh!

I don’t get CR any longer but consider them a valuable information source. I sometimes have different criteria than they use for their ratings so look more at the individual categories, e.g. frequency of repair for automobiles. Image quality is one I’d be interested in for cameras. I don’t get how they went awry on that one for the 7500.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

jpintn wrote:

I agree with you completely. I used to subscribe ... (show quote)

Be careful when reading customer reviews when making a purchase decision. They are often skewed to the negative because most people with a positive experience don't bother posting about it, where as unhappy customers have an axe to grind. You have to read each and every negative to see what actually irked the customer. Often it's silly stuff, unreasonable expectations, or things that would not affect the way you would use the product.

timcc Loc: Virginia

IDguy wrote:

Illustrative case of a picture being worth 1,000 words.

Very nice.

Interesting that they rate several FX cameras higher. Duh!

I don’t get CR any longer but consider them a valuable information source. I sometimes have different criteria than they use for their ratings so look more at the individual categories, e.g. frequency of repair for automobiles. Image quality is one I’d be interested in for cameras. I don’t get how they went awry on that one for the 7500.

I'm a big fan of Consumer Reports and always check their ratings and reviews before making a major purchase. That said, however, I never treat their recommendations as the only and final word. Common sense dictates checking a variety of sources, and as mentioned in other posts, the reviews of professionals/specialists in publications and on the web, as well as consumer reviews at B&H, Adorama, Amazon, Best Buy, etc., can provide a better all-around picture of product capabilities and user experiences. The more information, the better.

As another poster pointed out, CR is often available for free through your library, either in hard copy or via your home computer using your library card number. Lynda courses and other useful services can be accessed the same way.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

mwsilvers wrote:

Be careful when reading customer reviews when making a purchase decision. They are often skewed to the negative because most people with a positive experience don't bother posting about it, where as unhappy customers have an axe to grind. You have to read each and every negative to see what actually irked the customer. Often it's silly stuff, unreasonable expectations, or things that would not affect the way you would use the product.

You are quite right. You have to be able to sort through them.

Chief_Warrant

There is no accounting for just about anything! I've had one for a few months, and I love it! And I've shot everything from a Nikon FT, to a Bronica RB645, to a Canon A1, to that goofy 2 1/4 SLR, can't remember the brand. Anyway, my 7500 delivers spectacularly sharp, crisp images. No accounting for anything, especially Consumer Reports. It's in the eye of the beholder...and holder!

rayclay Loc: Arab, AL., USA

Forty years ago I quit CR when I noticed Consumer Reports was rating products made exactly alike on same assembly line with name of product being the only difference yet CR was reporting different ratings and complaints. Today with all the internet has to offer about nearly every product under the sun and real people in their own words with complaints and recommendations then why pay for opinionated results to just make headlines and articles. In my opinion.

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

I think Consumer Reports started out as a good idea and a great service for people wanting to buy certain things. Their intent was to be objective and at first they did pretty well. However, it seems to me, they started drinking the cool-aid and began believing they were THE authority on all things consumer. At that point their arrogance started skewing their testing and we started seeing results that had nothing to do with the features that are important to people actually using the products. Then they went further and got into subjective testing--like wine--and their credibility with me went into the round flush bowl in the bathroom.

Same with cameras--I doubt they had the expertise to really fun tests that would have to do with real photography and I would question the results.

bikertut Loc: Kingsville, MO

I quit CR for several unknowable reviews, but when they rated a top notch bicycle the worst because the brakes were too good, I knew they weren’t qualified to review many items.

joegim Loc: Long Island, NY

Jim Bob wrote:

One must carefully read Consumer Reports' analysis... (show quote)

Rockwell, Northrup are not only evaluators they are also very experienced camera users. Are they always "right"? There is sometimes some disagreements among then but they would never never rate the D750 at the bottom of the list. Plus as pointed out camera experts have rated this camera very favorably. The D7500 is not a mass market camera, the area where CR is good at.

BebuLamar

jonjacobik wrote:

when CR rates the best camera at 79 and the worst ... (show quote)

What it means is that among the cameras in the group that they tested all cameras are pretty much the same. For example if you give a test to the students with 100 being the maximum point. It's hard to tell who is the best if the score are between 79 and 72. Some of the students may just have a bad day. So really their tests don't mean much.

Jim Bob

joegim wrote:

Rockwell, Northrup are not only evaluators they are also very experienced camera users. Are they always "right"? There is sometimes some disagreements among then but they would never never rate the D750 at the bottom of the list. Plus as pointed out camera experts have rated this camera very favorably. The D7500 is not a mass market camera, the area where CR is good at.

And your point is redundancy I guess.

RRS Loc: Not sure

joegim wrote:

Rockwell, Northrup are not only evaluators they are also very experienced camera users. Are they always "right"? There is sometimes some disagreements among then but they would never never rate the D750 at the bottom of the list. Plus as pointed out camera experts have rated this camera very favorably. The D7500 is not a mass market camera, the area where CR is good at.

At the bottom of the list?? Only number 25 out of the 25 they tested. How many DSLR cameras are there anyway? To make the top 25 is a good thing I would think. Have you been into a camera store and seen how many models that they carry. If it works for you then what's the problem. I read the reviews from B&H and as someone has already said, learn to read in-between the lines. The D7500 is made by the second largest producer of cameras, Nikon, I think , they may have slipped to third but so what. Nikon and Canon have strong supporters and always will. Research before you buy and why would you put so much faith into CR for cameras.

I do have a question, what do you consider a "mass market camera" to be? We are talking cameras and not cell phones. I think most or all of what Nikon and Canon make are made to appeal to the mass market of camera buyers.