Why we go to "details" and "sharpness" instead "moment" and "possibility"?

I have started to see that some of the m4/3 objectives gets way too much praise for their sharpness, colors etc.

As most/almost all are so great that to get the difference out, the photograph needs to be made in so controlled environment that the differences can be made out.

Like example many bashes the Olympus 17mm f/2.8 or Olympus 14-42mm and so on for being soft and details lost.

But when has people really used a bad objective on this period of photography? Even a Olympus 15mm f/8 is awesome for its price, design and idea. Much less sharp than a highly praised, but yet very great, even when Olympus doesn't even consider it to have worth to get "Zuiko" branding as quality is so low.

The m4/3 objectives are like in the top 10-5% class (excluding those BCL) of all objectives that there isn't really a difference between the objectives image quality when it comes to medium size prints (30-50cm long side) and we would need to start pushing to big prints to see the difference.

Yes it is nice to be happy about good invest to expensive gear that holds its marks for the money. But if we pay more for the 5-10% difference (if even that) in the actual print - and that even before we start adjusting, fixing or manipulating photographs at computer, shouldn't we remember the context, that there just isn't a such difference after all outside of the pixel peeping on computer screen?

Our enthusiasm gets better of us very easily. Like let's take a Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R and mount it to camera. We all should be able to admire how compact and light it is and how great image quality it can produce for medium/big prints (those who yet do bigger prints understands it). Just looking at what a 99€ objective can do, comparing what we example had just 15-20 years back.

It is same thing as with megapixels. Enthusiast want to praise 20Mpix, and weaker minded people using 16Mpix can jump the ship because fear, doubts and hopes that they get better photos if they get 20Mpix or they are left behind if they don't get the 20Mpix.

I could understand that people would praise in Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO its real difference to 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, and that is the aperture ratio value and weather sealing.

As those are the differences that makes it truly a better one, not its sharpness. When a photographer can get the 1-2 stops more light to spend for faster shutter speed, smaller ISO or lower powered flash or having light source further away from the main subject, it is a win.

When the photographer can go out to heavy rain or stand in the sand storm or spend out time in freezing environments and bring the gear back in being more comfortable about its design, it is a win because the photographer got photos that would otherwise left to be taken.

Why we go to "details" and "sharpness" instead "moment" and "possibility"?

Technical people want to quote Lenstip, DXO or so, but they leave totally out the emotional impact of the visual side of the photograph.

A great photograph doesn't need to be sharp, it doesn't even need to have main subject in focus. It doesn't need to have a correct exposure or a more than 6 stops exposure range.

A great photograph is that what was taken in correct place in correct time.

Objective sharpness didn't help the photographer get to top of the mountain. Small size and weight did.

Objective color rendering didn't help photographer time the moment when to release the shutter, but possibility to use the gear in the wider range of situations did.

A tiniest and lightest camera didn't help photographer to get what was wanted, but the possibilities the system camera offers did.

While dpreview forums are mostly for gearheads and pixel peepers dream forums, shouldn't we remember more often what the photography is really about? Some people like to go to argumentation classes and preparation lessons in universities and schools to learn how to argue. Some people like to go to parks play chess or sit to cafetary on streets and argue with people there about daily topics.

And some people like to use WWW forums to do same thing, but from specific topic. And that is fine as long we remember that technical details doesn't change photography so much as it is often wanted to say it does, just for sake of argument or enthusiasm.