Photographers' Newsletter

Your newsletter will be focussing on the practical issues of photography for the community photographer.

This Month's topic: Use of Optical Zoom in preference to Digital Zoom

In answer to a question raised at last Month's seminar:

Some Digital Cameras are marketed with both an Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom capability. If you’ve used a film camera, you’ll be used to optical zoom. Optical zoom uses the lens of the camera (the optics) to bring the subject closer. Digital zoom uses clever software to digitally enlarge a portion of the image – thus simulating optical zoom.

So, which is better?

Definitely Optical zoom.

Digital zoom is not really ‘zoom’ in the strictest definition of the term. Digital zoom just enlarges the image. It takes a portion of the image and enlarges it back to full size. You lose quality because of the enlargement process so photos that have been taken with digital zoom won’t look as good as those without.

You can perform the same result using image editing software on your computer. In fact, it can be better to crop and enlarge using your image software as you can decide exactly what part of the image to enlarge, and how much to enlarge by. You get much more creative control when you are working with your photos on your computer. Don’t try to do that stuff from your camera.

So when taking shots, use optical zoom only. If you need to zoom in further, use your editing software to select the best part of the image to keep. If you are not into computer editing you can 'enlarge' image using digital zoom but be aware your image quality will be degraded .

Why is clarity important?

The more clarity you have in your image, the larger the printed size can be without the image appearing fuzzy, or pixelated. When you use your digital zoom, you are technically cropping your image and removing a portion of the detail. This can have some pretty nasty effects when you decide to print your image later on. If anything, it will restrict the size of the prints, which is the reason why you’ll want to avoid it if you can.

If you want to keep clarity in your images, use the optical zoom whenever possible Also, if you can’t use your optical zoom to get even closer, just walk right up to your subject. The best zoom lens you’ll ever have is your own two feet! As long as nothing is standing in your way, you should be able to get as close as you want.

How do you use Optical Zoom?

When you zoom in using your camera, it will use Optical zoom first and then use Digital zoom. You can usually set your camera to notify you when it starts to use the Digital zoom, or tell it to not use digital zoom at all. Consult your manual for details.

Can’t find a Digital Zoom option on your camera? You probably own a better quality DSLR camera that doesn’t need the digital zoom trickery. So your camera is always using the best type of zoom – Optical Zoom.

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News from the world of Photography

The End Of Kodachrome Colour Slide Film

December deadline marked the end of an 75-year-long era, when Kodak released, in 1935, what became the first commercially successful colour film. However, last year, Kodak killed the slide film citing "dramatic" declines in sales. "Kodachrome film represents just a fraction of 1% of Kodak's total sales of still-picture films," said Kodak in June 2009.

"For all of its magic, Kodachrome was a complex film to manufacture and an even more complex film to process," said Kodak. This lack of widespread processing availability, as well as the features of newer films introduced by Kodak over the years, has accelerated the decline of demand for Kodachrome film."

"The last day of processing for all types of Kodachrome film was 30 December 2010

But, Kodak remains confident that film has a future - beyond Kodachrome that is. In September, the company released the Portra 400 professional film, which replaces the Portra 400NC and VC films. US marketing manager for Professional film at Kodak, said the company felt there was a "very real resurgence for film."

New High Capacity CompactFlash Memory Cards

SanDisk is partnering with Sony and Nikon (Canon unknown at this stage) to propose new specifications for the development of new CompactFlash memory cards capable of storing and processing larger files at faster speeds. The proposal would also allow for capacities beyond 2TB.

The potential cards would enable continuous burst shooting of massive raw images, as well as allow photographers to quickly transfer their high-resolution images to a computer. The specifications combine high-speed data transfer with low power consumption.