[cometguy]

I'd like to see photos like this taken by a phone, a Q, a K-3, a K-1 and a 645Z and have us try to guess which is which. Especially at web sizes it would largely be an exercise in trying to pick out idiosyncrasies that clue you into the format, rather than quality/sharpness/dynamic range, etc.

I follow the iPhone Photography group forum on Facebook, simply because it's amazing the quality and diversity of photos posted there (and I have multiple iPhones myself that I use extensively when I don't have my DSLRs with me and want to get some photos). Every day there are many photos posted there that are surprising in that they can look every bit as good as DSLR photos. Yes, these are viewed on a laptop or desktop computer screen, not on a wall-sized TV screen. The best iPhone photographers are impressive, but the phone cameras themselves have become very good, so that almost any average person can take photos that can look impressive on webpages. There are orders-of-magnitude more iPhone camera users than there are DSLR users, so naturally there will be a lot of really good photos by the most avid iPhone photographers who employ the latest exposure and processing techniques. Another camera that I find fascinating to see photos from is the Nikon Coolpix P1000, which has a lens that zooms from effective-FF 24mm f/2.8 to 3000mm f/8; it has a 16-Mpx sensor that is small (1/2.3 inch), which is similar to the size of the 12-Mpx iPhone sensors.

I find discussions such as in this thread interesting for a multitude of reasons. I have been planning to buy the K-1 II over the past year, because my main areas of photography interest are astrophotography and landscapes, and because I have a couple dozen full-frame K-mount lenses dating back to my four decades of using Pentax cameras (both film and APS-C/DSLR). I am intrigued with the possibility of waiting to see if a K-1 III version might be announced by Pentax in the next year or so; the K-3 III doesn't have enough new things over my two K-3 II cameras to make me long for another APS-C camera. I bought a D800 full-frame camera to use my F-mount lenses (with no intention on expanding my Nikon set) that had been sitting idle from my F4 film-camera days (I haven't used my F4 much lately); so I do have full-frame DSLR experience, and I like the quality of images that the 36-Mpx D800 puts out (I just prefer the ergonomics and layout of Pentax cameras over Nikons). I do still have a freezer full of 35mm film for my three Pentax film cameras (and the F4), and I do still shoot film occasionally for fun. I've only had Pentax APS-C DSLRs for about 14 years out of my four decades of shooting Pentax, so I only have two dedicated DA lenses for APS-C, and I won't buy any more DA lenses because I want to have lenses that work also on my LX and PZ-1 (and on any forthcoming K-1-series camera). So my interest in a full-frame Pentax camera are the many features that come with the K-1, along with its bigger sensor and the ability to fully use my many FF lenses (especially those at wider angles). But I agree that I find many uses for APS-C cameras and many uses also for FF cameras, so it's good to have options.

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Last edited by cometguy; 01-16-2021 at 08:35 PM.