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Cameras/Digital zoom, Optical zoom

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Expert: John Oliverio - 2/2/2006


Question
Hi,
I'm considering a purchase of a digital camera and I see they make reference to both digital and optical zoom.  What does that mean?
Art

Answer
Art,

 Optical zoom is "real" zoom.  In other words, the lens is actually doing the zoom.  
 Digital zoom is FAKE zoom.  The computer is basically cropping and zooming in on a smaller picture.  This hurts picture quality and I would not pay any attention to that feature (even almost all cameras have it).

John

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John Oliverio

Expertise

I can answer questions about point and shoots and 35mm SLR`s from the 1960s to present. I can also handle most questions on digital cameras from "camera" makers, like Nikon, Olympus, Canon, Sony, etc. Though usually I`m not too familiar with the driver interface, as 3rd party devices for download are more efficient. Sorry, but I can no longer answer questions about the value of old cameras.

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I'm an "expert" under photography. I've many years experience in photo retail.John and Chris
Genuine AllExperts Expert
http://www.allexperts.com/displayExpert.asp?Expert=9938


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IDIG (internet digital imaging group)

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