I often find myself sticking up for Ken Rockwell on dpreview.com. Many here dismiss and even despise his opinions. Why? Because he makes fun of many people on this site and other like sites, because he believes they split hairs over nonsensical and rather trivial issues. "Measurbaters" is the term he uses to describe them.
He makes fun of them because more than a few debates and "religious wars" waged on behalf of Lens X vs. Lens Y don't amount to a hill of beans in the real world. He often points out, and rightly so, that you can take a great photo taken with a $200 5MP cell phone camera and a crappy photo taken with the top-of-the-line $8,000 24MP camera sporting an optically perfect $2,000 lens. Each year I go through the top photos from the Digital Camera Photo of the Year awards, and it is pretty clear that in the bunch, many photos are from very humble cameras and even lowly kit lenses. And not to take anything away from some very talented people on dpreview.com, you have to admit that we have all come across photos taken from multi-thousand dollar camera gear that don't appear to look any better than shots taken from a cheap $2 disposable camera. We all know it is true. Most of us choose not to rain on someone's parade. Where do you begin to tell someone that they have wasted weeks, if not months, of their lives to buy some leading edge camera and/or lens only to take pictures that a 6th grader could emulate with old film camera picked up on ebay for $10?
We all know that really good equipment can make our photos that much better, but Rockwell clearly argues that for many people, buying the best camera equipment and believing it really will make difference, is like the average weekend golfer buying the best golf clubs and believing they will get him to shoot par golf. He admonishes people to pay attention to what really matters, and disregard the rest. What matters? Understanding exposure. Paying attention to lighting. Look at a commonly photographed scene or object in a new way. Challenging yourself to shoot with one lens instead of lugging a 30lb backpack of every lens in your arsenal and wasting half the day switching lenses instead of capturing the moment. Taking time to get the photo right "in camera" vs. spending hours in Photoshop when you return home. And making the most out of your equipment - limitations and all.
Along the way, he gives some practical advice on the best uses for your photography dollars, where to splurge, where to compromise, and where to avoid wasting money on trivial differences that will not materially improve your photos. And he focuses on the artistic aspects of photography - not merely the equipment. Despite his tongue-in-cheek and rather sarcastic style, if you actually read his technical pieces, you will quickly realize that he is a pretty sharp cookie and knows his subject matter likely better than many on this forum combined.
Purists in every field always resent those more practical in their views and perspectives. Thus "Measurbaters" can't stand Rockwell for one very simple reason - he blatantly tells them that much of what they concern themselves with... simply doesn't matter. It is no doubt the truth, but Rockwell also delivers just this message and in such a way that guarantees that he will garner his share of enemies and critics along the way. No one wants to hear that their "Baby is ugly". Fewer still on dpreview.com, like to hear that much of what they concern themselves with, spends gazillions of dollars on, and have vociferous debates about for days-on-end, doesn't amount to a hill of beans with respect to taking great photos. And that is precisely why many on this site don't care much for Rockwell...
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/7.htm
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Best Regards,
Bob
http://www.flickr.com/photos/innerdemon/
http://www.epochphoto.com 
