Image 'quality' vs. Usability

[JDFlood]

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For many years I photographed high end hifi, and know all about the golden ear brigade, so I hear where you are coming from. But how do you explain the guy with a ghetto blaster on his shoulder, at its full distorted volume, walking jauntily down the street having the time of his life?

 

HiFi has nothing to do with it. It is a fashion statement. JD (a lifetime audiophile, that hasn't had to buy a new piece of equipment in 10 years, since I have such a great system).

[JDFlood]

For many hobbyist' half the fun is collecting, comparing, and lusting after equipment. Nothing wrong with it, helps the rest of us as it fuels the market place and brings better equipment for less.

 

If I had a choice of producing two equally good (artistically) photos, one using a crappy camera with low IQ and one with a refined camera that is a pleasure to use with exceptional IQ ( sharpness, color rendition, low distortion... Ect) I world choose the later... Same reason I drive Lexus, have custom made bicycles, and a $10K amplifier in my stereo system. JD

[Ivan Muller]

For many hobbyist' half the fun is collecting, comparing, and lusting after equipment. Nothing wrong with it, helps the rest of us as it fuels the market place and brings better equipment for less.

 

If I had a choice of producing two equally good (artistically) photos, one using a crappy camera with low IQ and one with a refined camera that is a pleasure to use with exceptional IQ ( sharpness, color rendition, low distortion... Ect) I world choose the later... Same reason I drive Lexus, have custom made bicycles, and a $10K amplifier in my stereo system. JD

 

JD, If you can afford it, why not! My best friend took me for a spin in his new Porche over the Easter weekend. I nearly s...t myself because he was going so fast! He never touched the brakes going round the corners either.... We also flew to Wonderboom airport to pick up his daughter in his Malibu single engine, saved us a couple of hours travelling. When we got back he took us all skiing in his 'uber' boat imported from the States.... He also bought himself a nice Nex 7 in one of those tax free British islands last year. He phoned while he was in the shop to ask me if it was a good buy and if I would recommend it and how it compared to the prices back home. He is totally chuffed at the image quality. He took it with him on his yearly ski holiday in Austria in January. Did I mention he also has two Harley's, one for him and one for his wife?

 

I can only say he has a great time spending his hard earned money on the best this world has to offer and I love visiting him because for a brief moment I can have a small taste of the good life... On the Easter Sunday at sunrise we all went for a service at the local village church. It was a multi denomination service as its a really small village and there was this Catholic priest in his white garment with the most beautiful and commanding voice reading from the bible...and I wondered how he copes in this modern world with little money and no hope of buying any of the 'stuff' so essential to our quest for happiness...

[JDFlood]

He wins in the next life... Well if there we're one. Maybe he really is into white cloth.

[JDFlood]

I was thinking about your Porsche experience. I had one just like that in college, with a friend 901t? Omg, amazing. Showed me there was something to the "better" things in life, and perhaps set my sights a little higher than they might have been. Personally, glad I did, you only live once ( sorry priest )... JD

[exile]

Equipment is only one requirement for a good photo, and once a certain level is reached further improvement is unnecessary. The other things to focus on are craft and vision. Vision comes with practice as well as learning from books and other people. Craft means the technical skills required to actually deliver the image as you previsualised it, and comprises making the exposure you want at the moment you want, as well as how you may treat the the resulting capture in the darkroom/Lightroom and print room.

 

Personally, I am very content with my gear (which happens not include any current Leica glass), and I'm concentrating more on post processing when I'm stuck inside and not able to practice the more fun pre-capture aspects of the craft. Of course I am still prone to looking at 35lux fle images and appreciating it is a better lens than my 35/1.2 ASPH, but in terms of "user experience" I am sure my 40/2 is lighter and focuses faster than either, so I acknowledge the temptation and move on to view the great images the 40/2 has delivered so far.

 

Final thought: shooting with the finest equipment money can buy and then badly processing the resulting capture is heartbreaking for all concerned, but how many people spend thousands on a new lens and scimp on a tripod or post-processing software???

[tobey bilek]

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Well I actually want 'relevant' image quality - I want my images to be fit for purpose. Exces data is pointless and my Leica M9 delivers more than adequate images for 99.99% of my requirements.

 

My actual experience of Leica 50mm f/1.4 asph. and other manufacturer's fast 50mm lenses is the exact opposite. Wide-open the Leica shows its strength whilst stopping down evens things up.

 

Bought a M9P companion for my M8 last Sept. Photos are stunning. No real desire to use a zombie camera like a P&S or Live view mode M9. I detest EVF on any camera.

 

I will admit to making a pano with a Canon P&S in my early digital days. Had it perched on a wood tripod made for 4x5 view camera and used a dark cloth over my head. Turned out great, but did not like working like that. Also got a lot of funny looks.

 

If I wanted precise framing, I would use a pro Nikon for which I have adapted five R lenses. 28 shift, 60 2.8, 100 2.8 APO images are simply stunning.

[Paul J]

Image quality used to be centred around Large Format. 10x8 has a usability factor of 1 out of 10, yet some of the greatest ever pictures have been captured with them.

 

More image quality please. I just expect a learning curve in getting the most out of it. To complain a modern digital camera has not much usability is crazy.

 

The only thing the digital age has bought is laziness and people unwilling to learn new tools and techniques. People are dumbing down with machines and i read somewhere recently that we're almost in for another dark ages as computers and automation take over and reach a peak level of development with us becoming more reliant on them. We're forgetting the things we used to be able to remember as we have no reason to remember them having them at out finger tips in google.

[Peter H]

..............................

............................................ i read somewhere recently that we're almost in for another dark ages as computers and automation take over and reach a peak level of development with us becoming more reliant on them. We're forgetting the things we used to be able to remember as we have no reason to remember them having them at out finger tips in google.

 

This is almost exactly what was said when printing was invented.

 

It was also one of the most frequently used arguments against literacy. The clergy argued that if common people could read and write, they wouldn't have to bother about remembering things, and they'd get stupid and lazy because they'd just look at a book when they wanted to know something, instead of working hard to remember it.

 

It is a huge and common fallacy that people become more stupid with each successive generation of invention and creativity.

[Paul J]

This is almost exactly what was said when printing was invented.

 

It was also one of the most frequently used arguments against literacy. The clergy argued that if common people could read and write, they wouldn't have to bother about remembering things, and they'd get stupid and lazy because they'd just look at a book when they wanted to know something, instead of working hard to remember it.

 

It is a huge and common fallacy that people become more stupid with each successive generation of invention and creativity.

 

Interesting. Well I hope so Peter. I can't believe it has zero impact though. When automation takes over, skills certainly get put in the back of the brain and in time these things are difficult to recall. It's a case of re-learning so indeed a kind of dumbing down.

 

Seen this?

 

http://news.columbia.edu/googlememory

[Peter H]

Thanks for the link Paul.

 

I think the last paragraph supports my optimistic view:

 

"Perhaps those who teach in any context, be they college professors, doctors or business leaders, will become increasingly focused on imparting greater understanding of ideas and ways of thinking, and less focused on memorization,” said Sparrow. “And perhaps those who learn will become less occupied with facts and more engaged in larger questions of understanding.”

[Paul J]

It is a huge and common fallacy that people become more stupid with each successive generation of invention and creativity.

 

Do you have a citation for this? I'm rather fascinated by it all.

[Paul J]

Thanks for the link Paul.

 

I think the last paragraph supports my optimistic view:

 

"Perhaps those who teach in any context, be they college professors, doctors or business leaders, will become increasingly focused on imparting greater understanding of ideas and ways of thinking, and less focused on memorization,” said Sparrow. “And perhaps those who learn will become less occupied with facts and more engaged in larger questions of understanding.”

 

And I guess that was my point all along. That new technology brings new things to learn. It's easy to get caught in what you know. Increases in quality from technology are there on offer and it doesn't mean a reduction in usability. You just have to adapt it into your life and learn how to get the most from it. Sometimes it takes new techniques to do so. I find those new ways of interesting both very fun and very rewarding.

[Peter H]

Do you have a citation for this? I'm rather fascinated by it all.

 

I don't have a specific citation, no. But I imagine I could find one.

 

But the evidence seems to me overwhelming.

 

Ever since the dawn of recorded history, writers have complained about a serious decline in standards of behaviour, learning and the use of language. They have moaned about crime increasing and intelligence waning. Basically they have worried about the world going to the dogs, and this has been a consistent trend over at least two-and-a-half thousand years.

 

(If you like I will find quotes for you.)

 

And yet, during this unremitting slide in human intelligence we have learned things that simply stagger the imagination. We transplant internal organs and fly to the moon and talk to people on the other side of the world and instantaneously send them moving colour photos. Life expectancy is probably more than double what it was when the ancients were complaining that the world was going to rack and ruin, and yet despite war and famine, riot and crime, we never stop learning and discovering. More people can read and write today than ever before, and probably do so more often.

 

Of all the things we may worry about, dumbing down feels to me the least likely cause for concern.

[pico]

It is worth reviewing the theory of The Singularity.

 

It has been shown that IQ is increasing with every generation. Some explain that our way of thinking has changed to accommodate the kinds of questions asked in IQ tests, particularly pattern matching, categorization and language, in that order. However, the issue is open and healthily questioned. (There is a certain quality of selective recursion in 'the kinds of questions' chosen.)

[Peter H]

Interesting Pico. Thanks for the links.

 

I was assuming no increase in intelligence, but simply a consistent application of intelligence to explore, discover, understand, adapt and thereby to improve our lot.

 

If, on top of the almost literally incredible abilities that humans have developed over time, and at an ever-accelerating rate, their raw intelligence were on the increase too, the notion of dumbing down with all that it implies seems a very long way off the mark indeed doesn't it?

 

Perhaps increasing intelligence is a simple adaptation to the requirements of an always competitive and increasingly crowded world.

[pico]

Perhaps increasing intelligence is a simple adaptation to the requirements of an always competitive and increasingly crowded world.

 

Perhaps we only think we are more intelligent, something that comes with growing old.

 

In my opinion, in the realm of art nothing has improved, nor is improvement necessary. Some tools change. Society changes. One social change was the invention of the Artist, and his self-reinvention. That's about it. I studied the heavy, scholarly 'art and technology' field, thousands and thousands of pages until it made me sick. I can count on one hand how many movements were downright fun and heady. Start with Dada and be happy.

 

Many artists write prolifically about their beliefs in photography or art, even on this site, without showing one single piece of their own work. To me that is just more to make me simply weary.

 

Many photographers use cameras that are smarter than they are as evinced by outcomes they cannot explain. To me a camera is a box that holds darkness inside, with an aperture or lens and light sensitive medium which could be a leaf (chlorophyll process) for all I care. I am returning to the simple box camera. Will keep the M9 because I haven't broken yet (or again) . Enough about me. Sorry for that.

[pop]

...I can count on one hand how many movements were downright fun and heady. ...

 

When I read that sentence in your post, I immediately thought of Dada.

[pgk]

From Pico's link: "However, with the increasing power of computers and other technologies, it might eventually be possible to build a machine that is more intelligent than humanity."

I wonder whether it will have common sense, something which to me appears to be in rapid decline ......

 

Interesting stuff though.

In my opinion, in the realm of art nothing has improved, nor is improvement necessary.

I have in the recent past visited Egypt and a number of museums (including the superb history museum in Dublin) and am quite honestly amazed at ancient art which still has the power to enthrall so I'm in total agreement.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[pico]

From Pico's link: "However, with the increasing power of computers and other technologies, it might eventually be possible to build a machine that is more intelligent than humanity."

 

I wonder whether it will have common sense, something which to me appears to be in rapid decline ......

 

Humankind at large has usually used technology without understanding how it works, but that is not disturbing. What is disturbing is how we press buttons without knowing how the technology is effecting us - what have we given up for the utility of it? How does it change us? Do we care? "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest" - George Eastman. Probably not.