What on earth is the point of an unboxing video? It is always exciting to take a new piece of kit out of its box and handle it for the first time, but it is not exciting to watch someone else do it, especially if they then start to pronounce on the merits of the equipment that they have never seen before. Please use the equipment for a significant period of time before giving a judgement.
But then again, isn’t it a good thing that photographers and manufacturers have a partnership which promotes the equipment that we all use - photographers and manufacturers will both benefit as viewers get vicarious pleasure from watching someone else opening up their new just-arrived product?
However, when money is a factor, it is hard to know whether the opinions given by photographers are genuine or skewed, and there is often the feeling that reviews are not independent.
To open this dicussion to all reviews (rather than just unboxing videos) photographers are always keen to say when their reviews are not sponsored, as if this proved that they are truly independent. This is the case oftentimes, but difficult to verify, because a good review might be given in the hope of a future beneficial relationship, for example.
One very healthy outcome of proper in-depth product reviews is where photographers in the field point out defects or issues with equipment and the manufacturer responds, creating a positive dialogue of which the consequence is improvements to the product.
And so back to the unboxing video, where none of the positive outcomes of other product reviews can be had, and where nothing can be tested, only a list made of the specifications which can be viewed online anyway, or very superficial features listed which might or might not be borne out with proper use: “the lens looks really well made”, etc. etc.
Please share your thoughts on this!