In my other thread asking for opinions on what magazines to which subscribe, I've made some choices I wanted tdo float by you all.

First, since all of you seemed to think that Amatuer Photographer was a great choice, I wanted that magazine. However, it is not available where I live, and I cannot find their website. In view of that loss, this is waht I ahve chosen:

1)Digital Photo Pro (Has more of a technique and "show me" trade type feel to it, but seems pretty in depth although more general)

2) Aperture

3) Shots 90 - this is a mag that no one mentioned, but I found in a locally owned bookstore. It very much impressed me. It's a lot like Lenswork, but different. I'd be interested in your opinion of it: http://www.shotsmag.com/

Thanks for all of your input!

With your new studio lighting and interest in that venue, consider the monthly mags from WPPI and PPA. One is Rangefinder, and I forget the other. Both serve small studio operators around the country and contain a mix of photo technique, business management, and promotion. You have to join the orgs to get the mags, but in either you will find lots of folks with similar interests, as well as a host of conferences and classes that might interest you. We have had excellent luck with the insurance available through PPA, both for liability insurance for location and studio, and for equipment. Rates are comparable, and dealing with them on claims has been hassle free.

I'm not sure what your specific interest is in magazines, but if it is Photoshop-related, I highly recommend joining NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) and along with that comes a subscription to PhotoshopUser magazine and other goodies. Not knowing where you live I don't know what they would charge you, but you can go to www.photoshopuser.com and get all the info. It is a great resource.

An understandable choice - one of mine as well. Occasionally there are instructional essays that espouse explanations that are pure BS.

The premise behind this magazine (I believe) is front line support for wary film professionals that need comfort as they make the transition to digital. The articles soften the blow with simple, clear (but frequently wrong) tech talk.

Also, the magazine is clearly oriented towards commercial and advertising photography - stunning work containing a boat load of post processing manipulation.

I renewed my subscription, but I don't know if I will do that much longer.

Avoid the colophon (last page) from every issue. It is called "Misinformation". A writer by the name of Rob Sheppard attempt to "debunk" some Digital Photography "myth" each month. Based on every explantion I have read of his, each myth is true and he is unable to understand it so he contrives some empirical explantion to refute the truth. In the process he embarrasses himself. The irony is that he chooses to call this column "Misinformation".

Odd to have that in a professionally-oriented periodical, no?

I agree and found it very strange. I received Digital Photo Pro as a Christmas gift the first year it was out, and only kept it that year. I also noticed the Rob Sheppard column and had to shake my head about it. Then I noticed that he repeated the "Misinformation" in his Outdoor Photographer column. I've noticed lately that he seems to be eating his words that appeared in earlier columns.

Bryan

Yuck. Well, I was looking for inspirational, like the Shots and Aperture magazine, plus one more trade oriented "how to" and analysis mag. Perhaps Digital Pro wasn't too good a choice? Since Lenswork was on sale, I also subscribed to them.

I'm in Australia. I was impressed by the first issues of Digital Photo Pro and subscribed on-line on May 14 2004.

My credit card was immediately debited and I got an email saying please wait 8-10 weeks for delivery.

By August 3 (!) I had not received any magazine and enquired by email. I got an apology from their distribution company and a request that I wait another 8-10 weeks for delivery. When I protested that I couldn't see why I should have to wait so long, all I got was a re-statement that I would have to wait 8-10 weeks.

Once again, after waiting 12 weeks this time with no magazines delivered, I emailed Neodata on October 31 2004 cancelling my subscription (since it seemed obvious I was not going to get anywhere) and asking for a refund.

After three days I got a reply simply saying I would have to wait 4 weeks for a refund!

I then wrote a paper letter to the president of the company, Stephen D. Werner, protesting that after nearly 6 months, they still had my money and I had no magazines. I never got an answer. At that time, there was no email address in the editorial page.

On December 1 2004, I finally got a refund cheque in the mail for my original payment of USD29.95 = AUD44.42. But because it was a foreign cheque, my bank charged me AUD10.00 to process it, PLUS a Forex fee, PLUS the exchange rate had worsened in the 8 months. In all, I lost AUD16.73 on the deal. I was and am pretty angry and disgusted by this, as you can imagine.

I wrote another email to the magazine on December 8 2004 setting this out and saying I feel they should remove the word PRO from their title, because this was grossly unprofessional.

Again no reply. But on December 19, 2004 one copy of the Nov/Dec issue arrived in the mail. I kinda thought I might get a free year's subscription for all this hassle, but nope, that was the last I ever heard from them.

So Digital Photo Pro is trading under false pretences, in my opinion. I won't deal with them again.


Peter Croft
Perth
Western Australia

I see this sort of business practice from American businesses more frequently in the last few years. You should file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and Consumer Affairs in the US. For example, I filed to both organizations because Sears sales people were giving out false information. I bought a dehumidifier and 1 month after its warranty expired, it went bad. So I bought another one, and the sales clerk asked if I wanted the extended warranty. I asked if the extended warranty was a repair, or replacement. She replied that it ws a NEW replacement no questions. I went home and read the "fine" print. It said explicitely "fix or repair" at their descretion. Excuse my bluntness, but many businesses in the US don't give a FUCK about you or anyone, and then we have B&H, which is a honest business. You really gotta watch yourself these days though. Not too long ago AT&T had a class action lawsuit because it sent out letters to people saying that if they did not respond, they would automatically be enrolled in a minimum payment for long distance service, in the case they didn't use it enough during the billing month. Obviously, that's still illegal.

You may also want to contact your CC company, since you are not to be charged until the merchandise is shipped. I hope that crap doesn't happen to me.

Actually, this wasn't my first experience with US magazines. In the late 1990s, I subscribed to NewMedia magazine. Again, my credit card was immediately debited but over more than 6 months, I never got any magazines. At least in this case, a delightful female employee tried to help me via email. Then the zapper! After about 8 months, their distribution company(Omeda) charged my credit card again, completely without authorisation, for the next year's subscription! That meant they kept my credit card details on their files and used the numbers again without authorisation. When I contacted my bank, they metaphorically shrugged and said, yes, US companies do it all the time.

I did get my money back and two free magazines arrived, but no more.

Then in 2001 I subscribed on-line to Popular Photography at the advertised price of USD19.95. I got the magazines OK, but they charged my credit card USD27.95.

My email enquiries succeeded in getting the charge reduced to the advertised price, but there was never any explanation or apology. Must be a Noo Yawk attitude thing, I suppose.

The upshot is I will NOT subscribe to any US magazines again.

Finally, Photoshop User, the magazine of the NAPP, sells here for AUD33.50 ! Its cover price is USD9.95 = AUD13.82, so that's a more than doubling of the cover price. Most magazines cost about $8 - $12 here, so although I'd like to read Photoshop User, there's no way I'll buy it.

I emailed the magazine to ask if they knew this was going on. I got an answer, but they really didn't care. There was no interest in cracking the whip over the Aussie distributor, the cause of the problem. Not enough sales to warrant it. Of course there are few sales at that price! That's the price of a hard cover book.

So as much as magazines implore us to subscribe, my experience is NO WAY.

Cheers,
Peter Croft
Perth,
Western Australia.

I don't blame you.

Peter, here in Canada we suffer similar kinds frustration over large differences between American and Canadian cover prices for the same magazine. As soon as anything crosses a border and airmail is involved, costs increase because of brokerage and additional handling; as well in countries like Canada and Australia there is most likely much less competition for distributorship and much lower volume (at any price) than there is in the USA.

As for NAPP - it isn't a magazine - it is an Association that publishes a magazine. If you join the Association you get the magazine - the two are linked and the price reflects the additional costs to NAPP for airmailing and brokerage of international transactions - so for example when I lived in the USA I paid 99 dollars for my NAPP membeship, and now that I am back in Canada I pay about 133. Spread over a year of issues plus the specials they provide, the difference is tolerable and still very good value for the quality of the magazine and other member benefits. I recommend you go to the photoshopuser.com website and check what they charge for membership from Australia.

Another magazine to stay clear from is Popular Photography. It too is often off the mark when it comes to technical advice. It's more like a group of amateur photographers writing about photography.

I fully gave up on them about the time the F828 came out. They published a positive review about it (which I didn't read) and a reader commented the next month that they were "gushing" about it and overlooked completely the cameras issues with CR effects. They responded by saying there are no issues with CR because none showed up when the photographed a resolution chart (!). The very next page was a two-page advertisement for a contest they were running in conjunction with Sony to promote the Sony f828. Yeah....



A magazine I have a subscription to right now is Rangefinder Magazine. This month's is particularly good as it has their year's best photographs (which spans a majority of the pages in the magazine) and I have been enjoying looking at some of them. I have not had a chance to read any of their articles yet but I have heard good things about them.

Picture Magazine is another I had a subscription to for a year (given to me as a gift). The layout was a bit odd and had a hard time gauging when an article would start or end. Not a huge selection of images to look at and none of the articles were all that interesting. Mostly fashion stuff.

I have shifted from subscriptions to just buying off of newsstands. I tend toward the esoteric. My hobbies are audio (I'm a tube guy to the extreme _OTL's) and astronomy (big Dod's - Obsessions). Many of the small really interesting mags have gone out of business, often to reappear under a new owner who doesn't give credit for past subscriptions.

Online guys can't keep to a promised schedule. 6 times a year means maybe 3, quarterly means 2 times a year.

Just the way it is.

bob

Ha! Air mail? Nothing comes to this country unless it's a month out of date, at least. It all comes by sea. No, the problem is that there's only one magazine distributor in this country and since they have a monopoly, that's it, buster. The newsagents say they complain on our behalf, but it's "Tough, take it or leave it". That's why I've tried the subscription way, but ... that doesn't work either, as stated above.

I considered joining the NAPP, as you say, but USD99 a year is AUD137. It's too expensive when I might only want some of the articles, and it's THIN magazine. I'm not a Photoshop pro, either. What I don't understand is the NAPP's lack of interest in doing anything about what this lazy distributor is doing to their magazine. This is what they said:

"I will forward your email to our New Business Development department but I'm not sure there is any thing we can do to help as even you mentioned in your earlier email the prices are set by an Australian distribution company. "

Naturally, I never heard from them again.

Pete

NAPP has a video podcast (think internet TV) for anyone who's interested. The link I just gave launches iTunes but you can also get it here.

Peter, the magazine may be thin, but don't let that fool you. It is very rich in content (with little advertising and tightly written), and you don't need to be a Photoshop Pro to appreciate it and use it - I'm no pro and I do - I find myself reading a good part of each issue, and I then keep them for reference material; much of it never really goes out of date. I can understand why they responded to you the way they did about your local distributor - they are most likely correct - they can't influence that situation so they won't put time into it; that is why I suggested by-passing your local distributor completely by checking into the cost of joining NAPP and getting the magazine directly - but of course only if you can satisfy yourself it is worthwhile relative to your needs.

There is also a very good Australian magazine named "Design Graphics". You are most likely familiar with it - more pitched to the graphic arts audience, but also with some useful photography and Photoshop content.

Yes, thanks Mark. But being a magazine addict (I can't help myself - I buy a magazine every day most days, in the computer, photo and nature genres - HELP!), I have to be selective. It's just too expensive. I also cannot get broadband internet - dialup only in my area, so web site video is out, too.

This gets me back to the quality of magazines. I do know Design Graphics and I really appreciate their sense of layout design. Their articles on Photoshop techniques are great and their exposure of new talent is terrific.

But I find their tests superficial. Nearly every time, their articles are nothing more than a roundup of manufacturers' specs. This applies to many magazines. I don't want regurgitation of makers' guff! I want solid opinions from a serious user.

That's why I like this site so much. Michael says what has to be said and I value his opinion very much. That's why I bought a KonicaMinolta A2 - his reviews were a fantastic help.

I also like Herbert Keppler in Pop Photography. He's been around a long time and I like the way he cuts through the hype. Pop Photo's article in the December issue on the difference between digital camera kit lenses and the more expensive pro versions was just what I wanted, although I would have liked some resolution sample pics.

But I agree, it's often hard to distiguish the articles from the advertising. Their tests are also nowhere as detailed as they used to be 10-15 years ago. And as for their claim on the front cover, "World's Largest Imaging Magazine", WHAT?! It's demonstrably false in any way you care to look. Falls into the same class as my dealings with Digital Photo Pro, I guess - BS.

I couldn't help but join into this topic, as an American, who is now a permanent resident in Australia. I have just recently returned to photography after 25 years precisely because you can now get good results from digital media and I hoped to combine it with my knowledge of Photoshop. I have been a professional Photoshop user for the past 17 years( Since version 3) in the field of Graphic Design & Illustration. Adobe use to publish it's own magazine, and send it to licensed users.
I was quite stunned by what Australians pay for books when I first arrive. Paperbacks with a USA price printed on them of 12.95 can be sold as high as 39.95 here. Not all of it is due to greedy distributors. Some of it is import tax, which most countries apply to foriegn goods to protect domestic industries from unfair competion. But I due think PhotoshopUser is definitely worth the price here.
Some of you may also find useful things at the Adobe Studio Exchange. Although much of the contributions are by and for artists, some could be used for photographic effects. Registration is free to use the exchange. There are also alot of artist who post tutorials on there own sites, which could be applicable to photograpy. http://user.fundy.net/morris/ is one example. It can be very inspiring to see others tackle a similar problem for a different perspective. That's really what dialog is about