On the thread’s initial question, there’ve been a few people, and videos. In general, I enjoy Hoffmann’s from an entertainment perspective and a general interest perspective. I just like his style. In terms of information and/or technique, I’m a bit more cautious. I prefer to watch various people, varying opinions and, for sure, it ain’t just Youtube. But on Youtube specifically, I could mention this one bloke, Dave something? Not the slickest presentation I’ve seen BUT a degree of detail and, especially after watching a few, an overall sense of comprehensive cover, that is confidence inspiring.
Having written a few thousand paid reviews in the print media, I’m well-aware of the pressures on anyone doing it where money is a factor. With YT, the mechanisms are different but usually, money is a factor. It might or might not be the dominant one, but unless it’s effectively a hobby channel. it’ll be in the mix.
My motvation was that my output had to be, in my judgement, fair to the product and absolutely of value to the reader but, it had to be worth my while too, or it wasn’t worth my time doing it in the first place. It wasn’t my sole or even primary income stream, but spending x hours on a review had an opportunity cost in that I could have spent that time doing something else. Sometimes, I did a project out of sheer interest but usually, it had to be economically viable and that limited the time I could devote. So my technique was if I thought it would take too long, or was of insufficient interest to me, I just didn’t take the commission in the first place.
I very definitely get that vibe from that Dave bloke too. It ain’t about the YT vids making him his fortune. In a dfferent way, I get that with JH too. However …. any YT channel with high production values is NOT a cheap operation to set up. Part of why Dave’s stuff appeals to me is precisely because it is content-heavy, and production-value light. i.e. not concentrating on expensive cameras, lenses, microphones, lighting, room prep, etc., all of which have to be funded somehow, if you have them.
So overall, yeah, I’ve watched a lot of coffee-oriented YT vids. Some, impress me and others not. Some are (for me) about entertainment, other about info/education and some, both. Some are minimally informing and reek of naked commercialism and those tend to get little of my time. It’s a very mixed bag.
