How to Compare 10X Digital Cameras
The zoom function of a digital camera is a great feature for getting shots of objects that are not nearby. Some digital cameras will be marked "10X" zoom but there are two different types of zoom to compare.
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Digital Zoom
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A digital zoom makes the center of the picture look bigger because it crops the area around the edges. A camera marked "10X" digital zoom means the camera can zoom in, making the picture up to 10 times larger by cropping the sides.
Lens Zoom
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A lens zoom, or optical zoom, is made up of moveable elements of shaped glass, arranged so that they magnify the image, much like a telescope or binoculars. A camera marked "10X" lens zoom means the lens can magnify images by up to 10 percent by moving the glass elements inside the lens.
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Which to Choose?
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Because a digital zoom "throws away" the pixels around the edge of the image to make it look closer, the image may appear grainer, softer and more degraded than non-digital zoomed images.
A lens zoom simply magnifies the image, using the same amount of pixels as it was when it was far away. The quality of the image remains the same. Most experts recommend the lens zoom over the digital zoom.
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References
- Photo Credit digital still camera image by patrimonio designs from Fotolia.com
