A study conducted by market research firm J.D. Power and Associates has found that “Nikon Pro Series” DSLRs rank highest in customer satisfaction. The company surveyed 4,500 verified online DSLR buyers to find out their satisfaction across five factors: image quality, durability, features, ease of use, and responsiveness.

The Nikon Pro Series ranks highest in online buyer satisfaction with a score of 914. The Nikon Pro Series performs particularly well in shutter speed/lag time, durability and reliability and ease of operation. The Canon Mark-Series follows in the rankings with a score of 909, and performs particularly well in performance and picture quality. The Canon D-Series and Nikon D-Series rank third in a tie, each with a score of 889.

Overall, customers were most satisfied with image quality but least satisfied with durability and responsiveness.
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A group of neuroscientists at MIT recently conducted a study to try and determine what makes photographs memorable. After gathering about 10,000 diverse photos, they showed a series of them to human subjects and asked them to identify whenever a photo was a repeat of one previously shown. They found that photos containing people in them are the most memorable, while natural landscapes are least memorable and easily forgotten.

What’s more, the scientists used the findings to develop a computer algorithm that can quantify how memorable a particular photo is. Cameras in the future might be able to tell you the memorability of photos as you’re taking them!

(via PhysOrg via Photoxels)

Image credits: Photographs by the Oliva and Torralba labs

Scientists at Stanford have found that looking at pictures of loved ones can reduce pain. The study involved performing MRI scans on the brains of lovestruck students who were subjected to heat pain on their skin while focusing on photographs of their significant others. The results showed that the images have a calming effect on the pain processing parts of the brain — similar to the effects of Tylenol or narcotics like cocaine — and reduced pain by a whopping 36 to 44 percent on average.

Maybe you should think about adding photos of loved ones to your first aid kit at home.

(via Photography News)

Image credit: Hold Hands by B Tal

Thinking of buying a love one a digital photo frame this Christmas? You might want to reconsider. A recent survey of 2,000 people by the British Video Association found that digital photo frames were the most unwelcome gifts, followed by foot spas, blenders and digital organizers.

More than a third of those surveyed said they simply didn’t have time to use the gadgets they had received, while 23 per cent didn’t see the point of some of them. The survey found that 18 per cent of those who rarely used their gadget gift simply didn’t like them, 10 per cent couldn’t be bothered to clean them, while seven per cent had not read the instructions or didn’t know how to use the device. [#]

Have you ever received a digital photo frame that you never ended up using? (I have)

(via Steve’s Digicams)

Image credit: digital photo frame – hanging by m a r c

SquareTrade is a company that provides warranties for consumer electronics. As such, it has a good deal of data on digital cameras and, more specifically, how often they fail. After a three year study of over 60,000 new digital cameras, they’ve published a report with their findings.

Here’s a graph comparing failure rate with camera price:

Surprise! Cheaper cameras have a higher failure rate than more expensive ones.

When comparing failure rate with camera brands, the results are a little more surprising:

The study found that Panasonic cameras are the most reliable for both value and premium point-and-shoots. Canon cameras are more reliable than Nikons for cheaper compacts, but for premium models Canon’s reliability does not improve, while Nikon’s improves drastically. Keep in mind this report is only about reliability, not performance or image quality.

Finally, why do cameras fail? The report has a nice graph for that question too:

Both curves seem to decrease in steepness after the first year, suggesting that if you have a well built camera and aren’t clumsy or reckless, you’ll probably take care of your camera for a good amount of time.

Finally, here’s an interesting highlight from the report:

For DSLR Cameras, Nikon and Canon were equally reliable.

Whew! Glad that’s settled…

We’d be interested in seeing a graph comparing actual life span of specific camera models compared with their price. This could provide a ranking of cameras in terms of price per year (of average life).

Digital Camera Failure Rates (via Wired)

Job portal careercast recently released a ranking of 200 jobs from best to worst for 2010. The Wall Street Journal republished the data in a nice, sortable chart as its Best and Worst Jobs 2010 list. Since you’re reading this, you probably want to know how jobs involving photography rank on the list. The answer: pretty low.

The job “photographer” ranks 126th on the list, right below “waiter/waitress” and right above “advertising salesperson”. “Photojournalist” is near the bottom of the list, ranked #189 below “firefighter” and above “butcher”.

In terms of the methodology used, five categories are evaluated and summed up: environment, income, outlook, stress and physical demands.

I think the methodology is flawed because of the fact that they focus primarily on tangible upsides and downsides. Many photographers I’ve spoken to chose photography as a career for reasons including a passion for photography and the opportunity to see the world. These things aren’t accounted for in the study, since they don’t have categories such as “job satisfaction”.

What do you think of these rankings? If you disagree, what should photography-related jobs actually be ranked?

(via A Photo Editor)