Over the years, I have participated in the forums at DPReview, Photo.net, POTN, Fred Miranda, GetDPI, Zuiko mailing list, and elsewhere. Some months ago I had the idea that I could build a better photography forum and launched the Camera Work forums. Those forums gained a handful of great members and then fizzled. Looking back, I think that the software platform for that site was too feature limited to offer a significant improvement on what one would find elsewhere.
I'm now excited to reintroduce Camera Work. I think it has great potential and hope some of you who read this blog will help it get off to a good start.
Here are some of the reasons why Camera Work will be a great place to share photographs and discuss all things photography related:
- Unlike our current discussion group (which is full of fantastic, talented folks), Camera Work does not require a Flickr membership, nor is it limited by the Flickr platform (single forum per group, need to use html, etc)
- Unlike all other forums I've used, Camera Work allows members to use html codes for embedding images and links. BB code is also supported, but the ability to use html makes it really easy for Flickr users to copy and paste code provided by Flickr to put their photos in our forums with a link back to their respective Flickr page.
- Camera Work provides a ton of free image file hosting for members. You can upload as many albums as you like using the easy to use software. Each album can contain up to 50 photos. Each photo can be up to 1MB in size and up to 1024px in greatest dimension. Compare that to any of the other photography sites, many of which ask you to pay for lesser file hosting.
- In addition to uploading albums, you can attach files to any forum post. A very cool lightbox functionality is implemented to display multiple attached photos in sequence. All members can upload attachments of up to 1MB each without a limit on total number of attachments. Based on post count, members may become eligible to upload zip attachments of up to 50MB each (for sharing RAW files, etc).
- Camera Work puts a randomly selected assortment of public member images at the top of the homepage to remind everyone why we're there and to give everyone exposure. If you don't want certain images there, just designate those albums as private. If you don't like to see the photos on the main page, just click to collapse that row, and it will remember your preferences unless you click again to expand it.
- There are no forum distinctions for sharing photos versus discussing gear, nor are there distinctions based on brand preference. I don't see any purpose in those constraints.
- Camera Work will be carefully moderated to be free of personal attacks which are so common in the larger forums, yet members will be absolutely free to link to and promote external sites and interests provided that they don't do so by spamming.
- Camera Work has integrated blogging software, so if you want a free blog which is as easy to use as a typical forum post, you can do so there.
- The "Buy and Sell" forum is and always will be free to use for all registered members. Again, some other sites will make you pay.
- I am very, very open to adapting the forum to member feedback. This includes adaptations that cost me money like the lightbox functionality and the blogging software add-on.
Regardless of functionality, a forum doesn't come alive until a critical mass of members and discussions occur. I
think there are enough of us to get off to a great start, but it will take some time.
The following URLs will take you to Camera Work:
If you think this forum is worthwhile and want to see it succeed, please take a minute register at Camera Work and
post something there. Upload an album. Introduce yourself. Ask a question. Request a feature. Comment on your favorite or latest gear. Recommend a book. Better yet, do all of those things :-). You may not see much of a response initially, but I'm confident that before long we can build a better photography forum.
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Just a quick post to share some of the latest Serious Compacts news:
300 photographers in our Flickr group
Our Flickr community, less than four months old, has reached 300 members. There are talented photographers from all over the world sharing compact camera photography in our photo pool, and the discussion area is also picking up. Serious Compacts exists to foster a community based in the common interest of serious photography with compacts, and the Flickr group is an exciting realization of that goal. If you haven't joined yet, come check out our group!
Serious Compacts featured in Alltop
After a much appreciated nomination by 1001 Noisy Cameras, Serious Compacts was selected for inclusion on the Alltop Photography page. Alltop is an aggreggating service introduced by Guy Kawasaki which collects stories from "all the top" sites on the web. We're honored to be there amongst the company of some of the best photography sites around.
Review by Blogged
Serious Compacts was reviewed by Blogged and received an 8.5 out of 10, corresponding to a rating of "Great".
Feature on Indecent Exposure
The Serious Compacts Buy and Sell board was featured in Episode 5 of the CNET photography podcast, Indecent Exposure. They also mentioned us again in Episode 13. Very cool!
Site statistics
Serious Compacts traffic has been rising steadily. We're approaching an average 1000 daily visitors (1793 visitors this past Monday alone), and the number of feed subscribers today hit a high of 350. Not bad considering that we've yet to enter the fifth month since our inception.
Thank yous
Special thanks to the blog authors and everyone who takes the time to read this blog and contribute to our growing community. As compact cameras become more and more capable, I can only see an expanding role for them in the future of photography.
Major thanks to 1001 Noisy Cameras, who have been supportive of Serious Compacts since before it was called Serious Compacts. If you're not familiar with 1001 Noisy Cameras, then stop reading this and go check them out! To quote from their "About" page, "1001 Noisy Cameras is digital camera news, speculation, analysis, rumors, unique and off-beat features with a dose of humor." 1001 is one of the very few sites I read daily, and they offer some great resources for the compact camera enthuasiast. In addition to the latest news and rumors, they have terrific coverage of the latest reviews and discussion around the web, a handy Power Compacts Review Matrix, and a companion site, the RAWsumer blog, which is right up our alley.
Special thanks also to Imaging Insider for keeping us on their radar and referring to a number of our stories. Imaging Insider is a terrific resource for keeping track of the latest photography news, reviews, and industry analyses. Be sure to check them out if you haven't already.
Contributors wanted
If you are serious about photography using compacts and/or enthusiastic about the remarkable compact gear developed for photography, we welcome you to contact us about writing for the Serious Compacts blog. This is an opportunity for you to share your thoughts and also to bring exposure to your other sites/projects on the web.
Support appreciated
This site takes a lot of time and effort as well as a little bit of money. Your support is appreciated. One great way to help Serious Compacts is to spread the word by using the StumbleUpon (SU) links at the end of each post to write a short review of any of our posts which you find particularly interesting. Lots of folks use SU to discover new sites, and your one line SU review can bring hundreds of people to a post on this blog.
Another highly appreciated way to show your support is to use one of the banners on this page to go to B&H or Amazon the next time you decide to buy yourself something. Those are both great places to buy photography gear/supplies, and they pay us a small referral percentage (2.5-4%) for anything you purchase there after getting there via one of our links. The small revenue brought in via our affiliates is used to pay for the Buy & Sell board, our associated domain names, contest prizes, and gear for testing purposes.
If you are interested in advertising on the Serious Compacts blog, please contact us.
One more thing
On a personal note, speaking as a photography enthusiast, gear head, and hopeless procrastinator, I've been interested in finding a good set of forums in which to discuss photography. I've yet to really find an ideal place to do this. Some forums seem to be unmoderated or haphazardly moderated. Others are overmoderated. In general the structure of most photography forums seems to lend itself to brand-specific discussion, and there is often a strange separation between the discussion of gear and the discussion of photography. None of this makes sense to me given the goal we all have in common, making great photographs. I've therefore started the Camera Work Forums at www.camwk.com. Right now, there are just a few of us there, but in time I hope Camera Work will develop into a great community in its own right.
-Amin
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