The Diminishing Returns of Choice

Hey honeys and hustlers,

The YouTube camera, photography, and filmmaking community had a little upheaval during this long holiday weekend over the state of camera and gear reviews. This was prompted by the release of the Panasonic S9, a compact camera seemingly meant to compete with the Fuji X100 series and the like from other brands. In my humble opinion, the camera completely misses the mark in several ways, yet (at no surprise to me), everyone invited to Japan to see and experience the camera ahead of public release had little to no complaints or issues with the camera. It seems others agree that this pattern of similar creators getting first dibs on new cameras and never saying anything bad about them for fear of retaliation from camera brands needs to end.

Gerald Undone was one of the more prominent YouTubers to speak up about his take on the state of camera reviews this weekend, and he was the perfect person to do so. If you’ve ever searched YouTube for a camera review, you’ve likely come across his long-winded and super-scientific camera reviews of several brands. He is the quintessential YouTube camera reviewer: he doesn’t make films, he doesn’t make social videos, he doesn’t make a video podcast, he hires a DP/camera operator when he does studio tours, he doesn’t vlog, he doesn’t work with clients, and 99% of his camera reviews happen while he’s using the camera on a tripod in a controlled and well-lit environment (aka his home studio). While his videos can give you a scientific breakdown of the dynamic range or technical abilities of a camera when over or underexposing by 4 stops (which is highly unlikely), you’ll be hard-pressed to find a long-term review or real-world use case on his channel. However, his reviews are still useful for learning more about camera specs and, because of the popularity of his channel, he’s previously been invited to different countries to experience new cameras before their release.

What does this incident and realization signal about the creator economy?

My two big takeaways:

1. We shouldn't work with brands who don't allow us to be ourselves, tell the truth, and create with integrity.

2. We should be a part of the conversation about the direction of the creator economy and the tools that will allow us to create the things we want to see.

Camera brands are massively larger than your favorite SaaS tool. They’ve also been around a lot longer. Because of that, creators likely feel honored to be asked to preview a product before it goes live, and brands likely feel untouchable by a few disgruntled YouTubers. While it’s an honor to creators, it’s an evergreen marketing tool with a great ROI for camera brands when the reviews are positive and released on the product announcement date to drive pre-orders and long-term sales. But what good is it to sell something that genuinely isn’t a great product for most people? Camera reviews tend to be a grey area where YouTubers want to share their thoughts in a balanced manner but provide areas for improvement. But that’s not what viewers want. They want the title and thumbnail of the video to confirm or deny their suspicions about a camera. Whether it’s the BEST CAMERA EVER, a GAMECHANGER, or the WORST CAMERA THEY’VE EVER TRIED. Sound familiar? The YouTube algorithm rewards videos that have a drastic viewpoint, and it’s probably the only thing about YouTube that grinds my gears as a creator.

I stopped making camera reviews (kind of)

I’ve posted one camera review on my channel, and it’s one of my most-watched videos. It still gets a steady stream of views to this day, along with comments asking me to review the camera I purchased after this one. Yet, I’m not posting another one (at least, for a long time and not on my main channel). This is for two reasons:

• When building an audience, creating a business career, or making an impact through your creative work, what camera you use simply doesn’t matter. The stories you tell matter way more.

• With camera video specs being so similar, people looking to buy a camera or invest in a system are likely looking for something specific. That could be a look or style, that could be a feature, or that could even be a use case. It’s impossible to meet the needs of every scenario.

Camera reviews are a volume business. Most camera reviews start at the announcement stage, then the unboxing with first impressions, then maybe a short test project, and then long-term reviews while using the camera within a creative business. Long-term reviews seem rarer these days, which is the exact opposite of how it should be. I like to “marry” my cameras. I never get a camera without intending to keep it for at least a year. I don’t think you can truly say you know a camera if you keep it for less than that. People should be slower to purchase and slower to upgrade cameras or change systems. But that doesn’t benefit camera manufacturers, does it?

If you’re looking to get into the brand sponsorship space: are going to post what benefits a brand, or what benefits your audience?

We need more creators with integrity, and if you’re reading this, I know you’re one of them.

Enjoy this short week as we round out the month of May.

Please Hustle Responsibly,

🤙🏾✨

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