Digital vs Optical Zoom
When buying a digital
camera in today's market one of the factors that you will undoubtedly
be looking at the power of the zoom function. Unfortunately people
who are not so experience in this field are starting to be a little
mislead. Manufacturers are claiming a zoom function called digital
zoom, or they are adding up the total zoom of there optical zoom
and digital zoom for a total zoom function. This however is a little
unfair on the consumer as you will begin to see in this article.
<b>What
is Optical Zoom?</b>
Optical zoom is what
I like to call true zoom. This function of a camera uses the lens
within the camera to draw the image closer. Using the optics of
the camera the image is bought forward much the same way as a magnifying
glass, binoculars and other such instruments. When using optical
zoom quality remains the same and the full resolution of the camera
can be used on the zoomed image.
<b>What
is Digital Zoom?</b>
Digital zoom on the other
hand is not a true form of a zoom function. The image itself doesn't
actually come any closer as the optics in the camera stay the same.
The way the digital zoom works is much the same way as it does on
your PC at home. The idea behind digital zoom is that it takes a
portion of the image and expand that image to the full size of the
image. What happens here is that the section of image that you are
looking at becomes bigger, not closer. The image does look closer
because it has been expanded however all that has happened is that
the image quality has been reduced.
There is nothing a digital camera can do that you can't do on any
standard art package at home. You may as well take the picture like
you would a normal camera and then alter the zoom to exactly the
way you want it at home. It will be no better or worse doing it
this way that it would using a digital zoom function.
<b>Why
use Digital Zoom?</b>
So why would you ever
want a digital zoom? Well there are some occasions when this may
be useful. Firstly for those of you who don't like computers or
are unsure about using photo editing software then the digital zoom
function will enable you to get an accurate shot of the specific
area you wish to photograph.
The second reason may be that you don't wish to print the pictures
out. If this is the case then the digital zoom may not affect your
image quality as much as a it would on a printed image. One final
reason for digital zoom is that you may be able to see what the
subject is doing through the camera a little easier while looking
at the screen through digital zoom. Unfortunately with digital zoom,
what you see on the screen is usually a little better quality than
the final image.
<b>How
would you compare digital cameras</b>
If you are comparing
digital camera's in the shop or on the internet ready to make a
purchase then in terms of the zoom function its only really worth
looking at the optical zoom. Comparing digital zoom is a little
bit of a waste of time as like I stated before you can alter the
amount of digital zoom in any major art package after the photo
has been taken very easily.
The only zoom to compare
is optical zoom of one camera to the optical zoom of another. You
will probably find a price bracket difference between the camera's
with the different levels of optical zoom.You should also watch
out for the manufacturers who advertise the total zoom. Although
these camera's have an optical zoom function its only part of the
total and you should research the camera more thoroughly to get
the optical zoom value.
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Stephen Orgill<br>
Editor - <a href="http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk">www.pantherproducts.co.uk</a><br>
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