For a bit of fun I thought today we would look at the differences between an old CCD point and shoot camera from 2010 (my 12mp Lumix FS10) versus a modern mirrorless camera (my 24.5mp Nikon ZF). To keep things fair, I have shared the images at the same resolution, so they are all cropped to 5:4 and 1600px long end (everything else I usually share on social media and my website is usually shared at 1200px long end).
The images are straight from camera, and I tried to match the Nikon ZF and the Lumix in settings and focal length (all Nikon Z images were shot at 28mm and 70mm). Images are straight from camera other than the crop, and no changes were made. This is not about which is the favourite colour, just a look to see if an old 12 megapixel camera can still look good.
I also used the camera’s out and about. Although I did not take the same compositions, I still got similar enough images to place them side by side here. This again is Nikon on the left and Lumix on the right.
As you can see, there are differences, but are they HUGE difference? The point of this article is simple. No matter what camera you own, you can get good results from it. Your bottleneck in quality is never your megapixels (even the latest 4k display can only display 8.3mp images!) but the quality of your lens. In this case it was a top-end Nikon zoom S lens compared to 15 year old Leica branded compact zoom lens.
Conclusion
Have fun with your photography. If you are not making money from your images, do not worry about the things that do not matter. Experiment with different cameras, experiment with different lenses. And most of all, just get out there and enjoy yourself, because if you are only posting to social media and a website, no one will ever know what you use unless you tell them.
This has been Part 6 of a 12 part series for “12 Days Of Christmas 2025”. A collection of new articles and so much more from Mark G Adams from One Camera One Lens Photography as well as guest authors. Catch them all if you missed any here.
One Camera One Lens Photography 
Nice comparison, and I completely get your point Mark, and fully agree. In fact, it goes even further: your comparison aligns perfectly with the core idea of an article I’ll be publishing first in 2026. Different era, different cameras, same conclusion. Once images are reduced to real-world output, the gear gap largely disappears, and what remains is intent, light, and how the photographer uses what’s in their hands.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was just a bit of fun really. I just want people to go out and take photos, because most of the time, in most situations, the gear doesn’t matter.
Look forward to your article, in fact all your articles are usual.
Thank you Marc, chat soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent article Mark. I often lament when I see my older images from a trip….If I only had my current camera then… The important thing in photos is the user behind the camera and as you say the lens quality. With my Sony in 2014, The Carl Zeiss lens from 2012 was far superior to the Sony G in 2014, at least at the time. Have a great day. Allan
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Allan, much appreciated. It’s always nice to see images from older and newer cameras. It was fun to put together.
LikeLiked by 1 person