Why digital zoom?

[Cipher]

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually use for this feature?

 

[Pete Biro]

Only use I know of is to "SELL" to those that don't know how useless it is... it just sounds good in the ad copy.

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

--
Pete Biro

 

[BobTrips]

I use digital zoom.

When I'm traveling I often see something to far away to fill the frame of my C2100z (even with the 10x lens). I still want the picture/memory.

I'll zoom out to 1,000 mm equivalent and grab a shot that I know won't print, but will look just fine on the monitor.

Yes, I know that I could zoom in later with an editor. But by using the digital zoom I can better choose the best moment to snap.

BTW, selling a camera based on digital zoom to the not well informed should be a felony....

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

--
Pete Biro

--
bob
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
New Gallery - Nat (Spirit) Festival in Myanmar
pictures from Thailand, Myanmar(Burma), and Nepal

 

[nzmacro]

Just because some don't use it, does not mean that no one uses it. I'm similar to Bob and I have alway's liked to crop in the viewfinder. Cropping using software is something I never do, old habbit and it's not about to change now. I find digital zoom not only useful, but for what I take, it's a must.

I use it to avoid vignetting with added gadget's to the front of the len's. To me, it's a large part of the camera and how I see. I would use it about 75% of the time, for those it may surprise )

All the best and just another side of the coin.

Danny.

--
Macro, what a world.
.............................
http://www.macrophotos.com

 

[Pan Shizhu]

For users who always use the maximum resolution of the camera, digital zoom has no use to them.

If sometimes you want smaller picture size and use a lower resolution, digital zoom is useful.

I agree it is a felony to write digital zoom in the specification because it is just equal to the resolution.

 

[David M.]

While digital zoom is most times undesireable for quality issues, if it must be used in order to get a rare shot, then I'd rather have a lower-quality pic than no pic at all.

It has it's uses....just like most non-essential gimmicks do at times. Is it needed? No. Can it be used in certain situations? Yes. It's up to you whether to put it to it's potential or not. But to place a blanket statement on it saying that it's worthless is unfair.

For users who always use the maximum resolution of the camera,
digital zoom has no use to them.

If sometimes you want smaller picture size and use a lower
resolution, digital zoom is useful.

I agree it is a felony to write digital zoom in the specification
because it is just equal to the resolution.

--
Oly E20, Kodak DC4800's, Canon GL1, ZR25, Minolta HTsi+

 

[pdqgp]

digital zoom can be useful as the others have posted. depending on the quality of the image, the lens and the camera, they can be quite good and print fine too.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=3709664

is a post in another forum by a user who likes to use it and is not afraid to. her pictures are pretty darn good too.

i've used it now and then just because I wanted to frame the shot using the camera and not worry about things later. from my 5mp camera, I have no problem going from the 5x optical, adding 5x more digital and getting a total of 10x zoom and 4x6 prints. Never printed larger, but there didn't appear to be an issue for me.

tim

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

 

[Michaux]

I can imagine that digital zoom might be of use for those whose end use was a low-res format such as PC monitor viewing and for such applications, the digital zoom has the advantage of pre-compression cropping.

My gripes are with the misleading advertising of digital zooms and with those cameras such as my Fuji 602 that integrate optical and digital zooms into a single range and control so that it is too easy to unintentionally enter digi-zoom never-never land. I would much prefer a separate control to engage digital zoom since I often find myself distracted by the need to back out of the digi-zoom range. It would be much better to concentrate on composition without the need to monitor the zoom indicator.

Regards,
Michaux

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

 

[Pan Shizhu]

When you zoom in, Fuji S602 will stop at the end of optical zoom, and you need to release and press zoom button again to obtain digital zoom. if you think there's some problem, I recommend you be familiar with this trick. Again, if you always shoot in 6mp resolution you will not be troubled by digital zoom at all, that's what I'm doing now.

I hate the misleading advertising of digital zooms too, because it often CHEAT the non-professional customers. for example SONY label it's P5 as 6x zoom but it is actually 3x optical zoom, and 2x digital zoom should not be expressed this way.

My gripes are with the misleading advertising of digital zooms and
with those cameras such as my Fuji 602 that integrate optical and
digital zooms into a single range and control so that it is too
easy to unintentionally enter digi-zoom never-never land. I would
much prefer a separate control to engage digital zoom since I often
find myself distracted by the need to back out of the digi-zoom
range. It would be much better to concentrate on composition
without the need to monitor the zoom indicator.

Regards,
Michaux

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

 

[Yello]

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

Hi,

I can only imagine one advantage of digital-in-camera zoom when compared to cropping the picture later with software on a PC:

The digitally-zoomed-in-camera picture will be converted to a JPEG AFTER zooming in. When you crop or digitally zoom-in your picture on your PC, you will zoom into something which has ALREADY been through the JPEG compression and has lost information. In this case, the use of digital zoom in the camera could result in a better quality picture with more detail.

Still, I have not used it yet. Maybe I should try it ... .

Best regards, Yello.

 

[pdqgp]

not anything at all like Lisa's images, but rather a very quick comparison I ran for myself one day. may prove helpfull.



the whole progression of images is here: http://www.pbase.com/pdqgp/my_sony_717&page=2

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

Hi,

I can only imagine one advantage of digital-in-camera zoom when
compared to cropping the picture later with software on a PC:

The digitally-zoomed-in-camera picture will be converted to a JPEG
AFTER zooming in. When you crop or digitally zoom-in your picture
on your PC, you will zoom into something which has ALREADY been
through the JPEG compression and has lost information. In this
case, the use of digital zoom in the camera could result in a
better quality picture with more detail.

Still, I have not used it yet. Maybe I should try it ... .

Best regards, Yello.

 

[David Barkin]

Hi Yello

Hi,

I can only imagine one advantage of digital-in-camera zoom when
compared to cropping the picture later with software on a PC:

The digitally-zoomed-in-camera picture will be converted to a JPEG
AFTER zooming in. When you crop or digitally zoom-in your picture
on your PC, you will zoom into something which has ALREADY been
through the JPEG compression and has lost information. In this
case, the use of digital zoom in the camera could result in a
better quality picture with more detail.

Why shoot JPEG? If a shot counts I always shoot TIF.

Another factor which is not being considered is that digital zoom adds noise. This is not signifigant in normal light but in low light situations it can totally ruin an image.

PS is NOT the best program for interpolating images.

Dave

Still, I have not used it yet. Maybe I should try it ... .

Best regards, Yello.

 

[Yello]

Hi David,

Hi,

I can only imagine one advantage of digital-in-camera zoom when
compared to cropping the picture later with software on a PC:

The digitally-zoomed-in-camera picture will be converted to a JPEG
AFTER zooming in. When you crop or digitally zoom-in your picture
on your PC, you will zoom into something which has ALREADY been
through the JPEG compression and has lost information. In this
case, the use of digital zoom in the camera could result in a
better quality picture with more detail.

Why shoot JPEG? If a shot counts I always shoot TIF.

Another factor which is not being considered is that digital zoom
adds noise. This is not signifigant in normal light but in low
light situations it can totally ruin an image.

PS is NOT the best program for interpolating images.

Dave

Still, I have not used it yet. Maybe I should try it ... .

Best regards, Yello.

I have a Fuji S602z. It can save pics as TIF but it takes ages to do so. For nearly all shots fine JPEG is sufficient. And I guess if a shot counts and you would use TIF to save it, then you would not use digital zoom anyway ... .

Regards, Yello.

 

[Ginko]

They still put the label on the hairdrier, to not put it in the bath with you?
Reason, people still do it!

Digital zoom? People use it!
Market research maybe?

Or I think in my own opinion that they just like them and want to have them as many other cameras do. Wouldn't want to be the odd one out right?

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

 

[David Barker91965]

While digital zoom is most times undesireable for quality issues,
if it must be used in order to get a rare shot, then I'd rather
have a lower-quality pic than no pic at all.

But David, you are presenting a false dichotomy here - not using digital zoom doesn't condemn you to "no pic at all". You can get a result that will be indistinguishable from the digitally-zoomed alternative by using software instead, and take time and care doing it, and with the benefit of a full-sized screen.

--
David Barker

 

[David Barker91965]

...Another factor which is not being considered is that digital zoom
adds noise. This is not signifigant in normal light but in low
light situations it can totally ruin an image.

I'm not quite sure where this idea has come from - digital zoom just enlarges the optical image. Are you saying that extra noise is introduced at some point, or just that the noise already present becomes more obvious when the image is enlarged?

--
David Barker

 

[Phil Sexton83509]

Digital zoom is a holdover from video cameras. For video it makes sense. You can't practically crop video.

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

 

[pdqgp]

it's another feature just like the 717 offers the ability to compress for email and what not within the camera. just plain and simple as another feature for folks who may not have or need the stuff to do it on a PC. nothing wrong with it really. Like any feature that has an on/off...one deosn't have to use it.

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

 

[Dewdrop1]

Why do manufacturers offer digital zoom on digital cameras? I
tried it once and have never used it again. Is there an actually
use for this feature?

Why has no one mentioned the biggest problem with digital zoom - you must do your framing in the LCD monitor since the optical finder isn't linked to the digital zoom. I wear bifocal glasses and, in order to use the monitor, I have to hold the camera 8 or 10 inches from my face and tilt my head back. I find it very difficult to hold the camera steady in that position. With my old Nikon CoolPix 950, I could disable digital zoom, but only in manual mode. In automatic mode it stays enabled. The transistion from maximum optical to digital zoom is just a second or so delay after the end of the optical zoom. So every now and then, I end up zoomed futher than I intended because I was looking through the optical viewfinder and didn't know that I had entered digital zoom. Grrrr!! To me, even if digital zoom were high quality, these two problems would keep me from using it.

Does anyone else see it this way.

Dewdrop

 

[nzmacro]

I'll try this one AGAIN.

I use it to crontrol vignetting when adding lenses to the CD-1000. We are not all the same and I don't crop, full stop. Never have and never will. I like to see and view in the finder or screen, simple as that. )

This is the face and eye of a stick insect. Now without using digital zoom, I get a VERY large black circle around the subject. To get rid of that, I use digital zoom. No way will I guess or even try to get rid of it with software.



Yep we are all different, for me it's there for a reason and I use it, allot.

All the best and I will keep using it

Danny.

--
Macro, what a world.
.............................
http://www.macrophotos.com