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Comment by lorenzhs | Hacker News Reader

I can't relate to this at all. I have a Canon EOS 450D (Rebel XSi, 2008 model year) with a few lenses that I used to love, but haven't really used for years now. Its low light performance sucks, it's almost impossible to photograph people at night. My phone does a much better job of that. Yes, the DSLR's optics run circles around any phone, but the sensor really does show its age. And since you specifically mention the autofocus, I just want to add that I find it infuriating. It's awful compared to my phone! It reliably focuses on the wrong thing and is really rather slow. At night, it barely works.

To me, the old DSLR is simply not worth the weight of lugging it around any more. It's funny how we have such different perceptions of our old DSLRs.

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I kind of straddle both the positives and negatives - recently pulled out my 7D from a while back and the images are fantastic even only JPG.

I don't expect to do low-light without long exposure (ie, no impromptu shots) and I do have an external flash for bounce lighting indoors.

It's still better than my iPhone (which admittedly is a couple of years old), but weight is a huge factor I only use this when intending to get really good shots. Another is the extra time it takes to transfer files, sort through bursts and put into iCloud or smugmug.

I strongly suspect you may be putting everything on auto and hoping the camera will focus on the right thing. It wont, because the camera has a very crappy auto-mode. It will, when you learn how to use manual mode and pick your own focus point. I fully accept that this is not something most people are interested in, but that camera can and does take wonderful images. Here are a few samples (randomly picked by flickr - I hope they're good :P ).

https://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/eos_digital_rebel_xsi/

To be fair to other DSLRs, the Rebel XSi's autofocus was considered one of its weakest parts when the camera was new. There are lots of other autofocus systems which are much faster and more accurate.

The bad low-light performance wasn't universal at that time. I made low-light performance a priority, so I got the Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D.

Contributing factors may be that the pixels on the sensor are physically larger, and that the sensor-shift image stabilization helps with longer exposures.

You're comparing a modern phone to a very old camera in DSLR terms. Much like the nokia you probably had in 2008, things have very much moved on.

Are there DSLRs with image processing features like Google's "Night Shot"? Where you can take a very long hand-held exposure and it will never be blurry?

Not quite but close. My Sony A7ii will take a 2/3s of a second exposure by stacking four shorter exposures and using stabilization.

2/3 of a second with an f/2 or f/2.8 lens means you can take pictures lit by not much more than starlight.

Actually, even without this, with an F/1.4 lens I can take a handheld picture using only light pollution.

To a very old and entry level camera.

Well, the parent was talking about their even older DSLR and their equally modern phone, so I'm not sure what your point is. Nobody is claiming that a 2020 phone is anywhere close to a 2020 (or 2015, for that matter) DSLR or mirrorless camera.

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