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General discussion

zoom question

by looki-loo Nov 8, 2010 2:52PM PST

by my question it will be painfully obvious I know very little about cameras. what is the difference between the optical zoom and the digital zoom. and which one is more important? thanks

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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Zoom
by snapshot2 Forum moderator Nov 8, 2010 11:05PM PST

Optical zoom is accomplished by changing the focal length of the lens.
It is the preferred method of zooming, as it does not degrade the image quality.

Digital zoom is much like taking a big picture and cutting (crop) a rectangle out of the middle, then increasing that rectangle in size to equal the size of the original big picture. You then have a big picture made up of less pixels.
The middle now looks closer but it is degraded.

Most cameras will let you turn-off digital zoom.
It is wise to do so.

If necessary, you can always do a digital zoom later with software.
It is called cropping.

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Sidenote to above answer
by whattodo1989 Nov 13, 2010 7:37AM PST

very well said Grin
note no camera really needs anything over 8 Megapixel... that said the more over 8 you have the more you have to crop and dig. zoom with without destroying your picture hints the really high megapixel on these low zoom cameras... just a sidenote Grin

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High Megapixels
by snapshot2 Forum moderator Nov 13, 2010 8:23AM PST

Their are benefits to high megapixel counts.
One is the ability to crop a picture severely and still end up with a good picture.

I have discovered another.
I have made a lot of slide-show DVDs.
The slide-show program I use has the "Ken Burns" feature.
That lets you pan across a picture and also to zoom into a picture.
I do not resize the photos before putting them into the slide-show.
If you have lots of pixels, you can zoom further into the photo.

You can get some startling results zooming into some photos.
Say you are on a bridge that spans a narrow river.
Stand near the railing in the center of the bridge and take a picture down/up the river.

When making the slide-show, do a slow zoom into the picture.
When viewing the side-show you get the feeling that you are traveling on the river.
Pan and zoom adds a lot of life to a normally static slide-show.

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slide show dvd
by hamblda Nov 14, 2010 8:36AM PST

On a side note when you get time can you explain that program in a little more detail. I would like to learn that Ken Burns program. Thank you Hamblda

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Slide Show
by snapshot2 Forum moderator Nov 14, 2010 8:56AM PST

The program name is ProShow Gold and is sold by Photodex.

The Ken Burns feature is part of ProShow Gold.

You can download a trial copy of the program.

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