Choosing and buying a camera is not an easy and responsible matter: not only do you have to take into account all the desired functions and characteristics of the device, you also need to find such a device in a suitable price category. The main mistake of the buyer is an unquestioning reliance on the words of the consultant of the trading floor. As you know, the main task of managers is to increase sales. For good product advertising, marketers go to various tricks, for example, indicate in the description of the device the great importance of zoom, and which zoom (optical or digital) they do not indicate, hoping for the incompetence of the buyer. To avoid all this and choose the best device, you should know everything in advance about the zoom function and the types of zoom.
What is zoom?
Zoom is a special parameter of the lens of a photo device that allows you to change the scale, thereby increasing distant objects. With its help, you can shoot stars from a distance, scale and photograph at least flowers in a window on the 9th floor, even test military equipment and take off shells without any mental or physical harm.
The zoom depends on the focal length. FR is the length of the segment from the middle of the lens to the matrix, i.e., the focus point. It is customary to mark it on the lens in millimeters, for example, a pair of numbers 5.8-24 mm: the first digit is the FR at the short end, and the second digit is the FR at the long end. If we divide the long FR number by the short one, we get a zoom value of four.
Digital zoom
Now that we know what zoom is, it’s worth understanding its main varieties: digital and optical. Some cameras combine both varieties.
Digital zoom, when compared to optical, is a kind of fiction, because through its use you can get only a digital processing product, and not really qualitatively close object in the photo. Scaling occurs by stretching the central part of the photo to the extent that it reaches the size of the original frame.
If the magnification of digital zoom is large, the image can be enlarged with less loss of quality, but if it is small, then when you increase it, the quality is lost forever. Already filled microfragments cannot be improved qualitatively, so that such images are strongly pixelated with magnification.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to say unequivocally that using digital zoom, you can only get an image of poor quality, because the digital processing methodology does not stand still, but is constantly improving. Compared with devices literally 7 years ago, the current processing programs of cameras can significantly increase images, and this is done so qualitatively that stretching is almost imperceptible.
If this zoom definitely does not satisfy your requirements, you can always either turn it off or change its value in the settings.
Optical zoom
Such a zoom is an increase in the image by applying an eyepiece. By reducing the viewing angle, i.e., the focal length, the object is approximated in the photo. The main advantage of optical zoom over digital is the fact that when an image is enlarged, the inter-pixel distance does not decrease, so that the photo quality does not deteriorate.
The range of focal lengths can be seen directly on the lens. Naturally, when choosing a camera with optical zoom, its greatest possible value is preferable, especially since the industry does not stand still, literally “stamping” more and more advanced devices.
Super Zooms - Zoom Record Breakers
Nowadays, with an optical 10x zoom, you can only be surprised by an 80-year-old grandmother. Progress on the face, and the current generation is already free to enjoy compact cameras equipped with a 50x zoom. This is assessed not just as a breakthrough, but as a whole leap, a leap of a generation long. Indeed, what is digital zoom compared to optical super zoom? Compacts with such a zoom in terms of unsurpassed photo quality have already managed to make tangible competition to the bulky sets of SLRs and countless lenses that professional photographers drag with sweat on their faces to all photo sessions. Naturally, such compact compact superzones will not replace many of the specific “lotions” of highly functional photo equipment, but in terms of mobility and ergonomics they give them a head start.
Due to the fact that compacts already have a powerful zoom, the lens of such a camera does not need to be constantly removed / put on in order to find the most suitable one in a particular photo shoot, so this prevents dust from entering the matrix.
Zoom is also present in camcorders. The most progressive option in this case will be a super zoom with manual zooming. Even though the camcorder with zoom is not a novelty nowadays, the presence of such a function in the device is a significant bonus.
Thus, it is best to choose a device with optical zoom or a compact with super zoom. You already know what digital zoom is and what the quality of enlarging a photo is. Zoom should not be the main reason for buying the device, it is better to purchase a good camera, providing for the possibility of changing optics. In this case, if a desire or an urgent need to have a multiple zoom is completely overwhelmed, you can always buy a suitable lens.