I
innocent
Moving forward from the all-in-one digital debate, I think that the underlining difference between the dslr and the coolpix series is the physical sensor size which makes the Coolpix smaller sensor size suffer in terms of image quality (apart from the glass in front of it). The bebefits of a large sensor size as you find in a dslr are emcapsulated below by
Kerr Cook in a similar debate elswhere:
"If the CCD area is constant, but subdivided into more pixels, then each pixel will have a smaller area and less "signal" can be generated when light strikes as compared to the constant underlying thermal noise of the silicon substrate.
In other words, there is a diminishing return on usability because the multiple megapixel CCD will have a lower Signal to Noise ratio.... meaning more "gain" and less crisp bright imaging".
At anything above ISO 100 all the 8mp point-shoot cameras exhibit such tremendous noise and loss of detail.
Kerr Cook in a similar debate elswhere:
"If the CCD area is constant, but subdivided into more pixels, then each pixel will have a smaller area and less "signal" can be generated when light strikes as compared to the constant underlying thermal noise of the silicon substrate.
In other words, there is a diminishing return on usability because the multiple megapixel CCD will have a lower Signal to Noise ratio.... meaning more "gain" and less crisp bright imaging".
At anything above ISO 100 all the 8mp point-shoot cameras exhibit such tremendous noise and loss of detail.