Images from fifty or a hundred years ago are not worse or better than images of today. They are just different.
Of course, Ansel Adams’s photos images being captured on the large format are as good as any images today in terms of detail and sharpness. But Adams could not go out and do street photography with his gear. There are reasons for why photographers began design long cameras to be smaller. Portability meant capturing images pragmatically different to Adam’s beast. How candid can photographs be if they stick out like sore thumb?
Twin lens reflex and single lens reflex cameras began a revolution in photography, taking it out of the studio and limiting content to set scenes to showing anywhere and anyone.
Today, most cameras either have full-frame, medium format, or small than full-frame sensors. The standard is full-frame since lens focus distances are quoted this format.
The full-frame format gives enough shallow depth-of-field to isolate subjects when need to, while still retaining an easy-to-carry camera body+lens form factor. In other words, SLR/DSLR cameras are balanced for image quality and practicality.
signature103 