Quality of photographic equipment
Good equipment means you need to work less
If you leave all the technical details aside, that is what it is. Better equipment lets you take the picture you want with less effort.
Measurable vs Meaningful Quality
You will read many reviews that will present you numbers and have pixel for pixel comparisons. Based on these they will be able to measurably show that one set of equipment is better than something else. They will be right. However most of those numbers and comparisons will not mean that much. It is not about having the perfect equipment, it is more understanding your equipment, knowing its advantages and limitations.
Let's get started: the most important quality for your equipment is presence. If you are not carrying it with you when you need it, even the best equipment is not useful. Therefore, in many cases, weight is a very important factor. The other aspect is how practical the equipment is. There is a reason why many people will suggest that you use a 35mm or 50mm prime lens. They are small, light and can be used for many things. Ultra wide angle lenses, heavy long zooms, macros are all specialized equipment that are needed for special purposes and they tend to stay at home more often than not.
Not all pixels are equal. Measures like falloff, sharpness will judge the optical quality of the pixels on various parts of your picture. Unless you are copying documents or photographing maps, it is important to get what is interesting for you sharp the rest should just not stand in the way. This is why subjective quality factors like bokeh gets talked about a lot. It is how well the background blends away without taking the attention on what you have your focus on.
The more optical tricks you put into one lens, the more problems it has to solve. Distortion and chromatic aberration are more difficult to solve if you need to solve it for different focal lengths.
These pages are for Amateur Photographers and not really for seasoned photographers and professionals. I have no affiliation or commercial interest with any brand/make. I write from my own experience. I ended up using mainly Nikon, so I am more familiar with this brand than others. See price for notes on pricing as well as photography related links.