Why so many photographers are anxious about sharpness?

Which one of you has been sipping the Dektol tonight?

Definitely not going to read this whole thread, but my initial reaction to the original question is: it sells equipment.

I think it is absolutely hilarious that this thread started off as a critique of the obsession with sharpness that some people have, and then turned into a discussion on the relative merits of using musical frequency as a good analogy to sharpness. My 2 cents: go shoot some photos.

i sell lenses and cameras for my living, and yes especially digital people are obsessed with sharpness, i always tell them that most lenses are sharp, i dont know many that are not.

in fact finding good soft focus lenses is almost impossible unless your willing to use a filter/out of focus techs.

my personal lens collection is full of very old barrel lenses for 10x8 and 4x5, no shutters, and i crave personality , sharpness is not a issue for me.

oh how photography has changed

Good morning;

Gee, if we are seeking possibly applicable useless analogies, could we also include clothing fads and fashions? At times it does seem that we are running around some small point of the subject. In the case of fashion, often it is not really the cloth, cut, and workmanship that goes into the garment, as much as it is what you stuff into it.

In our case with photography, our end goal is still the print or the transparency that will be displayed. How we get to that and what equipment we use is definitely of interest, but that all remains secondary to the end goal: What does the print look like, and does it strike a responsive chord in us?