Optical vs. Digital Zoom: Why Digital Is No Longer a Dirty Word

[seancaptain]

Once scoffed at by photographers, in-camera digital enlargement is now a handy option to stretch zoom beyond what the lens can do.

Optical vs. Digital Zoom: Why Digital Is No Longer a Dirty Word : Read more

 

[bjornl]

This is SUCH nonsense. You are giving very bad advice seemingly designed to confuse less technical readers. Shame!

There is no such thing as digital zoom.

You can do this as well in post processing. You can not turn one pixel in to two. There is no magical CSI "can you enhance that" BS.

There is cropping. This is NOT digital ZOOM. If you do this in camera or not, the results are the same. Fewer pixels but tighter framing around whatever you choose. But "ZOOM" means something else entirely. It is turning a fixed number of pixels in to "more" pixels. This is done with tweening. It can not create new data so it averages adjacent pixels. The result is horrid.

I can't believe Tom's published this rubbish.

I reported this article for moderation.

 

[seancaptain]

Thanks for commenting. I'm reporting what I saw from multiple cameras.
I do say (and show) that optical is better.
But for casual photographers, shooting in JPEG and not up for post-processing (the vast majority of people), adding digital zoom is a handy fix if optical can't reach.