Thom Hogan is clearly not the leading independent Nikon expert, either on the English-speaking Internet or in the whole world outside of Japan. I will be careful to specify that in all future references to him. :-)
Always scrupulous,
Mike the Ed.
(Thanks to Paul Braverman)
P.S. If this post mystifies you, see here. And will someone please tell Thom he spelled my name wrong?
Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Miserere (partial comment): "Mike, I have to...comment, just to let you know that you have the most adequate, ever-so-slightly above average photography blog North of the Orinoco and West of the Danube. At least in the non-Spanish speaking blogsphere. Your prose barely stumbles along, and your love of photography comes across blatantly lukewarm, with your posts being of such appropriate length that I'm always left wanting neither more nor less words, but sometimes the opposite. I hope to not have insulted you with my torrential non-comment on your photography blogging abilities. You are doing an OK job, and I wouldn't want to not persuade you to consider not discontinuing your work. Yours in vanilla, —Miserere."
Mike replies: You have not not not persuaded me. Thanks.
Ah well. No good deed goes unpunished as they say.
: )
[Ya try to say something nice.... --Mike]
Posted by: SteveW | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 02:37 PM
Indeed it looks like he's branching out into the Canon world as well.
Posted by: Kev Ford | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 02:50 PM
Tough love among cranky experts. Note that I did not say, "the cranky experts." Omitting the article allows readers to add their own superlatives. Both Thom and Michael have earned the right to lovingly pick on each other like big bad pappa bears of the photo blogosphere.
Posted by: Rev. Heng Sure | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 03:16 PM
Good to know! I stopped reading him years ago.😄
Posted by: Dennis | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 04:02 PM
OK, fine Thom. But then who is the leading Nikon expert outside Japan, and certainly in the English-speaking world? Enquiring minds need to know.
For years, if I wanted the best and most informed opinion of anything Nikon, I immediately thought of Thom Hogan. If I now must switch Nikon experts, I'd like to know who to switch to. "Ken Rockwell" is not a valid answer :-D
Posted by: Miserere | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 04:14 PM
Well that's not pleasant.
This is exactly the sort of thing that makes me want to just switch off the Internet and get on with my life. Sometimes.
Says he ... posting a comment on the Internet ...
Posted by: Kent | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 05:40 PM
Maybe this word should have preceded the comment...ARGUABLY. Maybe it might have ended the controversy. Or maybe it wouldn't have!
Posted by: David Zivic | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 06:02 PM
Undiluted Humblebrag.
Posted by: Andrew Molitor | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 06:37 PM
Don't worry too much Mike; Thom doesn't spell his own name properly either :)
Posted by: Alan Hill | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 06:45 PM
The fact that this Nikon expert is embracing Canon is telling.
I've found many bloggers/gurus/online-experts to be a peevish lot. They don't take kindly to perceived slights or criticism.
[Well, it wasn't criticism! I was praising him--too highly, he thought. I enjoy his site a lot. --Mike]
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 07:27 PM
Mike, I have to come back for a second comment, just to let you know that you have the most adequate, ever-so-slightly above average photography blog North of the Orinoco and West of the Danube. At least in the non-Spanish speaking blogsphere.
Your prose barely stumbles along, and your love of photography comes across blatantly lukewarm, with your posts being of such appropriate length that I'm always left wanting neither more nor less words, but sometimes the opposite.
I hope to not have insulted you with my torrential non-comment on your photography blogging abilities. You are doing an OK job, and I wouldn't want to not persuade you to consider not discontinuing your work.
Yours in vanilla,
—Miserere
Posted by: Miserere | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 08:33 PM
Gee the guy's got pompous down pat.
Posted by: David Robinson | Monday, 05 September 2016 at 09:11 PM
You have not not not persuaded me.
That attitude won't get you nowhere.
Posted by: Darlene | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 12:01 AM
"Well, it wasn't criticism! I was praising him--too highly, he thought. I enjoy his site a lot. —Mike
But that was the perception. In many cases perception is more important that reality. For confirmation, check-out some political blogs/news sites.
Mr Hogan can be interesting, but I've decided to stop reading his site. I didn't miss him at all during his August vacation. I'll just add him to the long, and growing longer, list of formerly read sites. Times change, and so do I.
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 12:05 AM
"But the bigger problem with having someone pick up that article and promote it is that it left a lot of commentary out there that I couldn’t respond to, as I was off the net." Thom Hogan
Comments? There no way to leave comments at Thom's Blog. At least I couldn't find a way. So why complain about something he doesn't do at his own site?
Posted by: John Krill | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 12:20 AM
P.S. If this post mystifies you
The bit that mystifies me is the American use of the term 'my bad'. How can you own an adjective?
[Even if you aren't aware of any, I'll bet slang exists in your country too. If you don't know what "slang" means, Google is your friend. --Mike
Posted by: Steve Smith | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 03:04 AM
When visiting the USA (I am from Italy) I noticed that the "local style" is indulge more in ranking things than in Europe. The tallest tree, the oldest building, the longest bridge.
When the statement is credible, it feels reassuring to know that your search for the best is over.
Posted by: Marco | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 04:13 AM
"Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble"....etc.
Posted by: Steve P | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 05:37 AM
C.D Embrey above said:
"I've found many bloggers/gurus/online-experts to be a peevish lot. They don't take kindly to perceived slights or criticism."
I've stopped reading his site too, because of this.
My screen resolution is such that when I try to reads his articles, the text appears at the very edge of the screen, with no margin, and it's quite hard to read. This behavior occurs on his dslrbodies.com and sansmirror.com, but NOT on Bythom.com.
I've attempted twice to point this out to him, not because one user makes much of a difference, but because there must be others out there like me, and it's clearly simple to fix if it works on one of his sites.
His response to this is that I should resize my browser until it displays correctly.
So, I and others like me have to waste time every time we read an article, because he won't do a one-time quick fix.
It's his choice, of course, but my choice is:
Bye Thom.
Posted by: Mike | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 09:16 AM
Mr Hogan just reminded me why I stopped visiting his site.
[No, no. C'mon, I was just yanking his chain. We've never met in the reality-based world, but he's an e-friend. --Mike]
Posted by: David Boyce | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 09:24 AM
> There no way to leave comments at Thom's Blog. At least I couldn't find a way. So why complain about something he doesn't do at his own site?
I'm well known to leave comments on THIS site.
> I noticed that the [USA] "local style" is indulge more in ranking things than in Europe.
Agreed. Not a style I agree with. And one that leads to bigger problems in the society in general.
> The fact that this Nikon expert is embracing Canon is telling.
"Embracing" is your word. But I think that a site that calls itself dslrbodies ought to "cover" dslr bodies, especially since the number one kind of question I get is "how does that compare to...". It was my intention all along to add Canon coverage to my Nikon coverage to deal with that. Maybe if I get enough time, I'll add Pentax.
> But then who is the leading Nikon expert outside Japan, and certainly in the English-speaking world?
Sort of my point. Even if you were able to all agree on the parameters by which that would be measured, it's likely that it would change through time, sometimes quickly. I know your comment was salted with sarcasm, but this is a real issue, and one that I personally have a long-held and publicly stated position on. If it makes me a pompous a** to defend that position, so be it.
And yes, Michael, when the site updates later today the spelling of your name should be fixed. I do try to correct errors, even on stuff that will end up ephemeral and no longer noticed.
Posted by: Thom Hogan | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 09:28 AM
I'm surprised that nobody's noticed his own advertising blurb underneath his commentary:
"For 14 years, byThom has provided the best books on Nikon cameras, with the most detail and clarity you'll find."
THE best books. Not AMONG the best books. Pot, kettle.
Posted by: Mike | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 09:55 AM
I read that when he returned and didn't take it as anything negative or pompous. I guess had he been online, he could have posted in the comments section on the original post. Commenting on an old post, even if possible, would not have gotten to many readers.
@John Krill: Thom doesn't have a comment section on his site, but one can always email him to comment on his posts as many do.
Posted by: D. Hufford. | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 10:41 AM
Mr Hogan shares much knowledge about equipments and techniques about photography, but Mike shares more emotions, passions, and deep feelings about photography, and beyond photography. Mike shares love, happiness, sorrow, friendships etc in life.
TOP is absolutely my No. 1 favorite site about photography. I am sure there must be many readers like me.
Thanks, Mike!
Best regards,
Frank
Posted by: Frank | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 10:55 AM
Talk about when saying nothing would have been best. Or maybe I should say ok....
Posted by: Dan Doviddio | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 12:13 PM
Thom is cranky but intelligent. I like it. He certainly is not a poster boy for Nikon.
Posted by: Kivi Shaps | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 12:23 PM
Either way, Consumer Camera Business is dead... from another expert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGp3JXKtHBM
expert here, expert there... everywhere an expert.
Posted by: ShadZee | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 12:36 PM
Mike,
After that dust-up with Ctein a while back, I visited his "Who Am I?" page and discovered a list of his considerable accomplishments.
So after reading of this most recent incident, I thought to visit the "About Thom" page, where I discovered his list of great accomplishments.
I can't help but see something of a common tenor between them, something I'm tempted to describe as, what.....Cthom?
Posted by: Robert Fogt | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 12:59 PM
Thom is right, he isn't.. that honour goes to Ken Rockwell.... lol
Posted by: Fajar Setyawan | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 03:38 PM
Kids will always be kids. As a self-anointed representative of the devoted followers of both byThom and TOP, I urge peace without preconditions. If only for the reason that neither of the pieces produced in this responsa literature represent the best writing of the two esteemed gentlemen, with the original Thom article being the only possible exception.
P.S. Damn all languages with the definite/indefinite articles.
Posted by: Lenya | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 07:21 PM
Thom Hogan is clearly not the leading independent Nikon expert . . .
. . . perhaps not "not"; but definitely not "the" as reflected by byThom . . .
Both you guys are great and I, for one, appreciate a little banter (even if posited in the light of humility). Much to take-away from both your contributions in this arena.
Best wishes to each of you guys!
Posted by: Geno | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 09:45 PM
Glass house dwellers should not throw rocks. I bet if the situation was reversed we could have expected a similar response from you.
Posted by: Frank P | Tuesday, 06 September 2016 at 10:07 PM
Every technical journalist makes errors. It's part of the experience both for the writer and those that cosume the resultant articles.
It happens. Move on.
Hogan is specific to Nickon (sic), Mike Johnston is a generalist in his writing, which ensures TOP is a far more interesting read.
Posted by: Bryce Lee | Wednesday, 07 September 2016 at 02:46 AM