Great Deals on Optical Digital Zoom Camera Lenses from Nikon Canon Fujifilm Sony and many more.  The trend for Digital Camera manufacturers to label their compact digital camera with the total overall zoom (a combination of Optical Digital Zoom) is leading to many buyers of Compact Digital Cameras to become confused about the difference between optical digital zoom camera and why it makes any difference to the quality of the images taken with digital cameras.

Put simply, Optical Digital Zoom Camera definitions are as follows:

Optical Zoom Definition

Optical zoom uses the optics of the lens of the camera to bring the subject closer. It magnifies the image using the natural source light and the movement of the digital camera lens elements.

Digital Zoom Definition

Digital Zoom uses a digital enlargement of the image. By doing so, it takes the original optical version of an image and blows it up to appear larger. The loss of image quality is then smoothed over with the digital camera software making a best guess to fill in the gaps between the megapixels.

Put another way, imagine taking a digital image and cropping a section, then enlarging the cropped section to the full size of the original. You are going to get a reduction in quality.

So what does this mean when buying a compact digital camera?

When you are looking to compare optical digital zoom on a camera, don’t be fooled by the digital zoom. Hey, great to have but it should not be the prime determining factor. Look for the compact numbers.  Digital camera with the highest optical zoom for your budget and then seek to compare the digital zoom component.

You can always crop and enlarge an image taken with optical zoom on your compact digital camera and create the same effect of digital zoom (which really only means digital enlargement, the essential difference between optical dogital zoom camera options), except with your software on the PC you can decide exactly how much of the image you want to crop and be more specific.

When you are comparing compact digital cameras, always use optical zoom (not digital zoom) as a basis of comparing before digital zoom on digital cameras. The total zoom number is really just a marketing gimmick. Go for a higher optical zoom on your compact digital camera!

What is smart zoom and how does it compare to optical digital zoom for compact digital cameras?

To understand the benefits of smart zoom, first lets go back to the definition of Digital Zoom. Digital Zoom is essentially taking a digital image, selecting or cropping a section to enlarge back to the same size as the original digital image. This can be done either in camera of post production on your PC where the gaps between the megapixels are smoothed over by the software programs. Understandably, this results in a lower image quality.

Smart zoom works by taking an image focused on the section you choose, however, it does not enlarge the image to the size of the original image. Think of a camera with 10mp resolution, using smart zoom you can select a section of an image which uses only 7mp. The smart zoom will take an image only of the section you select, but using a smaller resolution and smaller sized image so as not to degrade the image quality.

Okay so we know the difference between optical digital zoom on compact digital cameras. But what about the difference between optical zoom on compact digital cameras and resolution? First of all, let’s define the terms used. We have already explained Optical Zoom for compact digital cameras but here it is again:

Optical Zoom for a Compact Digital Camera

Optical zoom uses the optics of the lens of the camera to bring the subject closer. It magnifies the image using the natural source light and the movement of the digital camera lens elements.

Resolution Megapixels for a Compact Digital Camera

Resolution refers to the level of detail captured by the compact digital camera. This is often referenced as the number of Megapixels by giving a number like 8 or 10.2 and even 12 Megapixels. What are megapixels? They are the little digital dots that make up a digital image and the megapixel number of 10mp means 10 million megapixels with which to record an image. Higher megapixels will mean both your optical digital zoom will result in better quality images when compared to a lower resolution image.

So how do you decide on the combination of megapixels and optical zoom to determine whether one compact digital camera is better than another digital camera? For example, is a 2 megapixel resolution digital camera with 3x optical zoom better than a 3 megapixel resolution digital camera with 2x optical zoom?

Well it really depends on how you will use the digital camera because you are not comparing like for like. But one thing to keep in mind is that each digital camera will always use the maximum megapixels to capture an image. How you crop it afterwards might put the images on an even basis for comparison, but then again only for certain specifications. So ummm don’t compare because the basis for comparing optical zoom and megapixel reolsution is quite narrow.. What is most important is to understand how you will be using the camera. If being able to zoom is important to you, then you should consider that foremost. If both are important then find a compact digital camera with the optical zoom and megapixels that you require. That could mean paying more, but ultimately it comes down to getting more of what is most important to you.