> Smartphone and dedicated digital still cameras aren't as drastic, but when zoomed in, or in low light, faces have a "painted" kind of look.

My theory is that this is trying to do denoising after capturing the image with a high ISO. I personally hate that look.

On my dedicated still camera I almost always set ISO to be very low (ISO 100) and only shoot people when lighting is sufficient. Low light is challenging and I’d prefer not to deal with it when shooting people, unless making everything dark is part of the artistic effect I seek.

On the other hand on my smartphone I just don’t care that much. It’s mostly for capturing memories in situations where bringing a dedicated camera is impossible.