Is Optical zoom very impt when choosing a camera?


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Happy123

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Sep 10, 2009
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Hi ,

I have been looking around to buy a new camera. but some camera with good sepc, like the LX 3 ,but it have low optical zoom.

hmm... when gng travelling might/will take some scenery view...

but is optical zoom reali impt when choosing a camera?
 

Hi ,

I have been looking around to buy a new camera. but some camera with good sepc, like the LX 3 ,but it have low optical zoom.

hmm... when gng travelling might/will take some scenery view...

but is optical zoom reali impt when choosing a camera?

Generally, optical zoom will give better image quality as compared to digital zoom, hence optical zoom would be more desired.
 

Hi ,

I have been looking around to buy a new camera. but some camera with good sepc, like the LX 3 ,but it have low optical zoom.

hmm... when gng travelling might/will take some scenery view...

but is optical zoom reali impt when choosing a camera?

Scenery view = wide angle better.

I have the lx3 and I'm not bothered by the lack of optical zoom.
 

most consumers tend to think that having more zoom is better.

however most people frame not more than 70~80mm film equiv, so anything is extra.

wide angle can be more valuable but it varies with your needs.
 

Essentially, it depends on what kind of things you shoot most of the time. Lots of people have bought the LX3 because of all the hype about it, but come to realize the zoom falls short of their expectations. So know what you need and look for it. Most of the time, there is some workaround to the limitations of whatever camera you choose.

Or get 2 compacts? Haha! 1 wide angle, and one superzoom... but at that price, you might as well get a dSLR where you can choose the lens to suit your needs.
 

It depends on your expectation of image quality. Some compact camera users do not expect image quality to be fantastic, so high optical zoom works fine as long as iso is in control. The image quality is based on the camera itself and not on what you see with assessories like close up filters/addon.
 

only the optical zoom matters
digital zoom is essentially a cropping effect on the optical zoom
and the resulting picture will not look as nice as the one taken with the optical zoom range
 

Hi ,

I have been looking around to buy a new camera. but some camera with good sepc, like the LX 3 ,but it have low optical zoom.

hmm... when gng travelling might/will take some scenery view...

but is optical zoom reali impt when choosing a camera?

To me, optical-zoom on LX3 is not too low, as there's this feature called :bigeyes:"EZ=Extra-Zoom" which is NOT Digital-Zoom but Optical-Zoom instead.

:bigeyes:The Extra Optical Zoom function uses the center part of the CCD to extend 2.5x optical zoom ratio (35mm equivalent: 60mm) to powerful 4.5x zoom (35mm equivalent: 108mm) at a resolution of 3-megapixel or less. Adding the Extra Optical Zoom to the 4x digital zoom extends the total zooming power to a maximum of 17.9x (35mm equivalent: 430mm).

Btw, study/learn more about the camera you gonna purchase will certainly benefits you better...;):cool:
 

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On a trigger-happy consumer point of view, many will appreciate the super optical zooms digicam as it will allow them to capture anything from the wide end to tele from a single camera - ultra versatile.

On the technical point of view, usually the longer the optical zoom, the more the image quality is compromised. Applies even to SLR lenses too.

That said, if you're just the trigger-happy casual shooter, more often than not you won't even be able to tell the difference between the pictures produced by say... the 5X zoom PowerShot G10 and 20X zoom like SX10 for instance.
 

Essentially, it depends on what kind of things you shoot most of the time. Lots of people have bought the LX3 because of all the hype about it, but come to realize the zoom falls short of their expectations. So know what you need and look for it. Most of the time, there is some workaround to the limitations of whatever camera you choose.

Or get 2 compacts? Haha! 1 wide angle, and one superzoom... but at that price, you might as well get a dSLR where you can choose the lens to suit your needs.

haha.. if i dun think i wil wan to own 2 compact.. choosing one is already a big headche for me.. haha
i'm nt those pro in taking pic.. investing in a DSLR might cm into future plan when i have got a better skill playing will the camera i'm gng to get.. :)
 

Thanks for all the info guys.. I'm still trying hard to study and doing research online..
with the additional info frm u guys i think i have a much clearer pic and know what i wan..

Thanks alot.
 

Hi ,

I have been looking around to buy a new camera. but some camera with good sepc, like the LX 3 ,but it have low optical zoom.

hmm... when gng travelling might/will take some scenery view...

but is optical zoom reali impt when choosing a camera?

it's an advantage to have the extra zoom whenever u might need it, but i think anything around 4x zoom will do fine. when i was using IXUS60 with 4x zoom, i didn't felt that i needed more zoom, but on my SX10 (20x optical) i can do more with the extra reach, example taking Moon pictures, or zooming in on animals in the zoo...
but with more zoom = bigger/heavier, if u like a nice compact, pocket friendly cam, u should be fine w 4-5x optical zoom

oh n to add, i think having wide angle is more important/useful
 

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To me, optical-zoom on LX3 is not too low, as there's this feature called :bigeyes:"EZ=Extra-Zoom" which is NOT Digital-Zoom but Optical-Zoom instead.

:bigeyes:The Extra Optical Zoom function uses the center part of the CCD to extend 2.5x optical zoom ratio (35mm equivalent: 60mm) to powerful 4.5x zoom (35mm equivalent: 108mm) at a resolution of 3-megapixel or less. Adding the Extra Optical Zoom to the 4x digital zoom extends the total zooming power to a maximum of 17.9x (35mm equivalent: 430mm).

Btw, study/learn more about the camera you gonna purchase will certainly benefits you better...;):cool:

EZ sounds like a variation on Digital Zoom to me, only without attempting to interpolate the resulting image up to the full sensor resolution ;)
 

To me, optical-zoom on LX3 is not too low, as there's this feature called :bigeyes:"EZ=Extra-Zoom" which is NOT Digital-Zoom but Optical-Zoom instead.

:bigeyes:The Extra Optical Zoom function uses the center part of the CCD to extend 2.5x optical zoom ratio (35mm equivalent: 60mm) to powerful 4.5x zoom (35mm equivalent: 108mm) at a resolution of 3-megapixel or less. Adding the Extra Optical Zoom to the 4x digital zoom extends the total zooming power to a maximum of 17.9x (35mm equivalent: 430mm).

Btw, study/learn more about the camera you gonna purchase will certainly benefits you better...;):cool:

EZ sounds like a variation on Digital Zoom to me, only without attempting to interpolate the resulting image up to the full sensor resolution ;)

Its just a fancy way of calling crop...the marketing dept must really pay their boys well to squeeze so much juice from something as simple as cropping...hahaha
 

EZ sounds like a variation on Digital Zoom to me, only without attempting to interpolate the resulting image up to the full sensor resolution ;)

Well, possible, so any expert out there can help to confirm??

Its just a fancy way of calling crop...the marketing dept must really pay their boys well to squeeze so much juice from something as simple as cropping...hahaha

Well, same and possible too, so again any expert out there can help out??

Hmm...I really don't know as to agree or not on the EZ or it's just simply-crop...issue/things at this point of time...:think:

What I can say at this very moment is that I'd base/take it as what is:bigeyes:claimed/stated on their website as true in the sense that, after 60mm to 108mm is still known as Optical-Zoom/EZ, and only thereafter to 430mm=17.9x is considered as Digital-Zoom(pls correct if mis-interpret/wrong;))

Btw, there's this Extra-Optical-Zoom Feature on the GF1 too(pls refer to their website for more Detailed-Info on EZ=) )

What do you all think....huh...:)
 

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For zooms, I always keep in mind that optical zoom is the actual hardware zoom, and I totally ignore whatever is mentioned about digital zoom, digital zoom is software zoom, and most of the time, its super crappy.:)

So if I was to buy a camera, and zoom is important, then I will pay attention to the optical zoom factor. (and not get smoked by the gazillion digital zoom factor, which is meaningless for image quality)
 

Its just a fancy way of calling crop...the marketing dept must really pay their boys well to squeeze so much juice from something as simple as cropping...hahaha

Yup... Is just a crop effect. Like an APSC would give a crop factor about 1.5, so your 300mm is like 450mmm in APSC camera body.
 

Actually if you take the full size photo w/o using the extra optical zoom, then you crop out the middle 3megapixels, wouldn't you get the same thing as what you will get with extra optical zoom? So actually there is not really any magnification effect right?
 

Actually if you take the full size photo w/o using the extra optical zoom, then you crop out the middle 3megapixels, wouldn't you get the same thing as what you will get with extra optical zoom? So actually there is not really any magnification effect right?

yes, you are right.. many people would like to live in self delusion... :bsmilie:
 

Well, possible, so any expert out there can help to confirm??



Well, same and possible too, so again any expert out there can help out??

Hmm...I really don't know as to agree or not on the EZ or it's just simply-crop...issue/things at this point of time...:think:

What I can say at this very moment is that I'd base/take it as what is:bigeyes:claimed/stated on their website as true in the sense that, after 60mm to 108mm is still known as Optical-Zoom/EZ, and only thereafter to 430mm=17.9x is considered as Digital-Zoom(pls correct if mis-interpret/wrong;))

Btw, there's this Extra-Optical-Zoom Feature on the GF1 too(pls refer to their website for more Detailed-Info on EZ=) )

What do you all think....huh...:)

Digital zoom = crop of image circle (then interpolating back up to specified resolution)

Extra optical zoom = crop of sensor (without interpolation, hence only 3mp)

crop of sensor (with interpolation) = crop of image circle
crop of image circle (without interpolation) = crop of sensor

Therefore,
Extra optical zoom = digital zoom without interpolation
Or,
Digital zoom = extra optical zoom with interpolation


So in a nutshell, it's whether you want your chicken Original, or Crispy, but it's still KFC.
 

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