Even the iPhone 14 Pro with its very much upgraded camera can only *just* start to be within the same league as a standalone camera when it comes to dynamic range. Noise performance, detail resolution etc. are all still woefully inadequate. In any instance, a phone camera can take amazing shots (especially when in great light) but a very long way from being equal. Everybody has a different threshold for "good enough" however and they have met yours.
I really don't agree with calling the D5300 a mid-range camera, it's 2013-2014 tech. Like I mentioned somewhere else I do understand the price comparison but it's not a mid-range camera anymore, it's very outdated.
Even with less outdated cameras (e.g. the last high-end APS-C from Nikon, the D7500), HDR bracketing is much worse than most mid-range phones from the last 5 years. And assembling them after manual bracketing in post-processing is also not great. Nikon HDR creates halos, doubling, even on relatively fast shutter speeds.
That said, I don’t have the experience of phones being "good enough", and even my Sony RX100 (edit: was "RX1", my bad) first gen which is quite old is out-performing 99% of the smartphone market in picture quality on a good screen, if you exclude HDR.
Sorry, I meant to say "RX100", it is now corrected. Yes, even with the improvements in sensor technology, glass, and post-processing I don't see a phone reaching RX1 quality anytime soon.
They make up for the sensor deficiencies relative to a DSLR with image processing. You can simulate increase dynamic range and reduced noise by taking multiple exposures with multiple cameras and processing them with smart 'AI' algorithms.
