What The Eye Sees
I guess all that matters is what the eye sees.
We talk about resolution, clarity, sharpness, glow, etc, but at the end of the day, the numbers do not count, only what the eyes see matters.
Speaking of eyes, how about this (taken from a heavy crop from a 20mp M43 file as it goes).
The reality is, no amount of detail is enough for some, but most people cannot see a difference unless it is the difference between good enough and not good enough.
Once good enough is reached, it is a long way before you reach something obviously better.
Once you put it out there, all that matters is the impression given. This performer Kate Rigby broke a pick mid set and nobody noticed. Perception is all, details are irrelevant.
4k to 720p, 10 to 50mp. Does it matter at the end of the day if the story told and the process invisible?
The story you say?
I have looked at a lot of fore and against videos, read far too much and even watched I think, every single video on the real differences between 4k and lesser resolutions and what comes out time and again is;
If the footage is well put together, interesting and engaging, no-one cares. Story is all.
If the footage is boring, static and dry, you lose your audience regardless and no amount of technical power will save it.
One reviewer even set out to see if the difference between 4k and 1080p was noticeable to the viewer, but sneakily slotted some 720 and 8k in. No-one would be able to tell without breaking the golden rule, which is “you should always look at any visual media in the way it was intended to be seen”. A bill-board looks good at 100m, a large TV at 5m.
The reality is, most of the movies you have likely watched on a big screen up to now, have likely been shot at 1080 or lower and up-scaled, or often not.
Emotive images come from somewhere other than purely technical spaces.
In other words, do not look too critically, too close or for too long. Very little art was made to be studied on a deeply technical level and most artists are poor straight technicians.
Be awed by the mastery and technique of the artist, but not the technical resolution or fine detail rendering beyond the capabilities of the medium used. Look close enough and even the Mona Lisa becomes mere brush marks!
The very argument that better resolution equals better art nullifies all that has come before.
The fact is, most cinematographers are not looking for pimple rendering detail (or they and the makeup artist may come to blows). The quality of the quality is always more important than the quantity of the quality.
Every time resolution goes up a notch, there is a counter blow towards “character”, which is another name for endearing “imperfections”. As early as the 1920’s black net stockings were stretched across lenses to take the edge off and in the digital era, where surgical perfection is the norm, the retro throw-back movement is gathering steam.
Like I am working towards, I hope you are all in the habit of judging your images by their content, not their technical prowess.