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**Richard Polhill**

wrote:
I went back and look at old photos in my attic and surprised to see
that some of photos that I took years ago using a cheap Nikon One
touch range finder camera were extremely sharp and good quality. I
used that camera for a number of years, outdoor photos in rain or
shine conditions, has some tree gooey sap all over at one time. It is
now resting and not used, but I think it is still working.
My question is whether the digital cameras made nowadays is better or
at least the same as the old cameras, in term of its quality and
performance. I do not use dark room anymore as it can end up expensive
(I used to in the old days), so photo qualities in those days mostly
were dependent on where I sent the film for printing in the lab. I
never realize looking of photos taken by my digital cameras until I
compare them against old regular cameras. Is it the camera, the
condition when the photo taken, the technology or all of the above?
Thanks for comment/discussion

If you mean build quality, then it's simply the way of the world: once
upon a time it was viable to make things out of metal, especially where
the workings are all mechanical: the solid build helps accuracy.

With the advent of electronic control, manufacturers could get away with
less solidly built bodies, and plastic moulding became the norm, being a
LOT cheaper.

Everything is shoddily made from flimsy plastic these days, at least at
the consumer end. At the pro end of the photography market things are
better, but nothing, except maybe a Leica, has that solid tough metal
feel of old cameras.

With regard to picture quality. Well I can't see that any real advances
have been made in glass quality or lens design, except to make them
lighter, smaller, cheaper and the proliferation of very wide range
zooms. Use a brand new prime lens rather than the kit zoom, and you'll
find a world of quality away, much like it was when your older kit was made.

So I think where modern kit falls down is that we all supposedly want a
6xkit zoom instead of a good prime or two. A 6x zoom is still going to
be thrashed on quality by a prime of any age and price.