Vagabond Kaufman

Brooks Jensen, on the LensWork Technology Blog, just posted a brief set of comments on the importance of the lens as the ultimate arbiter of image quality.  The notion that the glass in front of the sensor is more important than any other part of the camera system (save for the sensor itself) is understood by almost every serious amateur or professional photographer who has read anything about photographic technology, or who has simply compared his or her images across lenses.  So, why do many photographers invest so much time, effort, and even money into camera bodies that feature incremental but always “remarkable” new features?  One has to wonder if the corporate tale is wagging the consumer dog.