Single Metrics

It happens all the time: someone will come come up with an interesting idea or theory that provides a simple answer by measuring only one thing. Larger sensors have shallower focus, smaller sensors allow better telecentricity; zoom lenses permit the exactly correct focal lengths, primes enforce discipline. Dynamic range, low noise, sharpness, contrast, wide, long: there's always some thought of the moment about what really makes a difference.

I'm a very technical photographer. I get hung up on the little things, I look for the small differences, and I try to figure out the setting that I'm missing. So I've been there. But as I become more experienced – read: cynical and jaded – I've realized that image quality isn't about solving a puzzle.

It's too tempting to want easy answers, or even to quest after elusive and esoteric ones. The reality is that it isn't a complicated question. Ultimately there's only one single metric that matters: is the photo satisfying?


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