Originally Posted By: hybrid8
There isn't a P&S around that rivals an SLR for image quality. It's not even close.

Unless you're resizing images down for posting in web forums. Then even images from a 10 year old P&S can look amazing. The iPhone takes great images, but they certainly don't have anywhere near the detail of an image from an APS-C sized sensor on a typical SLR, never mind that of a FF SLR.

I'm with Mark though, there's a tremendous amount of significance to operational aspects, well beyond image quality. Any camera is better than no camera, but you can easily find yourself in a situation where the best P&S just won't get you the shot you want/need for whatever reason (slow lens, slow CPU, lack of manual overrides, etc.)


What about the Panasonic GH1 and other EVF cameras? There are a lot of Electronic Viewfinder cameras out now that don't have to deal with the clunky mirror box of a DSLR but have all the manual controls of a DSLR. These cameras are proving an optical viewfinder really isn't necessary anymore. What is necessary is good operations and sensor size. Too small of a sensor size equals bad quality and too much depth of field. Depth of field is good to have somethings but too much of it just makes all your shots look flat.