Quote Originally Posted by jp498 View Post

I'd contend that sharpness isn't as important as the author seeks with large format because the degree of enlargement is much smaller than with small film or digital, but I recognize photographers' preference for sharpness is all over the scale, especially when lenses do double duty for general purposes uses. Thus if it's important to him, it's probably important to many other people.
At enlargements of half a meter, the difference in sharpness and grain between 6x6cm and 4x5" is already very clear, and becomes ever clearer the larger the prints are made, even to lay people, so it must be treated seriously.