Most people who have used a 35mm camera or an APS camera are aware of only optical zoom. Digital zoom is an invention of digital video cameras. It is not uncommon to see digital videocams with 300x digital zoom. For our purpose, digital zoom is not really zoom, in the strictest definition of the term.

What digital zoom does is enlarge a portion of the image, thus simulating optical zoom.

In other words, the camera crops a portion of the image and then enlarges it back to size. In so doing, you lose image quality. If youve been regularly using digital zoom and wondered why your pictures did not look that great, now you know.

So, as far as digital zoom is concerned, you can do it in camera or you can do it afterwards in an image editing software. Any cropping and enlarging can be done in an image editing software, such as Photoshop. So, when a digital camera is advertised with 3x digital zoom, no big deal. If you do it in camera, image quality is irreversibly lost. Someone in a digital camera forum once mentioned that he uses digital zoom because it might mean the difference between capturing a great shot or not at all. Umm, lets think about this a bit. True, if by zooming digitally in camera you get to see what your subject is doing and thus can capture the shot at the right moment. So, its really up to you, if you know what youre doing.

Here it is: Always use optical zoom. If you do use digital zoom, use it only if it does not appreciably impact your image quality. If you rarely print past 4x6 in. When comparing cameras, you should always use optical zoom. There is no point in comparing digital zoom with digital zoom or optical zoom with total zoom.

Always compare optical zoom with optical zoom. Resolution What about optical zoom vs. Now yall know that we cannot and should not be comparing apples n oranges, but we still try. The megapixels resolution of a digital camera can be thought of as the number of pixels available to capture an image.

With a 2 megapixels camera, you have 2 million pixels to record an image. Whether you zoom or not does not affect how many pixels are used to capture the image. So, zoomed at its maximum, a 2 megapixels 3x optical zoom digital camera will still have captured a 2 million pixels image. Likewise, a 3 megapixels 2x optical zoom digital camera will always capture a 3 million pixels image. With a 2 megapixels digital camera, you can make good 4x6 in. With a 3 megapixels digital camera, you can make good 8x10 in. So, as far as image quality is concerned, the 3 megapixels camera is better. Unless you are always going to take pictures at max. 3MP camera is better because at 2x optical zoom and less, it is always capturing images with more detail than the 2MP camera. What we are really trying to say is this: do not compare.

If the answer is both, then find a digital camera that has both.

If its outside your pocketbook range, then choose a digital camera for what is more important to you. We usually recommend buying a digital camera with at least 3 megapixels resolution because of the better image quality. 3x optical zoom is standard with most consumer digital cameras. We never bother to check how much digital zoom a camera provides, and ignore the marketing hype surrounding it.

We always disable digital zoom in camera, choosing to do our own cropping and enlarging in an image editing software. Only optical zoom matters when selecting a digital camera. Smart Zoom works only if you select an image size smaller than the full available image size. So, for example, if your digital camera is capable of producing a 5MP image, Smart Zoom is available only if you select to save your images as 4MP or less. Say, your digital camera is 5MP and you select to save your images as 3MP.

So, in effect, youve basically more or less retained the same image quality but you have to save your resulting simulated zoomed image in a smaller image size. 3MP image can be enlarged up to without image degradation. 3MP, which means that Smart Zoom is useful only in digital cameras with 4MP and above.

So, our recommendation still holds.

Always compare optical zoom with optical zoom. Most people who have used a 35mm camera or an APS camera are aware of only optical zoom. Digital zoom is an invention of digital video cameras. It is not uncommon to see digital videocams with 300x digital zoom. For our purpose, digital zoom is not really zoom, in the strictest definition of the term.

What digital zoom does is enlarge a portion of the image, thus simulating optical zoom. In other words, the camera crops a portion of the image and then enlarges it back to size.

In so doing, you lose image quality. If youve been regularly using digital zoom and wondered why your pictures did not look that great, now you know. So, as far as digital zoom is concerned, you can do it in camera or you can do it afterwards in an image editing software. Any cropping and enlarging can be done in an image editing software, such as Photoshop.

So, when a digital camera is advertised with 3x digital zoom, no big deal. If you do it in camera, image quality is irreversibly lost. Someone in a digital camera forum once mentioned that he uses digital zoom because it might mean the difference between capturing a great shot or not at all. Umm, lets think about this a bit.

True, if by zooming digitally in camera you get to see what your subject is doing and thus can capture the shot at the right moment. So, its really up to you, if you know what youre doing. Here it is: Always use optical zoom. If you do use digital zoom, use it only if it does not appreciably impact your image quality.

If you rarely print past 4x6 in. When comparing cameras, you should always use optical zoom. There is no point in comparing digital zoom with digital zoom or optical zoom with total zoom. Always compare optical zoom with optical zoom. Resolution What about optical zoom vs. Now yall know that we cannot and should not be comparing apples n oranges, but we still try. The megapixels resolution of a digital camera can be thought of as the number of pixels available to capture an image.

With a 2 megapixels camera, you have 2 million pixels to record an image. Whether you zoom or not does not affect how many pixels are used to capture the image. So, zoomed at its maximum, a 2 megapixels 3x optical zoom digital camera will still have captured a 2 million pixels image.

Likewise, a 3 megapixels 2x optical zoom digital camera will always capture a 3 million pixels image. With a 2 megapixels digital camera, you can make good 4x6 in.

With a 3 megapixels digital camera, you can make good 8x10 in. So, as far as image quality is concerned, the 3 megapixels camera is better. Unless you are always going to take pictures at max. 3MP camera is better because at 2x optical zoom and less, it is always capturing images with more detail than the 2MP camera.

What we are really trying to say is this: do not compare. If the answer is both, then find a digital camera that has both. If its outside your pocketbook range, then choose a digital camera for what is more important to you. That is, the resolution of your final image does not change no matter how much you zoom in. 360mm, then at 30mm, your image is 5MP and at 360mm, it is still 5MP. 5MP size, then there is pixels interpolation and the resulting image suffers in quality.

We always disable digital zoom in camera, choosing to do our own cropping and enlarging in an image editing software. Nowadays when people mention about purchasing digital cameras, they usually compare the cameras by the number of megapixels they have, for eg 7 mp to 10mp. However, megapixels are not the only quality to look out for. With that being said, one of the most important thing to look out for is the amount of optical zoom it provides. Camera specs comes with 2 types of zoom, digital and optical.

In digital zoom however, the camera uses its software to digitally enlarge these images, thus compromising its photo quality.

Optical zoom are very useful, and can range between 3x to 10x or even 12x. It really depends on what you need. But beware, look out for only those cameras that comes with OPTICAL image stablizer. Also, point and shoot cameras comes in many form.

200 camera will probably only have very limited manual function, functions like Aperture Priority, Shuttle Speed Priority, Programme Mode, Full Manual mode etc. If youre an amateur photographer like me, these arent usually very important, unless you want to explore around and learn to become a more professional photographer. 10MP, optical zoom around 4x to 6x, and plenty of manual functions too. Personally, I own a Canon Powershot A710 IS. It has almost full manual functions, thus giving amateur photgraphers who wants to experience manual controls to have total control over their shots.

Most people who have used a 35mm camera or an APS camera are aware of only optical zoom. Digital zoom is an invention of digital video cameras. It is not uncommon to see digital videocams with 300x digital zoom.

For our purpose, digital zoom is not really zoom, in the strictest definition of the term. What digital zoom does is enlarge a portion of the image, thus simulating optical zoom. In other words, the camera crops a portion of the image and then enlarges it back to size. In so doing, you lose image quality.

If youve been regularly using digital zoom and wondered why your pictures did not look that great, now you know. So, as far as digital zoom is concerned, you can do it in camera or you can do it afterwards in an image editing software.

Any cropping and enlarging can be done in an image editing software, such as Photoshop. So, when a digital camera is advertised with 3x digital zoom, no big deal.

If you do it in camera, image quality is irreversibly lost. Someone in a digital camera forum once mentioned that he uses digital zoom because it might mean the difference between capturing a great shot or not at all. Umm, lets think about this a bit. True, if by zooming digitally in camera you get to see what your subject is doing and thus can capture the shot at the right moment. So, its really up to you, if you know what youre doing. Here it is: Always use optical zoom. If you do use digital zoom, use it only if it does not appreciably impact your image quality. If you rarely print past 4x6 in. When comparing cameras, you should always use optical zoom. There is no point in comparing digital zoom with digital zoom or optical zoom with total zoom. Always compare optical zoom with optical zoom. Resolution What about optical zoom vs. Now yall know that we cannot and should not be comparing apples n oranges, but we still try. The megapixels resolution of a digital camera can be thought of as the number of pixels available to capture an image. With a 2 megapixels camera, you have 2 million pixels to record an image. Whether you zoom or not does not affect how many pixels are used to capture the image. So, zoomed at its maximum, a 2 megapixels 3x optical zoom digital camera will still have captured a 2 million pixels image. Smart Zoom works only if you select an image size smaller than the full available image size. So, for example, if your digital camera is capable of producing a 5MP image, Smart Zoom is available only if you select to save your images as 4MP or less. Say, your digital camera is 5MP and you select to save your images as 3MP. So, in effect, youve basically more or less retained the same image quality but you have to save your resulting simulated zoomed image in a smaller image size. FZ18 lets you get even closer to the action for capturing the most finite details of a subject or scene.

Of course, with zoom power like this, any movement of the camera could easily cause your photos to blur. Venus Engine III image processor, not to mention a sensitivity of up to 6400 ISO to guarantee perfect results in any lighting.

Compact cameras: great design, easy to use, light. The higher the resolution, the larger the file size will be. This is a viewing system used by photographers for shooting. Some compacts do not have viewfinders; therefore, an LCD screen can be used for viewing.

The LCD screen is a monitor at the back of the camera that allows you to view your subject while you are shooting. Some screens rotate for easier use. The optical zoom indicates the lenss maximum optical enlargement value possible. The greater the value, the more the camera can zoom in on a subject.

Unlike a digital zoom, this type of zoom is obtained using the internal optical lenses and entails no loss in quality. Digital Zoom 4x The digital zoom simulates an optical zoom by interpolation of the central zone of an image. Warning: this is an electronic zoom and entails some loss in image quality. The ISO range allows you to select the sensitivity of the CCD sensor. The higher the value, the greater the sensitivity and, therefore, the better the photo quality in poor lighting conditions without using a flash. The aperture controls the amount of light reaching the CCD sensor. The smaller the aperture, the greater the value of the amount of light. The shutter speed controls the exposure time of the sensor.

The faster the speed, the less luminous the photo will be; however, the image will be sharp. The flash compensates for a lack of light by producing a flash of light at exposure. Different types of flash produce different results. Storage Image formats JPEG The image format indicates the formats that the camera is compatible with. The most common compression format is JPEG. The TIFF format is the best quality compression for large files. The RAW format retains the original format of an image. Included Memory Card No Size of card supplied with camera Internal Memory 27 MB Some cameras have an internal memory and can, therefore, work without a memory card.

The larger the size of a memory card, the greater the number of photos that can be stored.

SLR cameras do not have such a function. This value indicates the maximum resolution and the number of images per second during recording. Webcam No Indicates whether or not a camera can be connected to a computer to be used as a webcam.

This indicates the type of connection for transferring files to a computer. This could be in the form of a remote control, or WiFi or Bluetooth technologies. Compatibility PC and Mac This indicates which operating systems the camera is compatible with. This indicates the power supply for your camera.

Warning: these elements are not necessarily shipped with the camera. Automatic intelligent mode Scene modes: soft skin, food, reception, candlelight, fireworks, starry sky, aerial photo, snow, high sensitivity, baby1, baby2, underwater, sunset, pets Describes other important functions of the camera. 10 subjects in one photo for clear, natural portrait shots.