Amazon has announced that it plans to shut down one of the web’s oldest and largest camera review websites, dpreview.com. As a result, DPReview is closing after almost 25 years online. The shock move comes amid news of a round of 9,000 job cuts at the Seattle-based internet retail giant, as it bids to cut costs and streamline headcount after expanding rapidly in the early months of the Covid pandemic. It appears that Amazon has no plans to sell the site, but will instead shut it down entirely. New content will be added up to 10th April, but then the site will be locked and “available in read-only mode for a limited period afterwards”.
Founded in 1998 as Digital Photography Review by Phil Askey, the site’s first review featured the 2MP Canon PowerShot Pro70. This article notably praised a number of then-novel features, including a Li-ion rechargeable battery, a ‘swivel and tilt’ articulated LCD screen, and raw format recording, all of which are now considered standard. In what would become something of a theme, Phil also delighted in picking holes in the camera’s image quality.
DPreview’s first ever review was of the Canon PowerShot Pro 70
DPReview quickly became famed for its incredibly detailed multi-page reviews, which in its heyday were read by tens of thousands of visitors. With detailed coverage of every aspect of the camera’s operation, including the all-important image quality tests and ISO noise comparisons, these were often taken as gospel by a generation of photographers for whom each round of new camera launches brought a significant step forward in usability and image quality.
More recently, though, the lack of any real alignment with Amazon’s wider business goals appears to have led to the site’s demise. Key editorial staff left without being replaced, with new reviews slowing to a trickle as a result. Now it seems that DPReview is closing entirely. It would be a real shame to see 25 years of in-depth content disappear completely – it’s still a great resource for photographers. Hopefully Amazon will relent and find some way of keeping the archived material online.
A statement on the site’s homepage says:
“Dear readers,
After nearly 25 years of operation, DPReview will be closing in the near future. This difficult decision is part of the annual operating plan review that our parent company shared earlier this year.
The site will remain active until April 10, and the editorial team is still working on reviews and looking forward to delivering some of our best-ever content.
Everyone on our staff was a reader and fan of DPReview before working here, and we’re grateful for the communities that formed around the site.
Thank you for your support over the years, and we hope you’ll join us in the coming weeks as we celebrate this journey.
Sincerely,
Scott Everett
General Manager – DPReview.com”
