How to determine amt of zoom?

[wolvie77]

Hi! all. just got my Nikon D5000 with an 18-55mm lens. Just wondering for P&S cameras, no. of optical zoom can be defined but what abt DSLR? How much zoom is the 18-55 i have actually capable of? is there a way to calculate? so that in the future when investing in lens, i know how much zoom i'm getting.

 

[J-Chan]

Zoom is nothing more than ratios, the longest focal length divided by the shortest. 55/18 gives aprox 3x zoom, so does a 70-200m. You should be looking at the focal length..

 

[Rashkae]

Hi! all. just got my Nikon D5000 with an 18-55mm lens. Just wondering for P&S cameras, no. of optical zoom can be defined but what abt DSLR? How much zoom is the 18-55 i have actually capable of? is there a way to calculate? so that in the future when investing in lens, i know how much zoom i'm getting.

I suggest educating yourself on the concept of Focal Length instead.

The 18-55 for example is 3x "zoom". 70-200 is 3x "zoom". 100-300 is "3x zoom".

Even PnS cameras "cheat" that way. For example, if you have 2 cameras with "10x zoom" but one camera's wide angle starts at 35mm and the other at 24mm, which do you think will have "stronger zoom" (or in other words, "zoom in further than the other")

 

[torak]

thats y for point and click cameras, its better to see the "focal length equivalent" instead of how many times zoom.

Nowadays PnS can have more than 600mm focal length equivalent though. Most PnS with twenty-something times zoom usually has more than 600mm focal length.