Is a 3x optical zoom the standard for a compact digital camera?
I’ve seen a few advertised that have better zooms but there don’t seem to be many to buy. Is a longer zoom a fairly new development?
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Filed under: Digital Cameras Compact
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3x is normal for a basic compact camera. There are compact digital cameras that have 5x optical zoom, but those are mainly used by people who know a little about cameras, as they have many manual settings. The ones for people who want hassle-free pictures, at a decent price (I have a Canon Powershot SD950, which cost $400) 3-4x optical zoom is standard. If you take a lot of informal pictures of things happening around you, the longer the optical zoom the better. But if you mainly take pictures where everybody gets together and poses, or you can get very close to your subject, 3x optical zoom is fine.
Note: Digital zoom is different from optical zoom. In optical zoom, the lens moves back and forth to physically zoom in on the subject. You don’t loose picture quality. In digital zoom, the camera takes the center of the picture and stretches it out to fit the screen on your camera. This causes you to loose picture quality. Pretty much all compact digital cameras come with digital zoom now, but make sure that you are getting 3x or more OPTICAL zoom, not 3x zoom once you factor in the digital zoom.
3X optical zoom, and 4X is standard. Some have 5, but after that it usually jumps to super zooms which are 10X,12X 15X and 18X optical zoom.
Like others said, there are cameras with much higher zoom. You have to realize, for a longer zoom the lense has to stick out farther. This means more moving parts, more expense, and more fragile. A majority of people buying these cameras want tiny cameras so a high isn’t practical to build in. With camcorders, they are much longer from front to back so they have zooms in the dozens of power now.