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steve.c.down
sad I’m unimpressed
steve.c.down April 18, 2011 12:56

Incorrect specs, Questionable judgement calls

Great concept - inaccurate information. Take the Panasonic DMC-GH2.

Your pixel count is 15.9MP, Panasonic's is 18.31MP total, 16.05 effective
You report that it has no sensor cleaning system, Panasonic reports otherwise (ultrasonic).
You report a pixel size of 14.1 um2. DxOMark reports 3.6um (12.96 um2) - Can't find a calculation that yields this number, unless possibly I use effective instead of total pixels?
You report a weight of 444g, Panasonic and dpreview.com report 392g - that's off by more than 10%
You report the presence of flash as a positive, but popup as a negative (non-popup would somehow be more powerful?) You should be providing the guide number of the flash (13.9) for objective comparison.
You report Flash External Connection: Yes as a negative, despite the fact that your own description lists that as a positive.
Under Form Factor, you list all of the size dimensions as negatives (saying the thickness of the camera should be BELOW 3/4") - Consider the camera class before making all comparisons against compact cameras.
You report "Interchangeable Lenses: Yes" as a negative, when the camera's category is "Mirrorless interchangeable-lens" - How is it a negative that the camera does exactly what it's class suggests?
You indicate min shutter speed as 60s - this is correct except there is also a Bulb setting
You indicate Unknown coverage in the viewfinder. Panasonic indicates approx 100%
You indicate Viewfinder size as Unknown. Panasonic indicates 1.42x (.71x accounting for crop factor)

Given those errors, compounded by what I assume are similar errors with other cameras that I can't quantify but must assume are there, how do we use your site to make objective camera comparisons?
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  • Alex Black EMPLOYEE
    Alex Black (Official Rep) April 18, 2011 13:10
    Hi Steve, thanks for the feedback. let me go through your points:

    1. Snapsort simply uses the max image resolution as the pixel count, e.g. 4608x3456 which is 15.9MP. Manufacturers often like to advertise higher numbers, we're not sure why.

    2. Looks like we made a mistake on the sensor cleaning, I'll double check and get that fixed, thx.

    3. Pixel size is a simple calculation involving the size of the sensor and the # of pixels, so if we're using the actual 15.9MP we're going to get an different answer than sites that use some other value for MP. Since DxO is reporting smaller pixels it sounds like they used a larger MP in their calculations.

    4. 444g weight is our estimate of the camera's weight with a battery and memory card.

    5. Flash - good point, clearly having an external flash connection is a positive, will fix that. Popup, agreed, hard to say if its a positive or negative, perhaps I'll change it to be classified as neither.

    6. Form factor - the class of the camera is considered. All "bars" on the specs page (http://snapsort.com/cameras/Panasonic...) are relative to the other mirrorless cameras in the Snapsort system. E.g. the GH2 is large compared to the NEX-5 and GF2.

    7. Interchangeable lenses - good call, probably not a negative or positive.

    8. Min shutter speed - Snapsort tracks the slowest shutter speed you can set. It sounds like you're saying it would be valuable to also track whether or not the camera has a bulb feature? We'll consider adding that.

    9. Viewfinder size and coverage - we don't currently track that for EVFs because we can't seem to find specs for all cameras (unlike optical viewfinders).

    You asked basically "how can I trust Snapsort", well thats up to you. We work hard to make sure the site is accurate and objective, and whenever people point out issues or have suggestions we respond and try to act on them. But ultimately if you don't trust Snapsort then we apologise, and perhaps as we improve you'll give the site another chance in the future!
    good solution! good solution! (undo)
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