View Camera Magazine Subscriber Only Section

[RichSBV]

After reading constant bashes of View Camera's web site and policy, I'd like to finally offer my own opinion...

First off, View Camera is one of the best photo magazines I have ever found. I may not be too fond of the digital stuff, but you take the good with the bad... Overall, it's a great magazine and I hope it stays around a long time!

Second, I don't care one way or the other about the subscriber-only web site. I can't be bothered trying to remember to keep that label around for a password...

Third, I get really tired of people bashing steve for his site and policy. His reasons are valid and it is HIS site and magazine. If you don't like it then don't use the site or read the mag! To be professional (and adult) about it, you could simply send steve an e-mail and explain your views _politely_! Bashing it out over and over again in public is a waste of everyone's time and makes a fool of you (now, who am I talking about? No one! Speaking in general here)...

I take View camera (and Camera Arts) at face value for what they are as magazines. I would not want to do without either. Thank you Steve! And don't ever let me forget to renew! ;-) I do have a habit of forgetting those things... If at some future time I decide to take advantage of the web site, well that's just gravy and no more...

Now, lets all be nice. No bashing... And just because an issue or two isn't to your liking is pretty much just normal for magazine publishing. I give any magazine a years worth of reading. If after that year I decide it's not worth renewing, I don't. And there's quite a list of "don'ts"...

[steve simmons]

I am writing this response with the full realization that in the past you have not been able to listen when offered constructive criticism. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

We re very eceptive to constructive criticism. What is frustrating is bashing that does not offer a solution.

I still disagree with those retail buyers who claim to be cheated. By putting info on the web we are able to supplement what we do in the magazine. Some portfolios will have more photos because we can put some of the text on the web. Some of the portfolios are supplemented with additional photos on the web. I do not believe the articles are any shorter because of the web content. If we cut back or stopped the web info the magazine would not get larger. We've done a consistent 72 pages for years except for a few issues after 9/11 where we cut back to 64 because of a severe drop in advertising. Many other magzines have not gone back to pre 9/11 age counts because the ads have not quite come back yet. We've gone back to 72 pages because we can't get all we want into each issue with just 64 pages.

steve simmons

[Bruce M. Herman]

Steve,

I think that there is value to adding extra material to the magazine articles by publishing it on your web site. I would like to address two issues here: one is the problem encountered by folks who purchase the magazine from a local book store and so do not have a password, and the second is the continually changing password, itself.

First, I propose that you adopt the model used by PDN. They have a portion of their web site open to all visitors, and a second section that is accessible only to those who pay a modest additional fee payable annually, say $10-15 in the case of VC. This approach would make it possible for folks who do not subscribe to purchase their magazine locally and yet still have access to the web materials if they pay the fee. It would be their choice.

The same choice would obviously extend to subscribers. By making the access fee payable on an annual basis, password management would be more straightforward for both the subscribers and for you, too. The issue of a bimonthly changing password has been my single biggest complaint about your magazine. This fee would also provide you with some extra working capital for the web site, allowing you to maintain a larger volume of older material.

Personally, I do not mind that not every article is equally interesting to me. Your magazine serves a diverse audience and would not survive if it were more narrowly focused. I appreciate very much your efforts.

Bruce

[steve simmons]

Lets look at some reality. If we expand the articles in each isue to include wht is on the web we can

pull an article to make space - ok which one????? three diferent readers will have three different suggestions

increase the page count and increase the price

which route should we take?

or we can take the route we've chosen which is to slightly shorten an article or two, ad an extra article to each issue and place supplemental info on the web at no charge to subscrbers Retail buyers are still gettng the 72 pages of info and actually more editorial matterial since ads are till down compaed to pre 9/11 days.

If you really do not want to subscribe but want access to the web we will sell a web subscription for $15.00 per year. Call us at 800-894-439 m-f 8-5 mountian time.

steve simmons

[Kirk Gittings]

I feel like some of the critics of Steve do not understand the magazine business very well. Keeping magazines afloat in this market without cutting pages and or raising the price is remarkable. And VC is a business not your local photo club or a chat room! What Steve is doing is consistent with what is going on in the magazine business everywhere and he is not shortchanging anyone as other magazines are. he has really struggled to keep the quality up as ad revenues have dropped for all magazines. As a matter of fact I think he gives more value for the dollar than the others do. Come on, the subscription price is a steal. It is embarrassing how many cheap whinny people there are out there.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Kirk,

This issue has been rehashed here and in other forums so many times I decided, like many, that I would stay out of it. Until you posted your message.

The issue is not whether the magazine is good or bad, but that there seem to be some recurrent problems that Steve refuses to fix. The log in for subscribers is one of the most usual problem. Why is it that people have so much trouble loggin in? Why do they have to come to forums like this to get the answer, instead of being able to go to the VC web site to do so?

Personally I dont see any problem with additional material for subscribers in the web site, but to a certain degree it smacks of pettiness and is perceived as punishing those who only wish to buy the issues that interest them for not subscribing. Regardless of how little income Simmons derives from news stand sales, people are paying full price for that issue and I believe many feel cheated by what I imagine is the "for more photographs see the subscriber section in our web site" line (I have not seen an issue since I moved to Mexico since it is not sold in news stands, unlike photo techniques).

More important, IMO, is the fact that if VC is failing to balance the article content well enough to maintain a wide interest, forcing people to pick and choose the issues they like then there is a problem with the editorial decisions. For many years I did this, I went to the book store, saw the issue and if I found one or two articles I liked I would buy the magazine, if I did not see any, why would I buy it? Worse yet, why would I subscribe to a magazine that failed to hold my interest more than 50% of the time? Some years even less! Certainly this behavior from a customer is not due to being "cheap" but a symptom of the magazine content.

Bottom line Kirk, calling people on this forum cheap whiners I think is out line when the problems stem from the decisions made by the editor of the magazine.

[Paul Metcalf]

"By leaving out relevant formulas or charts, etc. from articles in the magazine proper, you are forcing people either to reject your publication completely or to subscribe. "

Michael - can you give examples to help focus the criticism from generalities to specifics? I'm not aware of any critical information being left out of any articles. Even Bruce Barlow's paper/developer study didn't lack the necessary details in the paper magazine to reach valid conclusions. My experience to-date as a subscriber is that the additional information on the web is better off there and not in the paper magazine in order to maintain a legitimate business case for Steve.

Problems logging on? Too difficult? Really, compared to setting tilts and shifts, calculating bellows extension factors, adjusting for filter factors, dodging/burning when printing, scanning adjustments...???

One positive criticism that I'd like to offer that hasn't been mentioned is that I prefer how Steve doesn't overtly clutter up the articles with advertisements like other rags. I like that most of the ads are either standalone on their own page or nicely tucked into the back of the mag. Hopefully this will continue.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Problems logging on? Too difficult? Really, compared to setting tilts and shifts, calculating bellows extension factors, adjusting for filter factors, dodging/burning when printing, scanning adjustments...???



Why do you assume that people doing LF are equally adept with computers, or for that matter that they do scanning at all? I use a 12x20, yet I suck a making scans, should I be an expert in scanning or logging into web sites because I can use a ULF camera? Hogwash!

I can balance a chemical equation or follow a chemical mechanism very easy, yet I cannot do a differential equation to save my life, adeptness in one field does not mean the same for other fields.

[Kirk Gittings]

Jorge et al., I apologize about the cheap whinners thing, that was a cheap shot, but really. Steve is in business. He has a product to sell and he has the necesity and the right to define how that product gets out there. If he wants to use the web service to encourage subscription, so be it. That is not "transparent motives" or ripping people off. It is probably just sound business. It is his product to sell as he wishes and believe me he is interested in the most effective way to do that. Let me give you an example with my commercial work. Sometimes I sell one time use rights and sometimes I sell unlimited use rights. Is that fair to every one? You pay the price for what I give you. It depends on allot of business considerations. I sometimes discount fees to customers who give me tons of work or lots of exposure like some magazines. I sometimes charge higher fees for customers from larger markets like Chicago or LA because they expect to pay more. I sometimes give my work away to charities because I care about the issue or because (heaven forbid) it might be good pr. (transparent motives!). The point is-it is my product to sell however I see fit. If I am foolish or greedy about that then I will pay for it somehow.

What I object to in this discussion is the attitude (not by you Jorge) of some here that Steve is withholding something that rightfully belongs to them because they bought the mag. at a higher price at the news stand. No! These are two different packages of his product. Steve is very clear about how you get the extras. You buy the damn subscription package! Or not! What is the big deal? I have a subscription and yet I have never looked at the web site once. And yes for those who want to know about my "transparent motives", Steve is one of my best friends, but when he is wrong I have no problem telling him so and have many times.

[steve simmons]

I find it curious that none of my critic have responded to my questiosin my post of May 23rd. It is s if you did not read my response ut roceeded to criticize the magazine and my editorial decisions anyway.

If all you want to do is see your name on this roster please do it at someone else's expense. If you want a meaningful dialogue with me then respond to what I say and what I ask.

stev simmons