Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
01-24-2015, 02:11 PM   #1
Pentaxian




Join Date: Nov 2014
Photos: Albums
Posts: 2,078
Are any of these photography magazines worth subscribing to?

I found this list of photo mags on sale:

Multi-Year Sale - DiscountMags.com

I am interested in macro, astrophotography, nature in general, street photography and random stuff.

Would any of these be good for me or are they all for gear heads?

Thanks.

01-24-2015, 02:31 PM - 1 Like   #2
Veteran Member
abmj's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Central California
Posts: 600
Popular Photography is the grand daddy of them all. It has been around for decades and usually has a good mix of photo styles and techniques, along with instructional columns. It is probably the best "generalist" magazine. That said, the one I keep taking over all others is Outdoor Photographer. My interests are landscape and nature so it is a good fit and features some really stunning images that stimulate the creative flow for me. Although I don't do astro photography myself, that mag also features a fair amount of it. Aside from those two, I've tried some of the others but let them go after a year.

My habit for finding new magazines is to take one for a year and decide if I want to continue. You can try a single issue from a newsstand but that can be deceiving as they vary from month to month.

My $0.02.
01-24-2015, 03:15 PM   #3
Veteran Member
Otis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis Fan
Rupert's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Texas
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 25,123
Check this out...it is from the moderator at our Flickr site, a fellow Pentaxian and wonderful person. He is the editor and turns out a fine magazine. It's Canadian, but you could probably get some through him. I have many and they are wonderful magazines.

Photo News - Digital Mag

Here is his Flickr Gallery...you could contact him through it. https://www.flickr.com/photos/37357145@N02/

Regards!
01-24-2015, 04:02 PM   #4
csa
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
csa's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Montana mountains
Posts: 10,133
[I keep taking over all others is Outdoor Photographer.]

Same here. I love it, and right now is the only magazine I'm subscribed to.


01-24-2015, 06:10 PM   #5
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Miguel's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Near Seattle
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,743
Outdoor Photographer is pretty good, but after a year it gets repetitive.

All of the magazines listed I can access for free from my public library via Zinio. The iPad app presents the images more richly than a paper magazine. The only photography-related paper-based magazines I believe are worth subscribing to are image oriented such as B&W, Aperture, and LensWork.

M
01-24-2015, 06:10 PM - 1 Like   #6
F/8 & Somewhere
Loyal Site Supporter
TedH42's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Colorado
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,412
QuoteOriginally posted by csa Quote
[I keep taking over all others is Outdoor Photographer.]

Same here. I love it, and right now is the only magazine I'm subscribed to.
+1 for Outdoor Photographer.
01-24-2015, 06:39 PM   #7
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
boriscleto's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: North Syracuse, NY
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,464
I kind of liked American Photographer when I had a subscription. I liked that the reviews did not include any sort of rating.

01-24-2015, 07:36 PM   #8
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
ramseybuckeye's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Hampstead, NC
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 17,276
I've read at least an issue of all of them except Videomaker, and they all can have worthy content. I used to get Pop Photographer but I found it to be going directions that were uninteresting, but of course they could have had another editorial change and went other ways. I have been subscribing to Outdoor Photographer for a few years now and enjoy it more all the time. $13 for three years is a good deal.
01-24-2015, 07:44 PM   #9
Pentaxian
rangercarp's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Southern Michigan
Posts: 437
I subscribe to Popular Photography and Outdoor Photographer. PP has a lot of reviews of new cameras and lenses for the gear heads out there. It also has a lot of studio and lighting setups. All in all if has a lot of variety. OP I read almost cover to cover each month and have for several years, but it does tend to get a little bit repetitive.
01-24-2015, 08:17 PM   #10
Pentaxian




Join Date: Nov 2014
Photos: Albums
Posts: 2,078
Original Poster
Thanks for your input.

As I said, I am more interested in a magazine that helps to be a better photographer versus something that just tells gear heads how to spend money.

I also like looking at good images, both for the pleasure of seeing good photography and as anispirational device.

They are pretty cheap subscriptions, so OP seems like something worthwhile and I might do PP also.
01-25-2015, 11:31 PM   #11
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 1,129
I had Pop Photo, American Photo, and Outdoor Photographer for a few years each. Pop Photo can have good content and gear reviews, but there are so many ads. Plus some of the reviews are so wishy-washy as to be useless. I don't think I ever seen a review that ends up negative. American Photo is less gear oriented, with features on specific photographers, gallery showings, etc, but with some gear mixed in. I can confirm that Outdoor Photography does get repetitive, but I do enjoy reading their articles and seeing travel/outdoors photos. I do zero studio work, so sometimes the features in other magazines about fancy lighting setups and so on is lost on me.

One new-ish title that I've been keeping tabs on at the newsstand is c't Digital Photography. Weird name, but there are very very few ads, and it is a thick quarterly magazine. The articles are very in-depth. And despite the "digital" in the title, they recently did a feature on film scanners, so they cover a lot of bases. I've been thinking about subscribing, but you won't find it for $12/yr like the ones above. Newsstand price is about $15/issue, annual subscription of four issues is $50.
01-26-2015, 08:02 AM   #12
Pentaxian
rangercarp's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Southern Michigan
Posts: 437
QuoteOriginally posted by filoxophy Quote
I can confirm that Outdoor Photography does get repetitive
Seems like most of us agree on this one. It helps if you do not have the "read it cover to cover" mentality. I struggle with that, but I am getting better. Getting a subscription on the cheap makes it a little easier to justify reading only the parts that you are interested in.
01-26-2015, 08:25 AM   #13
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Frankfurt am Main
Posts: 1,241
QuoteOriginally posted by dcshooter Quote
Looks like c't is published by a German outfit
c't Digital Photography is the English speaking version of the German c't Digitale Photographie.
This is published by Heise Verlag, and is a spin-off of the professional German computer/electronic magazine c't.

c't and its sister magazine iX (for Unix/Linux) themselves are the best of the many German computer magazines and exist since decades. When the first digital cameras appeared, this was a new subject also for Electronics/Computer orientated customers. Roughly after they had a detailed review of the then new Pentax *istD, they decided to offer special issues for digital cameras (in the beginning not on a regular base), and meanwhile became a fully featured Photo Magazine. They also have a related web site with a connected blog (a strongly reduced version of this is also in English). Sometimes older reviews can be seen there for free (in the German version), but most of it needs subscribing.

One of our active members here in PF had published there about his photograhic experience from his service in Afghanistan.
01-26-2015, 08:44 AM   #14
csa
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
csa's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Montana mountains
Posts: 10,133
QuoteOriginally posted by rangercarp Quote
Seems like most of us agree on this one. It helps if you do not have the "read it cover to cover" mentality. I struggle with that, but I am getting better. Getting a subscription on the cheap makes it a little easier to justify reading only the parts that you are interested in.
" It helps if you do not have the "read it cover to cover" mentality"

Funny, I didn't realize that reading it cover to cover was a "mentality".
If I'm buying a magazine it's because I'm interested in it, and do read it cover to cover. I may even read them multiple times, as I keep the issues for a couple of years, and articles that I may not have an interest in at the time, may be pertinent later on, as I get additional equipment.

01-26-2015, 09:34 AM - 1 Like   #15
Veteran Member
emalvick's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Davis, CA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,642
QuoteOriginally posted by Miguel Quote
Outdoor Photographer is pretty good, but after a year it gets repetitive.

All of the magazines listed I can access for free from my public library via Zinio. The iPad app presents the images more richly than a paper magazine. The only photography-related paper-based magazines I believe are worth subscribing to are image oriented such as B&W, Aperture, and LensWork.

M
Same here... I had Outdoor Photographer for two (maybe three years). It got redundant. I'm actually noticing this with all magazines in all subjects. They go on 2 to 3 year cycles after which they start recycling content.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
articles, camera, images, magazine, magazines, pentax help, photography, sale, troubleshooting
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Filters -- any of these worth a bean? ChopperCharles Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 8 12-31-2013 10:04 PM
Any idea of what lenses these are? BigJPR Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 47 03-05-2013 11:14 AM
Any of these lenses worth converting to K mount? cyclone3d Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 5 12-12-2010 01:55 PM
Are any of these Leica lenses actually anything to use? aliquis Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands 8 05-21-2010 09:49 AM
Are any of these lenses worth buying? CrossStealth Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 12 02-11-2010 12:50 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:05 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top