Point and shoot

The Pentax Optio W90 is a handy pocket sized camera that is also weatherproof. Plus it has a built in intervalometer, which means it can be mounted somewhere out in the weather and programmed to take an image every x seconds or minutes. Perfect for recording sun and shade patterns. However, the detail is not that good, definitely not good enough for a timelapse involving flower or leaf details.

jack in the pulpit 200% detail (3 of 3)

A two hundred percent enlargement still retains amazing detail when using large sensors and good lenses. I will admit to boosting the tone curve and clarity settings a bit in post processing to bring out the detail better.

Jack in the pulpit full frame (1 of 3)

Arisaema triphyllum, a native of midwestern forests. One of a whole tribe of Jacks living up on the SW hill side. This ground layer plant is catagorized as an ephemeral because they come and go, playing a transient role in the life of the forest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arisaema_triphyllum If the plant is properly dried or cooked it can be eaten as a root vegetable. If not properly prepared it is poison (burning in mouth and gut, sometimes serious swelling). The clarity of photos properly made with a large sensor and a good lens makes identification much easier. This image was shot crouched over and hand held at 1/30 sec at f 2.8, ISO 100, at the 70mm reach of the the 24-70 sigma zoom lens on a Sony A900. When I want to get the best photo quality in terms of sharp, crisp and clear details, I shoot at ISO 100 or lower. Using a higher ISO begins to show when you enlarge images looking for good detail. In film it was graininess, in digital it's more like fuziness.

Jack in the pulpit 100% detail (2 of 3)

This is the kind of detail one can see when zooming to full resolution on a full frame DSLR with a decent lens. It's very helpful that most of the modern DSLR cameras have some sort of image stabilization. I don't have to have that tripod for observation type photographs.

This cell phone image is quite good

Even at full size, the details on the flowers and leaves are quire good and it would make a nice 8x10 print, maybe bigger.

This cell phone photo is a technical fail

Out of focus, camera movement and generally something I would normally reject. However, it does show what I wanted to record, the now clear area and the size of the trunks. When the light is good and the subject is fairly close, within 6 feet or so, the cell phone camera usually gives me an image that looks just as good as those from my full frame DSLR -- at normal screen sizes. But with the cell phone images, what you see is what you get. With the DSLR images, you can zoom in to see quite a bit more than you saw with your naked eye. The cell phone image is plenty good enough for recording observations and evaluations, even for annotating with design ideas. But when your subject of interest is further away than 4 or 5 feet, leaf and flower shapes become much less sharp. I'm currently using a Samsung Note 3 phone, but I had similar results with an older Iphone.