In theory optical zoom is the only way to go. I say "in theory" as most manufacturers can now enhance the digital part of the zoom.
The old digital zoom used the centre part of the video chip so fewer and fewer pixels were available at the telephoto end of the zoom. Now with bigger chips and a greater number of pixels the zoom can be increased digitally without noticeable degradation.
My Panasonic HC-V750 has 20x optical zoom and 50x (so called) intelligent zoom with a final top of 1500x zoom.
(I don't go there!)
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I wonder since ax100 got 12x digital zoom, while R52 got 30x optical zoom.
If I stand at the same distance from an object and use the ax100's digital zoom to get as the same view as the R52 maxium optical zoom, which one will give a better result?
thx guys

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