Proof!

Avenue of the Giants, Northern California. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M5; Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8 lens @ 20mm; 1/3 sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

Even after almost 50 years in photography, I am still a voracious consumer of all things photographic.  I can still honestly say I am passionate about photography.  That passion, I think, drives me in several ways.  One is writing this blog to share my knowledge and experiences.  Another is continuing to keep up with everything photographic through the various forms of media.

As a daily consumer of many photographic blogs, podcasts and YouTube channels, one that I have found interesting over the past few years and want to bring to your attention for a specific reason is the blog called The Visual Science Lab by Austin, Texas portrait and commercial photographer Kirk Tuck.  If you haven't read his blog or viewed his work, you ought to take a look.  You can find it here.

Mr. Tuck specializes in corporate work, portraits, theater photography and other commercial work.  In the past couple of years he has expanded his expertise from just still photography into videography.  He is also a fine author, teacher and, it seems, human being from everything I've read about him.  He is a prolific blogger as well.  Some of his posts are quite lengthy.

One thing I find interesting about Tuck is that he develops an interest in, buys, uses, sells and completely changes camera systems more prolifically than anyone else I have ever encountered!  Bar none.  In the few years I've been reading his blog, he has professionally used, Nikon, Sony (A Series), micro4/3 (first Panasonic then Olympus then both), Nikon again, and now he is all-in with Fujifilm gear.  In the past several months, if I am right, I think he now has seven Fujifilm cameras and a whole lot of Fujifilm lenses!  I lost count. 

My writing is not in any way a criticism of Tuck or his camera buying habits.  Heck, I do the same thing only on a much lesser extent.  Many of us do.  But I want to use him as an example and to make a point.

That being said, I'm sure I missed a system or two in my recall but my point is that Tuck has used full frame, APS-C, micro4/3 and even 1" sensor cameras for all of his commercial and professional work and not a single client, to my knowledge, has hesitated, questioned, rejected or objected his images made with any of these formats as being inadequate, not meeting a high standard or lacking anything.  He is a case in point that smaller formats can produce big results.  His smaller format work is just as accepted by all of his clients as his full frame work.  His smaller format work is just as high quality and just as professionally done.  When he shows up with an Olympus or his Fujifilm gear, no client questions him and asks, "You're not going to use that little thing, are you?"  The work speaks for itself.

That should tell you all you need to know about the image quality of digital cameras of all formats and their associated lenses.  That should tell you that no matter what format you decide upon, you can have confidence that the images your gear is capable of producing are of a professional caliber.  

Oh!  Yes, the other thing.  The other thing?  You have to be an excellent photographer to get out of any system what quality is there.  It is on you, not the gear.  Don't blame the gear for inferior results.

I think it is a shame that many people are dissuaded from purchasing, using and allowing their creativity to blossom with smaller format camera systems.  I blame the "influencers" on YouTube and elsewhere on social media with a nudge from the manufacturers thrown in since there is greater profit with full frame than smaller formats.  Smaller formats can be more affordable and give those with fewer funds the opportunity buy a really good system and become artists who otherwise can't afford full frame digital cameras.  As I said, I think it is a shame.

So, if you use micro4/3 or APS-C or even a camera with a 1" sensor, excellent images can be produced.  Professional grade images.  It is just up to you to be the photographer you need to be to get that quality out of your gear.  Yep, its all on you.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

All content on this blog is © 2013-2019 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.