A question about 'optical zoom'.

SideWinder

SideWinder

SideWinder

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http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/digital-camera-reviews-category.cfm

Using this at the moment to try and choose a camera. My budget is a maximum of £250 ish but just a question about 'optical zoom'. I am assuming it isn't as straight forward as 'higher the number, the
better it is' ? :)

Any tips?

Currently my eyes are on the Canon SX1 range, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 and the Fujifilm Finepix S2000HD Digital Camera.
 
SideWinder said:
http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/digital-camera-reviews-category.cfm

Using this at the moment to try and choose a camera. My budget is a maximum of £250 ish but just a question about 'optical zoom'. I am assuming it isn't as straight forward as 'higher the number, the
better it is' ? :)

Any tips?

Currently my eyes are on the Canon SX1 range, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 and the Fujifilm Finepix S2000HD Digital Camera.
Click to expand...

£10 more would get you a Sony A200 Digital SLR. Any particular reason why you have dismissed this?
 
I wasn't aware Sony was a 'good brand' when it came to SLR...whole 'buy cheap, buy twice'. And also i am a novice when it comes to photography. :o
 
I'm going to keep plugging this guys work, but search on the forum and in the post your pics thread for the user photoshop. Hes got a good eye for a photo and his are taken on a sony. in terms of problems / failures on sony cameras I dont know of any horror stories so that cant be a bad thing
 
SideWinder said:
I wasn't aware Sony was a 'good brand' when it came to SLR...whole 'buy cheap, buy twice'. And also i am a novice when it comes to photography. :o
Click to expand...

I thought the same but Sony bought Minolta and have since had a very good reputation. The Sony A200 is a very well respected starter DSLR and many people on these forums own one. I went for the A300 but to be quite honest I haven't had many opportunites to put it through it's paces.

Read some reviews. A DSLR will cost considerably more over the course of it's life than a compact as you will need things like additional lenses etc.
 
Compact cameras quote "Optical Zoom" where this is the ratio of minimum focal length to maximum focal length ie 20mm - 200mm would be quoted as "a Optical zoom of x 10"

BUT

This does not mean the photo will look x 10 bigger than real life, the human eye is roughly equivalent to 50mm so a shot taken at 200mm would look x 4 bigger.

And Obviously not all lenses are created equal, you normaly get what you paid for :)


I've put it rather badly but I hope it answers the OP question
 
^^^
Adding to the above, it is merely a ratio so doesn't tell you so much. I find almost all the focal lengths on compacts and bridges absolutely useless because they often don't start until > 32mm equivalent. And anything past 200-300 mm on a compact will give aweful quality and have no where near the needed light gathering capability to produce an acceptable image.

There are probably a few exceptions.
 
Marketing slogan of optical zoom is calculated at the higher number divided by their lower one.

As they often go to around 28mm on the lower end (which isn't really THAT wide, some compact do 24mm) a 200mm on the top end would give you a 8x zoom.

But a 300mm prime lens would give you a 1x zoom as the top and bottom end are the same. But guess which one has a further reach.

So instead of looking at the number of zoom, look at the focal length.
 
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