Why even have "digital zoom" when it is so useless?

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Question:

Why not just "optical zoom" in point and shoots or is it just a useless selling point!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I completely agree with most of what's been said above!.

It's a gimmick!. It's crap!. It's terrible !.!.!. etc!. And I tell my students this all the time!. Digital Zoom is EVIL!!!

And then, one morning I awake, look through the bedroom window into my backyard, check out the bird feeders !.!.!. and notice that there's this crazy squirrel - I've named him/her Herky - lurking on the porch roof of my studio, watching the birds at the feeder and waiting for his chance to pounce!.

I've never seen a squirrel sprawled out on its belly before!.

So, of course, I fire up the trusty little Canon S3is mounted on a very sturdy Manfrotto tripod that's standing next to the window (What!? Doesn't EVERYONE always have a camera setup on a tripod somewhere in their house!?)

The S3 already has a 12X optical Zoom!. But, just this once I want to get in so close that I can see the expression on Herky's face!.

Jump into the Menu, activate the evil Digital Zoom, and away we go!

Check it out here:
http://flickr!.com/photos/grimitz/2503727!.!.!.

Yes! Of course, you can see the digital noise!. And it's not something I would ever try to market!.

This one was shot at 48X, for Pete's Sake!!!

But !.!.!. oh well !.!.!. there I go !.!.!. violating yet one more rule of good photography from among the thousands I've accumulated over the past 40 years of photography!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well, digital zoom is mostly useless but not completely!. Remember if you have a point and shoot, you can't switch lenses so any extra zoom may be useful!. Picture this, you own one of those superzoom cameras!. For some reason the 15 or 18 or 20 or whatever optical zoom isn't quite enough for you!. The manufacturer crammed pixels into the picture, so you have a ridiculously large final image!. If you use say 4X digital zoom, you add an appreciaple zoom to your image and you still get a rather large print for the average home user!. Ofcourse this only works if you were canny enough to choose a point and shoot with loads of megapixels but with reasonably good optics and image processing, otherwise the digital zoom will make a very big mess of the image (well really just make the mess more visible)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

For some, the quality of the image is less important than, simply, capturing the image!. So, if some user zooms in to catch a close up of the monkey at the zoo, he's happy just to have a four by six inch print so show friends!.

The such a user, digital zoom is NOT useless, but a pretty handy tool!. Remember, three megs is plenty to make a decent four by six print, so, someone with a five megapixel camera can use digital zoom to good effect and STILL get decent small prints!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A contact of mine used the digital zoom feature to frame the shot and force the camera to focus on a specific distant object rather than an object in the foreground on the same path!. Whilst the resulting image is no better quality than the same photo taken with out digital zoom and cropped to the same "frame" it does get the desired object as sharp as possible with the equipment at hand!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Good question !.!.!. it is a marketing tool as is the pixel count and video feature in P&S cameras!.

I think they are all here to stay!. Even the elimination of the viewfinder and forcing the user to use the LCD at arm's length !.!.!. increasing the chance of camera movement!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

must be a marketing ploy, because after i tried it once, i decided only an idiot would use it on an 8 mp camera!.!.!.now a 20mp might (operative word is might) be different!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Marketing gimmick!. One manufacturer had to do it so they all got into it!.

The function is evil!. It ruins pictures!.Www@QuestionHome@Com