I’m generally for the practice of pixel peeping, as long as it is done in moderation. In case you don’t know what pixel peeping entails, it’s real simple and roughly goes along these steps:

1. Get two or more cameras that you want to compare. Let’s use one that you love, and one that you hate.
2. Pick a subject to photograph, preferably a still life or something that won’t move much or change colors between shots.
3. Set one camera up on a tripod, and take a shot.
4. Set up the other camera to replace the first, using the same settings, and take a shot.
5. Load the images from both cameras to your computer.
6. Zoom into one section with high detail and compare the hell out of both images side by side.
7. Linger around at step 6 or repeat EVERYTHING until you feel that the camera you love and always wanted to ‘win’ all along gets better results than the other one that you hate.

Okay, i’m being a bit sarcastic. But seriously, this is how pixel peeping usually ends up happening.

It’s not that pixel peeping isn’t without its merits, but if you have taken more pictures of $20 bills taped to a wall compared with actually interesting subject matter, you have chosen the wrong hobby. Perhaps chainsaw juggling would be a more suitable endeavor instead.

Some people also consider pixel peeping to be an Internet sport. If you do choose to engage in this giant tub of fail, at least don’t go around on discussion boards making quotes like this:

“in my eyes nikon colors look more fake…that is why i never switched to nikon, even though they make amazing cameras a lot of times the color look too saturated, not natural at all canon has the opposite tendency, which i prefer…”

“for my eyes, Nikon’s color looks more natural, no? From the examples, the tree and lawn has a warmer green.”

So what exactly is wrong with those quotes? They seem like perfectly legitimate critiques of color, right?

Here’s what’s wrong- when the image that is being pixel peeped is that of a Bailey’s Irish Cream bottle label with a painted rendition of a pastoral nature scene.

Yup. Every time I think I have seen something silly, the Internet shows me how much I have to learn about silliness.