I think "The gearheads can natter online" is a bit reductionist. You say that lenses are essentially perfect for "non-extreme" photography but for most "non-ex

I think "The gearheads can natter online" is a bit reductionist. You say that lenses are essentially perfect for "non-extreme" photography but for most "non-extreme" photography, frankly, a modern smartphone is just as good. These days, the main practical reason why most people would buy a dedicated camera is so that they can handle those "extreme" situations, so it does make sense to care about how far a lens can be pushed. For example I shoot a lot of wildlife on Sony's A7RIV and given the sensor's crazy resolution, if I have a lens that can resolve enough fine detail, I can crop to get extra reach. This allows me to takes shots which would otherwise be impossible. For a less "extreme" case, regarding portraits, you might think people arguing about the quality of bokeh are "nattering" but it can make a big difference to your image. Compare the portrait shots in [0] and look at how different the background becomes. [0]: https://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-sony-fe-100-f-2-8-stf-gm-oss-lens/ https://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-sony-fe-100-f-2-8-stf-g...