Let’s be honest - the early digital cameras weren’t good at the time, and they aren’t any worse or better now. We used them and accepted them because we wanted the tech even though it wasn’t really ready for prime time.
Comparing to a film camera from the same era isn’t fair because the film camera was a mature technology. Heck, a film FM10 from 1995 is identical to a film FM10 from 2019; because they are still selling them as new. (Honestly, not sure if they can still fire up the line to make more if they run out or not. 
) A Pentax K1000 from 1975 feels the same as one from 1997 because they made them the same. After the 70’s, the big things that happened in film cameras was auto focus, metering improvements, and smaller auto drives.
