Here's an interesting and easy-to-perform experiment to try at some point on your photographic journey. Maybe it can help you home in on the technical aspects of photography that actually matter the most to you. I was actually more than a little bit surprised at my findings...
So, getting right into it, the three images presented here were taken using three Canon digital cameras spanning 20 years of research and development. They are representative images only, chosen from hundreds of possible candidates. The first image was made using the venerable D30, which came out in 2000, making it Canon's first 21st Century digital camera. The middle shot was captured using the Canon 5D from 2005, and the last image was snapped using the R5 from 2020. Generate your data set using the cameras and lenses that matter to you...
Once you have all of your data in hand, the first task is to take note of all the quantifiable differences you can find and determine their origin. Learning the various tells is one of the benefits of the exercise.
Cutting to the chase, as an old boss of mine used to say, I learned that I was able to pick out the impact of all the typical spec sheet factors pretty easily: sensitivity, resolution, dynamic range, white balance, all of that. And, as expected, technology appears to have improved the most between the D30 and the 5D, to my eyes anyway. So the data makes sense! But, while definitely noticeable, the sensor parameters are not the ones that turned out to be the most important to me.
So, what was the critical factor in the real world? Autofocus accuracy and precision. If the focus is off, the image is ruined. Game over (another boss). Even for a static subject like a flower arrangement.
