A Story With A Question For You To Answer

Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana (click to enlarge)
This represents only 25% of the original frame.
Nikon D810, Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens; 1/80th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 3200

I originally wrote this post as a comment for Mike Johnston's "The Online Photographer" blog.  My comment was published on June 13, 2018 in response to Mike's two posts highlighting his opinion of image differences after using full frame (Sony A7III), APS-C (Fujifilm X-T2), micro 4/3 cameras (Panasonic GX8) and an iPhone (7+), which can be found here and here. I thought my comment was of sufficient interest to post it here as well.  Of course, the debate continues.  Will it ever end? Lol.

A story with a question.  Understand, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, only trying to think things through...

Let's suppose a year ago, after much research and deliberation, you bought yourself a nice shiny new Subaru Outback SUV (or CUV, however it is classified).  The price was right and affordable, not that expensive, the ride quality and lack of road noise is satisfying and the vehicle has all the bells, whistles and accessories to make your driving life pleasant.  Also, the all-wheel-drive system, when you had to use it on occasion, performed admirably, exactly as it should.  It got you out of trouble every time.  The Subaru's reliability has been flawless.  Finally, the fuel mileage is excellent.  The cost of driving per mile is pretty low compared to other AWD vehicles. The Subaru has been a fine purchase and you are satisfied with your vehicle in every way.  You are a happy owner.  Not one complaint.

The other day, your next door neighbor walked over, pointed to his driveway and showed you he bought a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited.  You two walk over to look at his new SUV.  Wow!  It has premium calf leather seats, real wood trim, a large moon roof, an 18-speaker audio system, navigation and video screens on the backs of the headrests, from what you can see at first glance.  He says the seats are heated and air-conditioned as well.  Without asking, he told you what he paid for it, which is about twice what you paid for your Subaru.  Very expensive.  You asked what the fuel mileage is and it gets about 2/3 of what your Subaru gets.  You notice that his vehicle is bigger than yours.  It, too, has all the bells and whistles, a fine ride quality and is quiet while driving.  Then there is the 4WD drive system—very sophisticated and more capable than your Subaru's.  Even though the cost of purchase and the cost of driving per mile is much higher than your Subaru, you are jealous, which was his point of showing you his new SUV, and you now really want one.  You feel it in your gut every time you see it in his driveway.

Here is the point of my little story.  It is an analogy that has to do with the never ending debate of size of digital camera sensors and image quality.

Now, substitute your APS-C cropped sensor or micro 4/3 camera for the Subaru and an full frame sensor camera for the Jeep.  You are and have been totally satisfied with your current camera.  It does everything you have needed it and wanted it to do and has done it well for the kinds of photography you practice.   The images it has produced for you over the past year or more have lacked nothing.  They are some of the best images you have ever made.  You can't point out a single deficiency with your camera gear nor find any fault with it.  Again, you are fully satisfied with your gear and the images it produces.

Only after you have seen the Jeep, a much larger, more expensive vehicle to purchase, own and use, did you feel unsatisfied with your Subaru.  Only after reading about, seeing video reviews and maybe even trying a new Sony A7RIII, A7III, Nikon D850, Canon 5D Mark IV, Pentax K1 II, or other full frame camera, you now feel your APS-C or micro 4/3 camera no longer gives you what you had previously been totally happy with.  If you never had known about the full frame cameras, watched the videos or read the reviews, you would not feel any dissatisfaction with your gear.  If you never had seen the Jeep your Outback would have remained wonderful.

So what is it?  Is it jealously?  Is it the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), someone has something you don't have and you don't want to be left out in the cold without the same experience as others?  Is it marketing psychology?  Is it bragging rights?  Is it just wanting something newer and perceived better?  Is it the idea that you can now only be happy with the best? Why would you now be unsatisfied with your Subaru when you were totally happy with it last week?  It did everything you wanted it to do, was affordable to own, had the bells and whistles that were important to you, rode great and the AWD system got you out of every one of the jams you encountered?

What is the realized (actual) benefit from spending twice as much money, increasing the cost of ownership in computer storage space and greater capacity memory cards to hold the larger image files, raising the penalty of use by having to carry more weight, larger, bulkier and more expensive lenses when you were fully satisfied with what you had?  

You only became dissatisfied when you "perceived" there may be some sort of indescribable difference in your images with the larger sensored camera.  You may not be even able to fully articulate the difference but you are now not quite so sure that an APS-C or micro 4/3 camera is "good enough" for you.

If you sell your gear and buy a full frame sensored camera you will have bragging rights, for sure.  But will you ever really need the extra capabilities of a full framed digital camera? Will you ever need the greater number of pixels?  Will you ever use tehcnical "overhead" that is available to you with a full frame camera that you don't seem to need now?

Do you really need full frame or just want it?  As for me, I'm still human and I still have emotions and wants and needs.  As much as I can rationalize that I'll never need a full frame digital camera again, I still would like to have one just to see what I can reach down and pull out of it.  

As with many others, my internal debates continues.  So far, logic has won out over emotion and my money is still in my wallet.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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