Understanding
Optical vs. Digital Zoom on your Digital Video
Camera
 Using
the zoom feature on your Digital Video Camera
allows you to move your point of view closer
to, or further away from, your subject. If you
are on a family vacation and want to get a
closer look at an animal that is too far away to
see with the naked eye, you will typically need
to use your camera's zoom feature.
In other cases, you can move your camcorder
closer to the subject and then zoom out, so that
the frame around the picture is still the same.
It is important to understand the differences
between Optical and Digital Zoom, however,
especially as camera manufacturers typically
tout the higher Digital Zoom range, and downplay
the lower Optical Zoom range (especially if it
is lower than similar competitive models).
Optical Zoom
In general, the higher the optical zoom
range, the better the picture quality will be
when you need to use this feature.
The range capacity of a camcorder with optical
zoom depends on the camcorder model and its lens
system. This zoom takes the image and enlarges
it, displaying the exact image just making it 4x
or 10x larger than the original. It’s more
important for a camcorder to have optical zoom,
not digital, when choosing a camera.
Digital Zoom
Digital zoom is a function that uses the pixels
the camcorder sensors pick up to enlarge the
image without capturing more information.
Because this zoom uses digital imagery to
recreate the picture, loss in picture quality at
far distances will occur. You can see an example
of this if you have ever use a jpeg file (a
photo image) and set it as your desktop
background. If the jpeg file is small, setting
it as your desktop background will enlarge the
pixels so they look grainy and blurry. An
optical zoom is the exact opposite of this.
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