jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This came up in another thread, so I am making a separate post here.

Can someone post comparable photos here, one taken with a DSLR and one taken with a good bridge camera? See if we can tell which is which.

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

I guess the subject should be the same to make an accurate comparison. Bridge cameras have limitations as most do not go beyond f8 in aperture and their sensors are smaller resulting in limitations in print size. Then there is the basic sharpness and contrast differences between the lenses.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right. I'm not going to rush into town and buy a bridge just to do the comparison, but it would be interesting to see two similar images and try to tell which is which.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Let me be the first.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm going to say that the second one was taken with a DSLR. What cameras did you use, in alphabetical order - so as not to suggest which took which picture?

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I have a bridge camera and before that I had one of the early digitals. The early Kodak was 2 megapixel, the bridge is 8. My experience was both cameras could take unbelievably good pictures, but, everything had to be perfect. The difference was how often everything was perfect. The newer camera has a much higher percentage of great shots. I could post pictures from my cell phone that are pretty good, and pictures from my much better bridge that are pretty bad.

I would expect with a better DSLR the odds are better, or the margin of error is better, for someone like me. My point is the best pictures on my bridge camera might compare very well to pictures taken on my brothers DSLR, but I have to take a lot more pictures to get a great picture. I would not want to post my best picture from my bridge, and have everyone run out and buy that camera thinking all the pictures would turn out that (technically) good.

One of the things that perplexes me is if my camera is capable of spectacular sharpness, clarity, focus, color and so on, why can't I get that with ALL my pictures? I had that same feeling with my old digital, and my slr's before that.

Bottom line to me is lab comparisons are one thing, best pictures another, and average picture yet another.

Here are 3 pictures, one from my Kodak DC280, one from my Panasonic and one from my cell phone. Not one of these pictures represent the quality of the average pictures these rigs take. No PP other than cropping and resizing, and also saved for the web at 72ppi and probably 40% quality.

dc280


Pano FZ18 Bridge


LG Cell Phone

RaydancePhoto

Not a great scene, just stepped out the door and took 2 shots. Used a Sony A57 and a bridge RX-100. I set both cameras to F/10 and ISO 1600 SS did vary between the 2.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

One was taken with a Nikon D3100 and the other with a Nikon L110.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I prefer the first shot.

RaydancePhoto

I do as well. Quite a difference in the white balance between the 2 cameras.

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

Is it me? Neither look sharp to me.

dragonfist Loc: Stafford, N.Y.

I agree.

amyinsparta Loc: White county, TN

It appears, from your shots, that it is much more the photographer than it is the camera or lens. jmo

GeneS Loc: Glendale,AZ

I prefer the color in the first shot, but check out the fencing next to the dish antenna. It has much more detail in the second shot. Could be focus

cameranut Loc: North Carolina

You raise an interesting subject for doing a carefully planed test, which I was thinking of doing for curiosity sake. I want to conduct a test with both bridge & dslr at the exact same settings, at the exact same time of day & exact same lighting, distance, etc. & see how much variation occurs. I'll vary the lens using the kit lens as well as a 40mm. 2.8 pancake lens on the dslr. I'll post them with no pp. I'll try to get everything matched up as closely as possible. Both comparisons will be jpegs since the bridge does not have Raw capabilities. The bridge is a 12.1mp. & the dslr is 18mp. but it should be fun to try. Raining now, but as soon as it clears will give it a go.