Does the extra optical zoom function really work ?

[tt32003]

Does the extra optical zoom thing really cause no deterioration of image quality as claimed by panasonic ?
Or is it just another glorified version of digital zoom ?

 

[n0v1cE]

seeing is believing... go down to a shop to test out?

 

[ZeRoCoOl]

Yup, the EZ does works.. but U got to have steady hands... else a tripod is highly recommended

 

[ExplorerZ]

Does the extra optical zoom thing really cause no deterioration of image quality as claimed by panasonic ?
Or is it just another glorified version of digital zoom ?

what do you mean by extra? those above 12x zoom but not digital zoom?

 

[devilion]

Is some auto cropping technique involved. Quality is about the same e.g if you take a full 8mp and crop it down to 5mp using PS.

 

[rapier84]

Yupz...the EZ function basically crops down to the center portion of the sensor and is user selectable down to 2 or 3 megapixels. So basically what you get is supposedly enhanced optical zoom up to 20X, but you pay in terms of resolution.

 

[lohshp]

Yup, It works on cropping concept.
However, it is fantastic for manual zoom.
The manual zoom screen in the EZ mode could focus more precise on the object compare to 10Mpixel mode.

My example :
Total zoom 21.4 EX x 1.7 Teleconverter = 36.38X

Blue Tailed bee-eater@ Bukit Belacan Forest recreation park, Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

 

[SnapJaX]

yay for EZ ZOOM! ^^v