I sometimes wonder

I just got my first Canon (a 5D MKIII), but I have been active in the DPREVIEW forums since 2004. Back in the early days most of the interest was in digicams and how many megapixels were needed to get quality equal to film. Then the digital Rebel and D70 came along and everyone wanted to upgrade to DSLR quality. It was pretty easy then to demonstrate how the image quality was improving in a way that everyone (nearly) could appreciate - with web images and common print sizes.

Perhaps even the first FF DSLRs demonstrated a tangible difference in image quality that most could appreciate. But where are we now? Read enough of these forums and legions of rabid pixel peepers will try to convince you that if you do not have a Nikon D800E then you are working with a camera with an obsolete sensor! Your shadows will be filled  with ugly noise and there will be no fine detail or texture in your images. If you don't believe them just print a few 30"x40" prints and look at them thru a 10x loupe! This lunacy would be harmless but there seems to be plenty of enthusiastic beginners lining up to purchase D800E cameras to take snap shots of their kids because they read it has the best image quality so for sure their snap shots will 'pop' and not be boring anymore!

So why did I get a 5D MKIII then? Because I fell in love with the bokeh of the 85L II and, since I had no Canon gear,  I needed a body to mount it on. So why not get a nice one while I am at it. So you see - I am not caught up in the mad rush to get better gear - I am just an artist trying to express himself! LOL!