Resuls ≠ Image Quality

Mike Johnston, aka The Online Photographer, recently asked his readers, "Why do you choose a camera?" The two choices he offered were simple:

• "Results trump everything else"
• "Results are important, but other things are important or more so."

The answers were quite telling, with many assuming that "results" meant "image quality". I disagree. Sometimes getting the result means a camera with good low light performance and near silent operation (quiet shutter, no AF noise, no mirror noise, etc...) that you can discretely set on your lap and meter, focus, compose, and shoot without anyone noticing:




Sometimes getting the result means a camera that's small enough to hold high above your helmet and operate with one hand while your other hand is controlling a 150 horsepower motorcycle as you stand on the footpegs on the section of dirt road going up Mount Washington:


Sometimes getting the result means a camera with reflexes as fast as your own:


Sometimes getting the result means using a camera that you are willing to bring to breakfast with friends:


Sometimes getting the results means using a camera that looks small and non-professional so you can get past the security guards at the stadium:


Sometimes getting the results means using a camera that's small and light and with a built in intervalometer that you are willing to mount on a moving motorcycle via a suction cup:


Image Quality as a thing is so accessible to an increasingly large number of photographers these days. So if you are a photographer looking to make your mark, image quality must be presumed and it should be your vision that separates you from others.