But if you want to do architectual photography, a low end Point & Shoot isn't going to get it. And if you are gifted a Hasselblad, but need to carry a camera in your shirt pocket, it won't get the job done either. The first consdideration is the quality of the camera for the specific type of photography it will be used for.
Well going by the original question about a camera and it's intended use, the quality of most compact cameras will indeed be just fine. So no need to worry about fitting a Hasselblad in a shirt pocket.
Those are important characteristics. But do you actually think that a newbie buying an otherwise unfamiliar camera can determine which is best by handling cameras at the local photo strore? What I'm saying is that is a recipe for a long term disaster, not a solution. The one that "feels" right turns out to be what is purchased, and then further investments in lenses and accessories locks a person into that brand for years to come. All based on "it felt good".
Not necessarily. When I got my first SLR [OM2n] I read lots of magazines and had a play with various models in shops and one simply stood out above all the others, because it just felt right [for me]. Sometimes it's very obvious an item is not for you. Proved to be a very good choice in the end and not just because I got used to it. I have no brand loyalty as such but even now many cameras later, it is still a very nicely designed camera and even has a bigger viewfinder than my current expensive DSLR that is twice the size - not exactly progress since the OMs were designed 40 years earlier. I did however have some camera experience as before the SLR I used a very cheap Russian rangefinder camera [with very different handling] and Robert's suggestion above may be worth considering. Get a cheap second hand decent camera to get a better sense of what one needs and then buy a more expensive new one -
if you still feel you need to.
But studying the characteristics, the functionality, the design philosophy, etc etc and making decisions based on that plus such things as the dynamic range, the ISO coverage, lenses available, and everything else the is "IQ" is, I beieve much more important.
To you, not necessarily to other people. I'd rather use a delightful handling camera than a pain in the arse camera than had say a few more MP. And in fact I use my pocket camera which is way inferior in image quality to my FF DSLR at times because a) it's better for some types of work; b) although it is inferior in quality it is in a nice way that suits street photography [it's main use]. And how you shoot/exposure/process the image is way, way more important than the camera, particularly as these days cameras are usually very good indeed in the price range being looked at. Which was Slobodan's point.
And it is my contention that what "feels" right to most people is "what I'm used to", not what actually works best. If you are used to Brand X, it feels better than Brand Y... even if Brand Y is a significantly better match for the photography you want to do.
People certainly are very biased towards what is familiar rather than what is 'best', just look at people complaining about the difficulty of using OSX/Windows if they use the other brand and then falsely claim superiority of one based on ignorance of the other. The difference in functional ability with different brands of same type of cameras isn't that big these days, it certainly used to be, but now it's more personal preference as to which make you go for. And there is no bias here as it's a new user.
There is no substitute for experience, but it does need to be understood too! I totally disagree with the idea of going to the camera shop, trying several models, and deciding based on "feel". Renting a camera and using it for at least enough time to become familiar with how it works is a minimum.
That's the best way certainly. Though I have no idea where I could even rent the sort of cameras being considered. Big pro cameras no problem, but not other kinds, so until then playing with cameras in a shop is a good thing to do. Plus renting a camera for long enough to get used to it is probably a significant chunk of what it would cost to buy.
And to be able to really judge the 'best' image quality of various cameras will take far longer than judging how nice one is to use by feel.
