Digital Zoom Versus Optical Zoom Digital cameras normally have a zoom facility built into them and better digital cameras have two zoom facilities. These are known as optical zoom and digital zoom. The two methods of zooming work in different ways and the novice often finds the distinction confusing. In this article, we will examine the two kinds and discuss the advantages or otherwise of them. The first thing to realize is that the optical zoom is a physical product. It is equivalent to using a telescope. The lens really moves and makes the image seem nearer. It magnifies the photo without reducing the quality of that image. It is the same mechanism that you used to get on costly 35 mm SLR cameras. The optical zoom is the zoom that you want for your camera and the more powerful the zoom the better. The power of the optical zoom is usually expressed as a number such as 'x5'. If you have a costly digital SLR (DSLR) or digital single-lens reflex camera, you will be able to change the standard lens for a telephoto lens and get far more optical zoom - at a cost. Additional lenses are costly, but far better. A digital zoom is a totally different concept. A digital zoom is an electrical enhancement and is comparable to holding a powerful magnifying glass over a developed, printed photo. Try it with a newspaper photograph, the results are very disappointing. However, the things that determine how well digital zoom works are: resolution and strength of zoom. The higher the resolution of the image, which is measured in megapixels, the more digital zoom you may apply to the photo without losing too much photograph quality. Digital zoom can be applied on board the camera or later in a photograph manipulation program, unlike optical zoom which can only be done through the camera's lens. Some camera makers strive to blur the difference between these zoom functions by quoting 'total zoom. Total zoom might be x10, which sounds great until you wade through the handbook to find out that the camera has x8 digital zoom and x2 optical zoom. Do not trust total zoom figures without being able to break them down into the constituent types. In fact, it is best to turn digital zoom off, because it is often an automatic extension to optical zoom. So, for example, you are applying zoom to a shot, but if you accidentally pass the OZ capabilities of your camera, it will apply DZ and that could ruin your image. Turning DZ off does not mean that you can't use it. Digital cameras come with picture manipulation software, so if you want to use DZ, load your pictures into the computer program and enhance them from there.
The features accessible within the program are a lot better than those on board the camera anyway and you can keep the original image too Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at existing involved with cameras for beginning photographers. If you have an interest in photography, please go over to our website now at Photography Studio Cameras