do people actually use it? on the couple of cameras i have owned, i noticed that almost always, its the unzoomed pics that come out better than the zoomed ones. i cant think of a single instance where i had to absolutely use zoom (that said, i’m not into serious photography, but i’m sure neither are a lot of people who own cameras). i’m curious as to when do you absolutely need zoom on your camera (forgetting wildlife fotography and all that stuff)?
another thing i noticed was that people like fiddling around with the zoom and use it a lot of times when they could easily get a better lighted pic by simply walking closer. it annoys me when people who borrow my cam do that and then blame the bad pics on the cam.
caus all the cameras uve been using propably have digital zoom. digital zoom is very bad. ive turned it off on my cam. if u use optical zoom ull be all right.
for the majority of point and shoots zoom is just an added feature. The aperture for these lenses at higher lengths is small therefore portraits etc are out of the question.
You experienced what smart shoppers put to practice, buy a no-zoom point and shoot, it costs less, makes taking pictures less complicated, gives better results and majority of times you can come closer or move further away from the subject to frame them properly without the need for zoom.
Low-tech rules! Optical zoom is great, because the pic is enlarged by the movement of the lens which is as sharp as no-zoom pic. I have some really great close-ups by using optical zoom.
Digital zoom, as hskhan mentioned, is a different story. It makes the pics grainy and bad quality. Unless absolutely required, shouldn't use digital zoom.
I’ve seen stunning result on the latest (high resolution) camera’s where the digital zoom gives stunningly clear pictures.. So I guess its improving now.. :k:
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*Originally posted by ukwali: *
silly question but what is the point of digital zoom? Or is it just a gimmicky thing?
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digital zoom is garbage. thats why i tell people to ignore digital zoom when buying a camera or video camera. they are simply useless.
for instance my dsc-p7 had 6X zoom written on the side. a newbie would be like WOAH 6X!, but a experienced person would read the fine print and see that its only 3x optical, and 2x digital...which gives you 6x.
why useles?? well u can get digital zoom of a pic by editing it on ur pc.
gizzy: it depends on how much its zoomd in. if its max zoom then its gonna be really bad, but if its a minute digital zoom it wont be bad
i conclude ignore digital zoom on cameras. instead get a program for ur pc with professional zoom editing. the results will be better. and unlike cameras you can upgrade the software to one where the digi zoom qual is better.
The best camera for zoom you ask? the Olympus C-730 i respond. with 10x optical zoom (yes 10) its the best in its price, and if u add digital zoom its a total of 32x zoom! and as i say often..i miss my olympus c-730 deeply! shouldnt of got sonythe dsc-p7!
i was talking of optical zoom. i agree that digital zoom is just a fancy word for things you could easily do to any image once you transfer it to a comp.
like soggy said, the aperture is really small at higher zoom, and if you are shooting in automatic mode, it's almost guaranteed to turn out messed up.
i still am looking for an answer - when does zoom become absolutely essential?
i have an 8X binoculars, and i have trouble keeping it still to watch stuff. i'm sure a cam with more than 2.5X zoom will need a tripod to take good pics. what do you do with 10X optical zoom on a cam? watch stars?
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*Originally posted by queer: *
i still am looking for an answer - when does zoom become absolutely essential?
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Short answer is that I find optical use very useful to take pictures of the kids. Children get concious when you physically go very near to take a pic. With optical zoom, they can be playing at a fair distance and you can still take natural action pics with great results.
Its true, especially for camcorders, that at high zoom, the video becomes very shaky, so use of tripod becomes essential. Even if the camcorder is equipped with the best possible image stabilization system.
I kind of like the digital zoom on my camera. The results are pretty darn good. I hardly use it however, and it does get shaky at times. The digital zoom on video cameras are much worse in the shaking department, however the anti-shake mechanism seems to help clear that out a bit on some cameras.
make sure that the zzom lens you are using is a quality lens. ppl pair up great cameras with crappy lenses and then wonder why the pics are not so great.
One thing I hate about power zooms (same as optical zoom...errr.. right?!?) is that it never zooms to the right length. Either it will be a bit short or a bit long. Never perfect. I guess you can blame it on the machinery. But I use manual zoom on my camera. Its awesome...
By power zoom, I assume you mean zoom via button and not the rotating lens like in SLR cameras? Yeah, it can be a bit problematic to adjust to the right length in a digital camera, but thats the advantage of digital cameras, you see. Thats where cropping comes in. :)
Mine is no earth shattering camera, its a mere 2.1 MP, so the usual resolution is 1600x1200. Now, pretty much no monitor resolution used by ordinary people can view the whole 1600x1200 in one go. My graphic software typically shows it at 63% to fit the screen. And if you gotta share it via email or internet 640x480 is the thing. That gives you an immense opportunity to crop to the relevant part. That way, seemingly far-shot taken from a zoom, can be turned into a very decent portrait-shot by cropping, without losing any of the color and details. Then again it depends on the camera lens and host of other things about the quality of the camera, but the inability of the zoom to get to the exact length rarely gives me a problem. With digital camera, half the fun is playing with the shot on your PC. With SLR's, its pretty much out of your hands, once you click the shutter. :-)
how do you auto-zoom?? how does the camera know where to stop and frame the subject??
queer bhaaya.. the zoom becomes essential when you frame objects at a distance from each other but wish to compress apparent distance.
and of course it’s used for portraits, cuz a 50mm lens would give you a closeup with the nose emphasized.. getting away from the subject you need to zoom in to get the full face in the frame.
Yeah.. I meant the zoom that comes with the power zoom cameras. I purchased a power zoom camera and was so disenchanted with the functionality of it, especially the lack of control over zoom, that I returned it and purchased SLR instead. It kinds goes along the line of driving an automatic and stick shift..
PA uncle, I dunno about about Auto-Zoom. I've only known about power zooms and "non-power' aka manual zooms.
Some high-end digital cameras also have the same SLR-like feel, where you have to hold the camera in your right hand and work the zoom using the left hand by rotating the lens on the barrel. Looks pretty professional, haan? :)
Most other digicams, just do away with this fancy stuff, and provide powered zoom, which is activated by pressing a button near the shutter release. Since digi-cams are generally smaller, so I guess the idea is to make it operable with just one hand, espcially since many digicam users use the LCD and not the viewfinder too to frame the shot.
The other hand remains free to make funny poses and make kids laugh. Works better than the stale "cheeeeeeeeese" :)
Optical zoom is good as long as you're stabilised i.e. using a tripod. I've learned that the hard way - I've been dumb enough to try and use the zoom to frame a lot of my pictures instead of moving my own ass around for the purpose.
I've had very good results though with using unstabilised optical zoom at airshows, when taking pictures of objects hundreds of metres away.
Using a 1.3 megapixel camera at 3x optical zoom, I was able to produce far more detailed pictures than my brother could with a 2.1 megapixel camera without optical zoom at an air fair.
I've now upped to a 3.2 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom - looking forward to my next air fair.
