Lower resolution leads to higher Optical Zoom?

Firefly · 7th September 2006

Found this comment from a purported FZ50 owner :

"I like the big fast lens and the excellent image stabilization which eliminates most of the blur from hand motion in hand-held shots, particularly at high zoom. If I don't need 10 megapixel images then the camera uses only part of the sensor and gives me a larger optical zoom and faster continuous shooting. At 5 megapixels the camera gives me a 17.1x optical zoom (35mm--600mm equivalent) and shoots continuously at 1.6 frames per second. I also like the fact that the macro focus setting (auto/macro/manual switch on the lens) is really only "advisory", to make the autofocus slightly faster for close objects. You can shoot everything, including macro, in the normal autofocus mode."

Can any of the more knowledgeable/experienced participants comment on the claim that using less pixels can lead to higher optical zoom? I thought optical zoom is determined by the lens elements? Perhaps the owner meant digital zoom?

Hexlord · 7th September 2006

Basically its cropping of the same 10MP resolution if you were to select the lower EZ options.

There are basically two additional zooming mode apart from the standard optical zoom.

1) EZ (8, 5 and 3 megapixels should have this options for the 4:3 aspect ratio)
2) Digital Zoom (2x and 4x, not really recommended)

Hope that helps

Firefly · 16th September 2006

Hexlord,

Thanks for the explanation. Could you also help to clarify this thought I have. A lot of people said that Pana should have stuck with a lower pixel count since it is still using the same sensor. Would the effect be the same if I choose a lower resolution (on a FZ50) to match the highest resolution (of say a FZ30)?

7th September 2006	#1
Firefly Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: North East Line Posts: 64	Lower resolution leads to higher Optical Zoom? Found this comment from a purported FZ50 owner : "I like the big fast lens and the excellent image stabilization which eliminates most of the blur from hand motion in hand-held shots, particularly at high zoom. If I don't need 10 megapixel images then the camera uses only part of the sensor and gives me a larger optical zoom and faster continuous shooting. At 5 megapixels the camera gives me a 17.1x optical zoom (35mm--600mm equivalent) and shoots continuously at 1.6 frames per second. I also like the fact that the macro focus setting (auto/macro/manual switch on the lens) is really only "advisory", to make the autofocus slightly faster for close objects. You can shoot everything, including macro, in the normal autofocus mode." Can any of the more knowledgeable/experienced participants comment on the claim that using less pixels can lead to higher optical zoom? I thought optical zoom is determined by the lens elements? Perhaps the owner meant digital zoom?

7th September 2006	#2
Hexlord Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Bedok Posts: 1,498	Re: Lower resolution leads to higher Optical Zoom? Basically its cropping of the same 10MP resolution if you were to select the lower EZ options. There are basically two additional zooming mode apart from the standard optical zoom. 1) EZ (8, 5 and 3 megapixels should have this options for the 4:3 aspect ratio) 2) Digital Zoom (2x and 4x, not really recommended) Hope that helps __________________ Black Rabbit Photography DeviantArt \| Multiply \| Flickr

16th September 2006	#3
Firefly Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: North East Line Posts: 64	Re: Lower resolution leads to higher Optical Zoom? Hexlord, Thanks for the explanation. Could you also help to clarify this thought I have. A lot of people said that Pana should have stuck with a lower pixel count since it is still using the same sensor. Would the effect be the same if I choose a lower resolution (on a FZ50) to match the highest resolution (of say a FZ30)?