Writing professional product reviews rarely throws up any surprises. Generally if a camera, lens or accessory has made it to mass market and we've got a review sample, it's almost certainly going to be at least fit for purpose. The vast majority of products we review are worthy of a 'good', 'excellent', or 'best in class' verdict, corresponding roughly to a 3, 4 or 5-star rating, respectively. Any glaring faults will have doubtless been addressed in the pre-production stage, leaving us to mark a product down usually because it doesn't quite perform as well as the competition, or trails rivals in terms of features or value. For a product to land on our desk that's fundamentally flawed (so not merely a defective sample) is rare, and for that product to also be from a respected brand makes it a truly newsworthy event.
