Back in the film era it was perfectly possible to buy a compact camera that could match an SLR in image quality terms. Sure, you might lose out on some advanced features, and for the most part you were stuck with a fixed lens, but deep inside, whether you were shooting with an Olympus XA or an OM1, the image was formed on a frame of 35mm film.
Fast forward to the mid-2000s and photographers without the need or funds for one of the new breed of affordable (sub-$1000) consumer DSLRs... more