douglasf13
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 p.18 #19 · Sony A77 & A65 & Nex-7 Announcements Today | |
millsart wrote:
Always fun to see illustrations like that and they do put things into perspective.
What I think would be fun, and that I've thought of trying to make before, isn't just something showing relative sensor size and resolution, but something also showing the average typical end usage size for a given user.
I know that for me, professional work aside, honestly 99% of what I'm shooting for personal pleasure is just 1400 web sized images max, and a majority is never really even seeing that as its going on Facebook, emails etc downsized even more. I'm just not really making big prints or anything these days. No room on the walls for them etc.
I think a lot of people probably fall into that group as well. Back when I was something of a serious amateur musician I remember so many people always wanting or thinking they needed the big 4x12" guitar loudspeaker enclosures. Things could put out 140dB and looked cool sitting in the corner of your apt (girls dig guitar players right?) but unless your actually playing decent sized venues your never cranking it up. Your playing it at volume level 1 in your apt and still getting guy next door banging on the wall.
Its often a case of what I think is theoretically cool to say you can do, vs what you actually do, do.
I've certainly been down that road before. When I had my m9 for example, I really did like the shooting experience, which was part of it, but also I liked the IQ and thinking of what I could do with such great output.
Know what though ? $20k or so into it and never actually made a single print from the camera. I put stuff on the web, lots of 100% crops showing how impressive it is, but no real world output.
It was really the same as my $2000 handwired 100 watt all tube powered guitar amp and half stack sitting in the corner. Looked cool, sounded great when you could turn it up, but the reality was I'd either use it as min levels or use a software modeling amp which actually worked better at apt levels.
What I did get to enjoy in though was talking shop with other people about speaker choices, differences in old russian vs chinese made EL34 vacuum tubes and how they changed the sound etc. Fun stuff sure, but in regards to actual need for that type of SPL level I could generate ? Far from it.
Do I own a 4x5 Toyo Carbon Fiber field camera still ? Yes I do
Have I gotten drum scans done from the negatives and poured over the resolution, posted comparison images and 100% crops all over the web etc ? Sure did
Did I get all excited about what amazing 40X60" prints I could make with it and how good they'd look ? Of course
But is there a single shot from it on my walls ? Hanging in a gallery somewhere etc ? Nope, not one.
Its totally potential coming before actual output needs.
Thats how after spending lots of money and trying lots of different things (fun, dont get me wrong) I was able to go back to m4/3.
Because whenever I'd find myself looking at the images at 100%, pulling up old files of the same subjects from my NEX, X100, X1, M9, K5 etc and trying to compare the shots I found that I could now tell myself "wait a minute, what are you going to do with these files?"
Then I remember that 99% are going to be web output and when all are scaled down to 1100 pixels wide most all of those things I was obsessing over stop mattering.
I can simply pick the system that I enjoys shooting the most because IQ in a sense really doesn't matter so much when I look at my real world context for it.
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I can relate, Millsart. I used to play all of the venues in Hollywood/LA 10 years ago with 100watt non-master volume Marshall heads and multiple 4x12s, and to make things worse, so did the other guitar player in my band at the time! Even in the bigger theaters, there was never a justification for it, and my hearing and back will probably eventually pay for it. It took quite a decline in ego to realize that my Bogner head on a closed back 2x12 was more than enough for most venues (although I do miss that insane stage volume, sometimes.)
I find that I tend to follow the same pattern with all of my interests and the corresponding gear. I go overboard, buy way too much, and then slowly whittle things down into a select few pieces of equipment that I actually use the heck out of. Millsart's post hits home with me, because I used to have a music store's worth of guitars and amps wasting time, money and space in my house, but I now I just have a few guitars and amps that get the work done.
The NEX cameras have become the end game of my camera spend-athon, too, and I'm working on cleaning out the lens closet so that I have just a few key lenses, because I find that, in my case, too much choice often leaves my wheels spinning, and I'd rather spend more time printing photos, rather than talking about them.
The main reason I went with NEX over m4/3 is simply because I was going to use adapted, manual lenses, and I wanted my 35mm lenses to become 50mm equivalents, rather than 70mm, because that has a tangible effect on my shooting. IQ-wise, I'm sure I'd have been fine with either, once the ink hit the paper.
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