to zoom or to zoooooooom...?

[swedeheart]

I was given a used camera and as it's kinda old I haven't been able to track down a complete manual, just an abridged version. Also, I'm not used to using a camera.

One of the features is Digital Zoom which of course increases the zoom 'span' or whatchamacallit, compared to the default zoom 'range'. What puzzles me is the option to turn the digital zoom feature off. Why wouldn't you want the camera to be prepared for maximal zooming all the time? I mean, you still have to push a slide thingy to zoom so it's not as if setting Digital Zoom to ON lets the camera choose the actual amount of zooming, if you see what I mean. So I'm thinking there must also be some kind of downside to having it turned on...? ...but I can't figure out what that might be?

[jno]

don't bother with digital zoom, it's pretty much rubbish. Optical zoom is like walking closer to your subject. But digital zoom is like taking a photo and then blowing it up: the bit you want gets bigger but it also gets fuzzier, the closer you go.

Also, some cameras have anti-shake technology, which is useful if you're zooming in on something - but it doesn't usually work in digital zoom. So actually you'd get a clearer picture by blowing up a picture taken with optical zoom than by zooming in further with a digital zoom, which will very often be shaky. (A teensy shake doesn't matter when you're photographing a landscape but when you've zoomed in on a person 100 metres away, the effect is greatly magnified, that's why they have the image stabilisation thingy.)

I keep mine turned on anyway, but I make sure I don't accidentally zoom into digital range unless there's some reason I really, really want to.

[jno]

oh, just to answer your actual question, the downside is accidentally overshooting the 'optical zoom' range and going into 'digital zoom' whithout noticing.

[swedeheart]

Oh I see! Does that apply (the bigger but fuzzier bit) even in macro mode?

[swedeheart]

...that is, does it still get fuzzy?

[jno]

yes, I think so. Have you tried googling? There are very detailed independent reviews of cameras online, even though the details seem to vanish from the manufacturers' own websites quite quickly as the models are superseded.

Depends what you want to shoot - using macro you should be able to get in close anyway without having to zoom much (macro is usually used for flowers etc).

[swedeheart]

Did do some googling but I get lost in it all :( but your replies were very clear and have helped a lot. I'll be able to do some experimenting of my own now that I understand the difference between the two kinds of zoom. Cheers jno!