Relaunch update: image handling resolved, in-demand improvements to come

1 day ago 15

User-requested features being developed, now the fundamentals are fixed

A computer monitor showing the DPReview.com website

It’s been over a month since we launched the new DPReview.com website, and we wanted to give you an update.

We realize that a lot of the work we’ve been doing hasn’t been especially public-facing, so it hasn’t necessarily been obvious that this really is a Beta: we are listening to feedback and we are continuing to improve the site.

As well as fixing some glitches around user logins, we’ve been doing a lot of work to ensure that the site always delivers completely untouched, out-of-camera JPEGs, when you click through or download an image. This isn’t a requirement that the CMS software we’re using is usually expected to maintain, with the consistency that we need. So it’s meant a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure that we can live up to the high standards that we demand and that you can expect.

OOC images and HDR support

As a result of this work, we can now be confident that “Ultra HDR JPEG” files: JPEGs with HDR gain maps embedded, can be viewed correctly when you click through, but also when they appear within articles, if you have a compatible screen and browser.

HDR imagery is only likely to become more accessible and more prevalent in the coming years, so being able to correctly represent these files was important to us: both so that we can show the progress as it’s made and because it ensures we’re delivering all images exactly as they came out of the camera.

This may seem esoteric but it’s fundamental to the way our reviews are conducted: we provide unedited files precisely so you can draw your own conclusions, rather than just take our words for it.

Light mode and improved camera comparisons

With this done, we’re continuing to work on projects that you’ve been requesting and things that will be more obviously visible to readers of the site and members of the community. These include a “light” version of the site for editorial content, for those people who don’t like the site’s original white-on-black appearance. We’re also working on a more advanced camera comparison tool that makes more extensive use of our camera specs database.

Neither is ready yet, but they’re just two of the more obvious features that we’ve heard the demand for, and are planning to deliver. In the meantime, please bear with us and keep letting us know how we can make the site even better.

About the Author: Richard graduated as a scientist but had a lot more fun writing and shooting for his university magazine. A number of years spent variously as a reporter, writer and editor on science and engineering titles combined his knowledge of science with his interest in images and words. But it was spotting the connections between emission spectra, white balance and all the nonsense he’d taught himself playing around in Photoshop that helped kindle an interest in digital photography. Searching for a camera led to him discovering DPReview and Richard was recruited by Phil Askey in 2007. He’s been combining his love of photography, communication and attention to detail (pedantry?) ever since. He has unusually strong opinions about lenses for the APS-C format.

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