Website Traffic - EOS kicking ass

[Ed_David]

EOSHD gets more views that reduser or dvxuser.com - that's impressive!

Hats off to Andrew's really interesting articles that find the latest tech and ideas to make our stuff look even better!

[Cinegain]

I don't like their ancient forum systems to begin with. Then there's the philosophy...

One of the guiding principals of EOSHD is that nobody should be blocked from practicing their art and executing their talent as a cinematographer or filmmaker due to the cost of equipment. DSLRs are a prime example of what’s so great about accessible filmmaking equipment. Yes, I do also cover the high end too – but the main aim of EOSHD is to cater for users of consumer & prosumer DSLR and mirrorless cameras. ~ http://www.eoshd.com/about/

I think that sets a very healthy climate where people aren't afraid to participate, even if they're just starting out and haven't got the best gear or technical knowledge. That makes for a very fresh and diverse community where discussions can go anywhere and values creativity as much as the technical side of things. To me that really kicks ass indeed.

[Escapist]

Cinegain makes a good point. Dvxuser is very heavily skewed towards the pro-market. 

I also want to add that the mobile optimization makes a big difference. Mobile traffic is way up and you simply cannot check dvxuser with a phone. Dvxuser in that sense, is also ancient.

[Nikkor]

This forum is so much better without these thousands of subforums and 00' functions and looks.

[Oliver Daniel]

DvxUser is a terrible site to use. The forum design is way past it. Member temperament is a bit iffy. Info on there isn't too bad though. 

In 2015 your website has to be responsive. I'm making the new version of my company's website and it's mainly designed for tablets and smartphones, while still doing the business on bigger screens. 

Well done to EOSHD for keeping up to date!

[Zak Forsman]

i appreciate the sentiment, but where are these stats coming from? I just compared eoshd.com and dvxuser.com on alexa.com and the traffic rankings put them basically neck and neck, with a slight edge to dvxuser.com.  It's easy to dismiss the impact a site like dvxuser had in its heyday. If you weren't there to experience it first-hand, how could you know what you missed out on? Starting back in 2004/2005, it's where I first met other aspiring filmmakers who have become friends and collaborators to this day. I participated in the DVXFests which boasted up to 50+ entries every four months, and got invaluable feedback on my work. No other site (including the current state of dvx) has matched the community support and engagement put toward the participant's dreams and education for filmmaking. Over the past decade, i've seen the membership's focus on the making of short narrative films and docs transition almost exclusively to clip montages that test resolution, color, lenses, etc. If it's any indication, it's worth noting that today DVXFest participation has fallen so low that it was put on hiatus. I'm speaking in broad terms of course. There are definitely new artists doing exciting work. I just don't see a close-knit online community as a strong component of that anymore, and I miss it. Not saying things are bad. But they were better. I don't think a different user interface will change that. 

[Nikkor]

i appreciate the sentiment, but where are these stats coming from? I just compared eoshd.com and dvxuser.com on alexa.com and the traffic rankings put them basically neck and neck, with a slight edge to dvxuser.com.  It's easy to dismiss the impact a site like dvxuser had in its heyday. If you weren't there to experience it first-hand, how could you know what you missed out on? Starting back in 2004/2005, it's where I first met other aspiring filmmakers who have become friends and collaborators to this day. I participated in the DVXFests which boasted up to 50+ entries every four months, and got invaluable feedback on my work. No other site (including the current state of dvx) has matched the community support and engagement put toward the participant's dreams and education for filmmaking. Over the past decade, i've seen the membership's focus on the making of short narrative films and docs transition almost exclusively to clip montages that test resolution, color, lenses, etc. If it's any indication, it's worth noting that today DVXFest participation has fallen so low that it was put on hiatus. I'm speaking in broad terms of course. There are definitely new artists doing exciting work. I just don't see a close-knit online community as a strong component of that anymore, and I miss it. Not saying things are bad. But they were better. I don't think a different user interface will change that. 

Forum-communities were a lot different back then, as was the internet, the people who used it and how they used it. Its been only 10 years but back then the internet was a wasteland without imterestig content, forums were oasis (as were the mailing lists before)

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

Cool! I see people everywhere making references to EOSHD more than any other video source all over the web (YT/vimeo/forum comments). And it's mainly from the begginner/enthusiast portion, the pro world is always snarky about it whenever it comes up, but then again, they always are about everything. 

EosHD is an enormous resource for learner not people looking for getting jobs in their areas or people forming a camera cult. 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

Indeed! I really like the atmosphere here, and many of the users like Ed and Mattias have taught me a lot. Sometimes I wish the forums were better organized--Panasonic and Blackmagic have subforums almost no one uses, and nothing for Sony or Samsung--but that also keeps the "trending topics" up front and fresh for anyone who visits. 

Thank you to everyone who makes this forum a wonderful place. Who answers ignorance with friendly information. Who responds to attacks by showing their results and staying out of the dogfights. Who go out of their way to help induct people into what can be an incredibly intimidating field. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for being here.

[j.f.r.]

Dvxuser is a great "informative" site , but you defitnely cannot form an opinion there without being warned/banned or both. If you don't like someones project the mods encourage you to not even say anything, which imo leads to a "political" website where one can never say things the way they are. Same goes for Reduser and Bmcuser , but it all makes sense since they are more than likely owned by the same people.

EosHD definitely gives you the freedom to speak and that's one of the main reason I really like this site. If my work isn't good and someone mentions it, that's good. Now if I were on Dvxuser everyone would not reply or people would say they loved it, that's fake to me and something that imo doesn't help the community......

[Ed_David]

Well said guys.

I've been on dvxuser since 2008 - just got banned yesterday after bringing up a mention that reduser's "who's viewing" count is off by a signifigant amount.

They love to ban.

This site doesn't really ban which is a good thing - yes more freedom to go wild.  Which is good!  Good for me because I go wild.

But yes a lot of info on dvxuser that I like.

Reduser though, is more like a cult - where you can't really call out the red cameras.

DVinfo is good, but not really many people on it anymore.

Really most stuff is going the way of EOSHD - that's why we need smart and creative people on here to post and say stuff and have fun.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

They banned you for that post?! 

[Ed_David]

yes. oh well.  I can always just view it anonymously - it's not that big of a deal.  

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

Why did they ban you? what's wrong with the post? 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

Dvxuser is a great "informative" site , but you defitnely cannot form an opinion there without being warned/banned or both. If you don't like someones project the mods encourage you to not even say anything, which imo leads to a "political" website where one can never say things the way they are. Same goes for Reduser and Bmcuser , but it all makes sense since they are more than likely owned by the same people.

EosHD definitely gives you the freedom to speak and that's one of the main reason I really like this site. If my work isn't good and someone mentions it, that's good. Now if I were on Dvxuser everyone would not reply or people would say they loved it, that's fake to me and something that imo doesn't help the community......

​Well, as long as it's not Andrew's work. I still remember when he posted that 120fps 12,800 ISO video many of us disliked, and someone was warned and had their post deleted just for saying "Not a fan of that look." 

I haven't seen that happen since, though. 

[Ed_David]

DVXuser and reduser and this site - they are all just private sites - so there is no reason why any post can't get deleted or the user banned.  That's part of our contract.  We post and have fun, and they can ban us.  We don't pay for this site.  Maybe if we did, we would expect not to get banned as easily.

[TheRenaissanceMan]

DVXuser and reduser and this site - they are all just private sites - so there is no reason why any post can't get deleted or the user banned.  That's part of our contract.  We post and have fun, and they can ban us.  We don't pay for this site.  Maybe if we did, we would expect not to get banned as easily.

​Oh, of course. It's Andrew's site; he can run it however he wants. I'm just responding to the sentiment that everyone's free to have an opinion here without retribution. 

[Zak Forsman]

I like to think of participating in forums like this as being a guest in someone else's house. And I try to behave the same way i would if we were all hanging out in their living room. That way, if I choose to cross the line with insults, politics, general troublemaking, et cetera, I shouldn't be surprised if I'm shown the door. It's their place after all. 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

I like to think of participating in forums like this as being a guest in someone else's house. And I try to behave the same way i would if we were all hanging out in their living room. That way, if I choose to cross the line with insults, politics, general troublemaking, et cetera, I shouldn't be surprised if I'm shown the door. It's their place after all. 

​I see your point. At the time, I didn't think responding to an experimental test video with "not a fan of that look" constituted a personal insult. 

But let's not let that detract from what a success this forum and its community has become.

[Ed_David]

I think that's a good call Renaissance, or you'll get banned and have to pick another username like "Enlightenment Man."

I think criticism on anything one does is tough, in the real world or online when one can just quickly write something and hit send and not know the effect it has.

In Red's case, my calling them out for the Dragon underperforming in its specs considerably on their own forum - (especially the noise factor in that you can't shoot clean above 320 ASA or you have to use the low-light filter and that brings you back to about red epic mx levels but for 15k more)  probably hurt their feelings and hence why they banned me.  Because it's a forum for red and owned by red company.  So that wasn't so smart on my part.  Stirring up the hornet's nest.

And on this forum, when I started to harshly examine this forum as an example of how we filmmakers need to react and can't not react whether or not an official investigation started when people started to police me for speaking up, that's when I went downhill on this and got posts deleted, etc etc.  Even though I did try to apologize and again I'll apologize right now.

 Andrew and all, I'm sorry for how I acted during that controversy.  I made you and many feel bad and probably didn't go about it in a rational way.  I meant it with the best intentions .

Instead, again I'm sorry and I hope this forum continues to grow and it is productive towards filmmaking and it inspires people to try to make amazing things with less expensive camera and lens systems and find ways to tell stories as well as possible, as technology goes down in price and opportunity increases.  And to continue to be creative and an open-source of expression.