How many use digital zoom

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

Been playing around with my camera and it is a 42X which is about a 1000mm on a DSLR. And it seems to be not enough for me when it comes to animals....Digital I know is not the best way to go and I have tired a 2x2 teleaconverter but it seems to be very soft and not a lot of detail....I'm a zoom freak anyone else have that problem? I use bridge cameras and am using th Fugi HS50EXR....So far a great camear with the focus ring and all the nice features it has am also playing around with a Fugi X-S1 and it seems to be a strudy camera with a smaller zoom. So other then the lumix that is coming out this year with a 60X what do you all do to get those tight shots...

 

[Detector Man]

My understanding is that at the beginning of the digital camera age , manufacturers used DIGITAL ZOOM to make the camera look more attractive as far as telephoto capability.
As I understand, the only words you should pay attention to is OPTICAL ZOOM...My Sony is Model HX100V and is 30X Optical zoom...and that is whats printed ON the outside of the camera...for my purpose 30X optical zoom is more than enough.....
the digital zoom language is misleading and most makers do not stress Digital Zoom like they used to....people are catching on to the digital vocabulary.

Some makers combine DIgital and Optical zoom to come up with some numbers way out there to make their gear look better than what it is in regards to Telephoto. Maybe someone here can explain it better than i attempted.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

It is my understanding that the digital zoom mode electronically enlarges the picture itself rather than the subject as when using the optical zoom. As such, you will possibly lose some sharpness of detail. I always associate it with being similar to doing a crop on a picture when editing it, you might lose some detail depending how severe you crop. I would think that the higher megapixel camera would lose less detail, but that is just my opinion. You hear horror stories from folks that tell you not to use the digital zoom. Well, if the only way to get the picture is using digital zoom, I will elect to use it. I also feel that some cameras will produce a better digital zoom picture than others, depends on lens quality to a certain degree. I would like to stress that what I am posting is my own personal opinion.

Below is a picture taken with my Canon SX10is bridge camera using digital zoom. While I feel that I lost some sharpness, the picture was still acceptable for my use. Kelley (Texas)

[attachment 270558 20111030_78.JPG]

 

[Roscue2]

Digital zoom makes for some terrible photos in my experience. Optical zoom is what you want. The Kodak I have has digital zoom, but I never use it because I know what the outcome will be.

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

Nice photo

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

This was taken with a 2X digital on my camera it is a bit soft

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I only use it if there is no other way to get the picture. The quality of the digital zoom picture will depend on the quality of lens on your camera and the megapixel rating. I have seen some terrible pictures taken in digital zoom and for the most part I will have to agree with you. Did you see the picture of the squirrel that I took in digital zoom posted farther down this thread? Kelley (Texas)

 

[Roscue2]

Yes, every once in a while I see an exception, and the squirrel and humming bird are an exception.

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

the photo you took is good..

 

[JimmyCT]

I agree with you Kelley. I hate using zoom. This is where "less in more" comes into play and I try to get as close as possible to the object. Both of these photos involve zoom and hated to use it but I wanted to get those cute little buggers. You can see how quick the quality deteriorates and I wasn't more then 10-12 feet from them. Camera used - Canon Powershot S2 IS 5mp.

I only use it if there is no other way to get the picture. The quality of the digital zoom picture will depend on the quality of lens on your camera and the megapixel rating. I have seen some terrible pictures taken in digital zoom and for the most part I will have to agree with you. Did you see the picture of the squirrel that I took in digital zoom posted farther down this thread? Kelley (Texas)

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

sharp, detailed pictures. As such, I think that is one reason I can get a fairly decent digital zoom picture from time to time. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I think that under the circumstances, the two duck pictures are pretty good. You did great. Kelley (Texas)

 

[JimmyCT]

Thank you Kelley. I really enjoy using my Canon S2. Although it does eat batteries lol

 

[edjcox]

Use a very high megapixel camera at max setting and then your digital zoom feature will give you good quality images. Remember that the digital camera's have selectable settings to determine the megapixels employed. Often people want lower settings to store more images on a given SD card. With cards in the multiple gigabyte ranges so cheap now you can go back to your camera's highest setting. This will allow you to employ the digital zoom feature of your photo editor and not lose to much resolution. I shoot my camera at max settings and the resulting images let me crop cut and paste images without the loss previously experienced..

Hope that helps...

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

n/t

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

I have my camera set up to use as many pixels as it can so I use my cards up really fast but as you said you can get a 16gb card I do use digital zoom and found if you are not on a high ISO say about 400 I can get some great shots if I have enough light and I bracket my photos and use manuel shutter and f stop