A Wealth of (Useless) Advice...

A Wealth of (Useless) Advice...

I recently came across a brief article on CNET on the Yashica EZ F521 digital camera. Now, I remember Yashica's glory days. That was back when film was king, and Yashica not only made their own line of cameras, but also made and marketed Contax cameras (originally a Zeiss brand). So the idea of seeing Yashica re-emerge in the market piqued my interest.

Particularly because Kyocera - who bought Yashica several years ago - had discontinued marketing digital cameras in the US. Did this CNET article mean Kyocera was bringing the once mighty Yashica brand back to the US?

Nope. They're not even marketing their own brand here... let alone the Yashica nameplate.

But CNET dutifully reviewed the camera - though it's obvious the writer had never actually seen one. Even worse, 27 of the first 40 Google results in a search for "Yashica EZ F521" were all sites either linking to the CNET article or simply copying it. (Nine of the remaining 13 links are in Japanese.)

I double-checked Kyocera's website, and confirmed they're not marketing the Yashica brand in the US. (Though they do maintain customer service for those who purchased their products here in years past.)

So how do you get the EZ F521 if you'd like one? Simple. Just follow the link at the end of the CNET article to www.exemode.com. CNET says you can buy one there for about $89. Of course, to successfully purchase the camera from the site, you also have to be able to read Japanese.

CNET, the 800-pound gorilla of electronics information, ran a story of minimal value. A host of "me-too" sites then flooded the Web with the story. Nobody bothered to tell readers the camera isn't available in the US.

The Internet has certainly made information easier to get. Unfortunately, that doesn't guarantee the information will be useful...