Photography: then vs. now

Actually, I have 2 digital cameras, an SLR and a mirrorless. I usually get very good results with the auto settings unless I'm doing something really unusual like northern lights, comets or eclipses. Then it's time for long exposures and manual focus. I make little use of the higher-level capabilities that seem geared to pros and not advanced film-experienced amateurs. 

I use my phone's camera to do point and shoot stuff, especially to post photos and videos online without editing.

I have a digital camera - two actually. One is a panasonic FZ3, I think, and the other is an FZ35. The latter holds up well even now. It's just a mock slr style camera style, smaller and with telescoping internal lens (not slr, no ability to switch anything), but good lenses and takes good pictures and video and a lot of options. 

The FZ3 resolution and light control is bad enough that when you look at the pictures without making them really small on the screen, they're grainy. I should throw it in the trash and just haven't done that yet. 

Wife had a Panasonic FX30 - we gave it to someone and no my daughter wants a real camera, but pocket size, instead of a phone camera. Don't know why. 

If either of the two cameras above are in really good shape and working, the flea market flippers have a high bar for price in my opinion. there are gobs of them that don't work for $15-$25. 

I have gotten my camera out once in a while, but if the cable is not at hand, it's kind of a pain, and even when the cable is at hand, the folder navigation and copying isn't very fast. It doesn't take better pictures than the phone unless you use the optical zoom and the battery life is pretty short. Buying two generic replacements (NOS would be too expensive if I could even find something like that) gives a typical result - the new cheapies are no better than the depleted old batteries, but at least you can have them in quantity to make up for that.