O Come On! Not Again

1956 Lincoln Hood Ornament (click to enlarge)
X-T2, 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens @ 40.7mm; 1/1800th sec. @ f/4; ISO 320
Who says you can't achieve shallow depth of field with an APS-C sized sensor?

CAUTION: Photographic Rant  Read at your own peril.

Recently a well-known You Tube photography channel posted a test comparing JPEGS from cameras from the major photography companies as well a mobile phone.  They showed the JPEGS to a variety of observers who then judged which JPEG images, made under a variety of conditions, looked the best to them.  They looked at white balance, exposure, saturation, sharpness, white balance, etc.  They then picked the the image that looked best to them.

This reminds me of the recent Internet furor over whether or not the Fuji X-T2 is or is not a professional level camera.

I think one fatal flaw in their logic for running this test is found at approximately the 2 minute mark in the video.  They conducted this experiment for the:

 "user who picks up one of these cameras for the first time and uses it.  They are going to be in auto white balance. They are going to be in standard factory defaults.  They are not going to be shooting raw, they are going to be shooting fine JPEG...."

The fatal flaw, in my opinion, is that I don't think the buyers of the cameras they tested (with the exception of the mobile phone) are the ones who are novices and just leave the cameras as set from the factory.  These are all expensive, highly sophisticated camera bodies whose market is the enthusiast or professional.  There may be an anomalous rank amateur user, but I think the logic of running this test is faulty from the beginning in assuming that the buyers of these camera leave settings as they find them.  But I digress....

That being said, my question is why would they waste yours and my time conducting such a subjective test?  It would be like me saying "the shade of blue that I like is better than the shade of blue that you like."  What?  Are you kidding?  Even the presenter of the video preferred different images than the other individuals.  That says it all.  If you are going to go through all the work of putting together a 21:15 professionally created video, give us something worthwhile to watch.

Judging the color, contrast, saturation, white balance, etc. of any particular image is a very personal choice and could not be more subjective.  What you prefer is likely not what I would prefer.  Give me a group of 20 individuals and you will likely get a wide variety of choices.  Which is better?  None is better than the others, just different!  Its a personal preference, that's all.

Additionally, all those parameters can be set in the camera or changed in editing afterwards.  I don't know anyone who uses JPEGs or RAW images straight out of the camera.  Everyone who I know who cares anything at all about their images makes at least some corrections before printing or sharing their images.  It could be something as simple as raising brightness or straightening an horizon.  I never advocate using images straight out of a camera.  As I said, if you have pride in your photographs, take a close look at them and make the minor adjustments before sending them out.  At the very least check for focus!  You will be judged by your worst photographs. 

In the past I have read that Nikon's out of the camera JPEG sharpening is too aggressive. Well, you have a menu and controls in the camera.  If it is too aggressive, turn it down a notch or two.  Pretty simple.  All of those cameras tested (I'm not sure about the mobile phone as I don't use one of that brand) have controls to tailor JPEG images to your individual taste.  You would be wise to experiment and use them if you want to get your images as close to your preferences as possible.  You would be wasting a lot of money just taking the camera out of the box and going out and making images.  Buy a phone if you intend to do that.

I wish people would not get so riled up and defensive over such inane presentations.  It just makes no logical sense to me.  But we continue to see such drivel and the bad thing is that individuals who don't think things through are influenced and persuaded by such subjective assessments of others. That is really too bad.  Buyer beware.

My advice is to do your own research and make up your mind for your taste.  Don't take someone else's word for what is good and what is not good.  You will do yourself a disservice if you do.

Of course, this is all my opinion.  Opinions are neither right nor wrong, just opinions.  Your mileage may vary.  

Its Black Friday in the U.S.  The day the retailers traditionally have come out of the red and into the black for sales.  Go out and spend some money intelligently on a piece of gear you really believe will improve your photographic ability.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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