Good Morning,

I am strongly considering the MouthWatch IO Cam based on colleague recommendations, and there are similar products in the price range. So, I definitely will buy in the near future but I want to know what I'm missing, if anything, vs something of this nature:

https://www.net32.com/ec/polaroid-wired-hd-intraoral-camera-features-include-d-141570

That's a $2500 camera. I'm not going to buy it.

What I am trying to figure out is the "Law of Diminishing Returns", or how much actual value your dollar gets you by spending $500, $1000, $2500, etc.

A customer is considering an entry level KIA vs a mid-grade Chevy sedan. The Chevy Sedan is much nicer. We would all agree that $22k gets you a better car than $15k. Okay, so now you spend $50k and your Cadillac is still better, but it's not that much better than the Chevy.

KIA <<< Chevy << Cadillac

As we increase the price you get less car (or camera) per dollar, but "the best" is always some 5 to 50 times the price of the base model.

So you go out and buy your $500,000 Maserati. For 10x the price of a Cadillac, the super-car is a little better because your Caddy is a nice car! Unless you're Bill Gates there's no point. If you're Bill Gates you may as well just go ahead and buy the company! Just purchase the whole thing and have all the supercars you want for life. Why not?

My question is how does all of this play out in the intraoral camera marketplace? Optically, how good do we really need it? Can I zoom to electron microscopy level (just kidding)? Why is something worth $2500? Is it wireless?

What do you get for the money, if anything?

In regular photography you have a quality/price spectrum:

Your cell phone (basically free) << Mid-level SLR ($800) < Professional SLR ($2500) < National Geographic Photographer SLR (HELOC time!)

Your cell phone takes perfectly good photos if you know how to shoot with it. Knowledge is everything! Composition, lighting, subject matter.. You also find that optics itself becomes a limitation, so the photograph at a green wavelength is only as sharp as that actual wavelength. I don't care if you have the Hubble Space Telescope you are not getting a sharper image past a certain maximum because of the fundamental laws of physics.

Thus guys don't drive around with flatbed trucks pointing Hubble Telescopes at things because we all know if that achieved anything measurable they would probably do it!

"MY lens is bigger than YOUR lens!" We all see that guy, or we are that guy. You know what I'm talking about.

I see guys at the Tulsa zoo with a $6000 lens, I'm like, "You're at Tulsa Zoo!"

Anyway. I feel like I'm good to go buying a $200-300 intraoral, or three. But since it is an investment I thought I'd ask for some feedback, like, "No, spend $2500 it will change your life!"