Digital Zoom Versus Optical Zoom: What Is The Difference?
Digital cameras usually have a zoom capability built into them and better digital cameras have two zoom facilities. These are called optical zoom and digital zoom. The two ways of zooming operate in different ways and the novice frequently finds the difference confusing. In this piece, we will examine the two kinds and discuss the benefits or otherwise of them.
The first thing to realize is that the optical zoom is a physical product. It is similar to using a telescope. The lens actually moves and makes the picture appear nearer.
It magnifies the picture without decreasing the quality of that photo. It is the same mechanism that you used to get on expensive 35 mm SLR cameras.
The optical zoom is the zoom that you would like for your camera and the stronger the zoom the better. The power of the optical zoom is normally expressed as a number such as ‘x5′. If you have an expensive digital SLR (DSLR) or digital single-lens reflex camera, you will be able to swap the standard lens for a telephoto lens and get far more optical zoom – at a cost. Additional lenses are expensive, but much better.
A digital zoom is a completely different idea. A digital zoom is an electrical enhancement and is comparable to holding a powerful magnifying glass over a developed, printed image.
Test it with a newspaper photograph, the results are pretty 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 photograph without losing too much photo quality.
Digital zoom may become 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 manufacturers attempt to blur the difference between these zoom functions by quoting ‘total zoom. Total zoom may be x10, which sounds fantastic until you wade through the instruction manual 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 component 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 spoil your photo.
Turning DZ off does not mean that you can’t use it. Digital cameras come with picture manipulation software, so if you would like to use DZ, load your pictures into the computer program and improve them from there.
The capabilities available within the program are far better than those on board the camera anyway and you can keep the original photograph as well
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with cameras for beginning photographers. If you have an interest in cameras, please go over to our website now at cameras Studio Cameras
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