Optica Exotica - really good youtube channel for binocular reviews (1 Viewer)

[Paultricounty]

I was always surprised and confused that Ethan’s channel never received more subscribers. Imo the channel separated itself from just about all the other binocular channels by having a human and emotional real life feeling towards the equipment, not just manufacturers statistics and measurements. In the beginning of my hobby, those things seemed important to me, especially after reading just about every review on the Allbinos website. From watching Ethan’s channel I realized that there’s a lot more than stats when it comes to which optic will bring the most enjoyment. There were no other review, channels or websites that motivated me to spend so much money on binoculars. Most other reviews of Leica Binoculars kept me from buying them when comparing to Zeiss and Swarovski, Ethan’s channel made me a Leica fanboy.

I also liked the MHG FOV to wide review the Albie mentioned earlier, I shook my head on that one 🤪. Some of the choice words, descriptions and contradictory (very few) opinions is also what made it fun. There were so many stand out moments and expressions that remind me of Arnold Schwarzenegger movie comments like, I’ll be back. There was Schott glass, or was that, shot glass ?
Vomittacious to describe his experience with Swarovski’s EL globe effect was a new word I learned. And of course, who could forget the crowd, pleaser, a Leica, being serious bling 😂. It seems like every review was a little bit like a weekly sitcom, where we’d find out if the wind would blow over the tripod, or how tough the Noctivids are after he slipped and fell down down hill in the forest. The health issues of lime diseas and respiratory issues from the CA wild fires, Ethan putting his health on the line to do another Binocular review for his dedicated followers 🤪.

I always thought a highlight video in the first 20 seconds or so of funny memorable moments from some of the reviews would’ve been amusing. Maybe YouTube would’ve promoted the channel more if there was a bikini try on haul in conjunction with the binocular review 🤭.

I’m also very sorry to see the channel gone, although if I never seen it, I probably would’ve saved $10-$15,000..

Paul

 

[Gdavis248]

I was always surprised and confused that Ethan’s channel never received more subscribers. Imo the channel separated itself from just about all the other binocular channels by having a human and emotional real life feeling towards the equipment, not just manufacturers statistics and measurements. In the beginning of my hobby, those things seemed important to me, especially after reading just about every review on the Allbinos website. From watching Ethan’s channel I realized that there’s a lot more than stats when it comes to which optic will bring the most enjoyment. There were no other review, channels or websites that motivated me to spend so much money on binoculars. Most other reviews of Leica Binoculars kept me from buying them when comparing to Zeiss and Swarovski, Ethan’s channel made me a Leica fanboy.

I also liked the MHG FOV to wide review the Albie mentioned earlier, I shook my head on that one 🤪. Some of the choice words, descriptions and contradictory (very few) opinions is also what made it fun. There were so many stand out moments and expressions that remind me of Arnold Schwarzenegger movie comments like, I’ll be back. There was Schott glass, or was that, shot glass ?
Vomittacious to describe his experience with Swarovski’s EL globe effect was a new word I learned. And of course, who could forget the crowd, pleaser, a Leica, being serious bling 😂. It seems like every review was a little bit like a weekly sitcom, where we’d find out if the wind would blow over the tripod, or how tough the Noctivids are after he slipped and fell down down hill in the forest. The health issues of lime diseas and respiratory issues from the CA wild fires, Ethan putting his health on the line to do another Binocular review for his dedicated followers 🤪.

I always thought a highlight video in the first 20 seconds or so of funny memorable moments from some of the reviews would’ve been amusing. Maybe YouTube would’ve promoted the channel more if there was a bikini try on haul in conjunction with the binocular review 🤭.

I’m also very sorry to see the channel gone, although if I never seen it, I probably would’ve saved $10-$15,000..

Paul

Dang I remember all those details from the videos! Now I really miss them 🥹. There were several I watched multiple times. Like you, he inspired me to buy some Swarovski EL's. Something that if you would have told my younger self 10 years ago that I would spend $2,000+ on a pair of binoculars I probably would have laughed hysterically in disbelief!

 

[Paultricounty]

Its really is a shame he took it down. I probably watched all of them a half a dozen times. Would've been nice to have some legacy on the platform, something people would remember of him, some recognition for a possible future project. Its all good advertising, the sham wow guy is a millionaire.

Now the only thing we have to remember you Ethan, is for your brief orchestration of Zarathustra when introducing the Swarovski NL Pure's. Or maybe you offering Swarovski a kidney if they would send you a Pure for review. Or you could put it back up, if just for shts and giggles.

Paul

 

[Mark5man]

Ethan, Thank you for your videos!
I came across your channel after I had already purchased my first pair of (relatively) expensive binoculars, but I watched all your video reviews because they were interesting, informative and entertaining at the same time. IMO, you had by far the best binoculars reviews on Youtube.
I sincerely wish you all the best in the future!

 

[lostintwilight]

Ethan, thanks for your videos and efforts. I always enjoyed watching them. You did way more to sell bins than guys just unboxing and talking about them. It was revolutionary and set the bar for real in the field reviews

 

[w.travis]

Hello everyone, Optica Exotica here. I'm very touched by this outpouring, I honestly didn't think people would care that I took down my channel.
.............
So long, and thanks for all the fish,

Ethan

Ethan,

You're videos were great. Thanks for the detailed explanation you provided all of us about why you removed the channel. Really miss watching your videos. Thank you for all the time and dedication you gave creating the content. I wish it would have worked out for you to make more money from it. Sad to see them go.

I'm not well educated on YT monetization, but wondering, if the Optica Exotica channel was changed to non-monitization, would that prevent YT from making money off of you?

Seems like that would be a way for your content to live on for us Optica Exotica fans and other binoholics, but at the same time not allow YT to profit off of your work.

Travis

 

[Paultricounty]

I was wondering if it would be advantageous for Ethan to set up a website that people can join and pay a yearly fee or donation , say a minimum of $20 or so, something like Astromart does. He could advertise it here and on the other optics and equipment sites, could also use YT to promote some how. If he got 5000 subscribers at the minimum fee , that’s a 100k. He could put a minimum of something like one review a month or so, which wouldn’t be to much work ( I suspect). He could also put all the old content on, maybe even make short updates to the old content to keep them fresh. He could also ad other related content. Another thought would be he could work something out with a few retailers to be able to give a 5% discount on purchased goods for being a subscriber. I’m just sayin.

 

[dantheman]

I was wondering if it would be advantageous for Ethan to set up a website that people can join and pay a yearly fee or donation , say a minimum of $20 or so, something like Astromart does. He could advertise it here and on the other optics and equipment sites, could also use YT to promote some how. If he got 5000 subscribers at the minimum fee , that’s a 100k. He could put a minimum of something like one review a month or so, which wouldn’t be to much work ( I suspect). He could also put all the old content on, maybe even make short updates to the old content to keep them fresh. He could also ad other related content. Another thought would be he could work something out with a few retailers to be able to give a 5% discount on purchased goods for being a subscriber. I’m just sayin.

Other option crossed my mind would be that rather than purchase new optics to review, something could be worked out with subscribers whereby they purchase/provide the optics for reviews. Or at least only purchase items with some kind of mechanism in place for returning them without losing out on depreciation ...

Possibly all a moot point now ...

 

[Arvind]

Other option crossed my mind would be that rather than purchase new optics to review, something could be worked out with subscribers whereby they purchase/provide the optics for reviews. Or at least only purchase items with some kind of mechanism in place for returning them without losing out on depreciation ...

Possibly all a moot point now ...

Just on the lines of very scientific audiophile review site Page Redirection

 

[Paultricounty]

Other option crossed my mind would be that rather than purchase new optics to review, something could be worked out with subscribers whereby they purchase/provide the optics for reviews. Or at least only purchase items with some kind of mechanism in place for returning them without losing out on depreciation ...

Possibly all a moot point now ...

Great idea.

 

[Patudo]

Paying someone to look through binoculars for you? Are you kidding?

I'd rather work something out with an owner of the same model (that doesn't live too far away) and use the money to get to see the binocular in question with your own eyes/in your own hands. I guess part of the deal would be that you bring along a binocular of interest to the other guy/gal for him/her to try - quid pro quo. With the number of members we've got, it really ought to be possible to do this. A good subject for a separate thread maybe?

 

[beacon hill]

I'm not well educated on YT monetization, but wondering, if the Optica Exotica channel was changed to non-monitization, would that prevent YT from making money off of you?

Travis

Yes YT can place adverts on non monetized channels. In particular if the video is getting good views and ticks all their boxes regards policy etc

 

[raptorbfl]

So than what does this guy, Optica Exotica, do for a living?? He always came across as VERY odd and goofy.

 

[cosmogman]

So than what does this guy, Optica Exotica, do for a living?? He always came across as VERY odd and goofy.

You're on a forum populated by people who obsess over how good a 200 year old technology allows us to spy on birds, he was our muse.

 

[kelchy]

If you have kept your videos, have you thought of applying to be a Nebula content creator?

They give way more power to the content creators and it's a more stable income as well. Lot's of informative and progressive creators on that platform and it's growing like mad.

Your content was top notch and helped me open my mind a bit from Swaro to Leica.

 

[etc]

Nobody else came close.

try another platform? Like rumble?

 

[Jharrison565]

Óptica Exótica, I spent a good portion of my evening trying to find your content on YT, as you are my favorite Binoculars reviewer. I was saddened not to your content/channel on YT. I finally found myself here. I can understand your frustration with YT, but you will be missed. I hope to see your content again some day, because I really liked your style/methodology in reviewing binoculars.

 

[Daria F]

Hello everyone, Optica Exotica here. I'm very touched by this outpouring, I honestly didn't think people would care that I took down my channel.

To make a few things clear: I deleted the channel after much thought and not a little sadness because it simply wasn't making it with the YT algorithm. It was never my intention to gain fame or fortune from the videos, but it was my intention to create a decent little income stream to help support my growing family. It became obvious to me after the first 100 videos I had published--with rather significant invested money, time, and energy--that YT had the channel in either a shadow ban or there just weren't enough optics people to care about quality content on the platform. Viewers definitely weren't finding me, I'd get the same 1500 people tuning in for each video, then videos would attract minimal viewership. I got tired of seeing huge channels rack up even more thousands of subscribers and views for silly reaction videos and halfhearted, poor quality efforts (destruction tests, anyone?) while I struggled to pour my heart and soul into earning a tiny fraction of what even the lower-tier stars made. YT kept changing the rules and tricks about how much they would pay content creators and I could never see an indication that I would break through to a larger audience, no matter how I tried. I started to realize I was the one being gamed. As time wore on it became clear to me that YT is pretty evil--Google purely cares about making the most money off the backs of the smaller content creators, while the large channels roll in the dough and stick to easy programming. YT's content monetization rules require creators to publish at least every six months or YT would pocket all profits from channels, thereby robbing creators, an unpublished policy they said could change at any time without warning. I received an average of only $125 per month for the channel, far less than I have lost on the depreciation of equipment and the opportunity costs of skill and time. Assessing the field, I saw the algorithm push increasingly slick infotainment on other channels rather than funny, illuminating, or honest work. I also decided that it was time for me to take my face off of YT, as this content is not in line with my current work and I am finding success on another path.

You know the poker game adage--"look around the table and if you can't spot the chump then the chump's you." I have been the chump.

I did everything I could to help the channel grow and honor your wishes--editing videos with love and care, tagging and positioning videos within the algorithm, expanding coverage to different optics, outside reviews, camera-facing reviews, a foray into birding, a foray into hunting, nothing made any difference. I would buy binoculars for $2000, spend two weeks making videos, sell the binoculars onwards at a loss after taxes and fees were taken into account, after doing extensive reviews on them, and the published videos would make $36 bucks. No videos on the channel ever reached 100,000 views. Back of the napkin estimates indicate that YT made far more money than I ever did off of advertising and positioning the channel as a specialty feed. You see, the problem with the sport optics media space is that there just aren't enough people out there in the world to really obsess over this content. Unlike other spaces like knife reviews or the photography space, it's not quite a way of life to many. People would hit the channel and quit it after getting the information they would need to secure a quality purchase for their uses.

My last hope, and the reason I kept the channel active for the last two years, was because I hoped to perhaps work as a spokesperson or reviewer for Leica or Swarovski. Perhaps a higher-up at one of those companies would see these videos and send an invitation to work for them or collaborate on a review or even a witty series. It turns out they make such a quality product--and their clientele is so well read--that this probably would never happen.

Yes, my reviews were not always scientific, sometimes there would be errors. I'm not an engineer, I'm more a test pilot in my style and personality. Yes, I pride myself on giving a colorful and kooky style of reviews! I look up to the greats who have done it before like Kai Wong with the heyday of the Digital Rev photography channel, also since deleted. Channels like those resemble more an earlier throwback to the heyday of YT when the energy was different, the humor more carefree, and the content not so calculated and polished and corporate as it is today. The micrphone falls over, people laugh, they get paint on a lens, but the show goes on and thousands tune in, like early radio or the early internet. I am sad I missed those times, perhaps if I had started the channel ten years ago instead of January 2020 my path would have been different. So be it, it's not for me to complain or worry any longer. I truly hope you all are doing well and that you can find other quality content to support. I respect you all and wish you well in your wildlife viewing pleasure.

So long, and thanks for all the fish,

Ethan

Hi Ethan,
We're sorry to hear about your YouTube experience. It seems like many content creators are dealing with similar issues now. I think we have a solution. I’m part of the team at Iris, a new software company, and we'd love to help you create your very own video web channel for your followers.
Here is my email [email protected] if you are open to having a chat. Daria