Is optical or digital zoom better? How different are they

Mobile phone digital zoom and optical zoom.

Optical zoom does not affect the sharpness, and digital zoom is, to put it bluntly, the magnification of the image quality.

Optical zoom. For digital cameras, "optical zoom" does not change the size or resolution of **, and the number of pixels used to describe ** also remains the same, which is the fundamental difference between "optical zoom" and "digital zoom", which is reflected in the image, that is, the image quality will be different. As shown in Figure 3, setting the focal length at 115mm and keeping the camera in the same position, the result is that the size of the subject (cabin) in ** is significantly larger, and you can see more detail in the cabin, but ** has the same resolution as in the left image, which is 1600 1200 pixels.

Digital zoom. Digital cameras equipped with fixed focal length lenses can often simulate optical zoom to form a zoom**, a type of zoom known as "digital zoom". It works in a similar way to how we enlarge a part of an image on a computer, except that "digital zoom" is done directly on the CCD during the shooting process.

To be precise, Digital Zoom is simply a cropping tool that cuts out a portion of an image that is out of view when using a long focal length lens, and stores only a selected area. Any camera has to look at optical zoom, digital zoom will seriously lose image quality, and the resulting ** frame will also become smaller, so it is basically of no practical significance.

Optical zoom is good. Optical zoom.

Zoom is achieved by relying on an optical lens structure, which is similar to a traditional camera design, depending on the focal length of the lens, and is used to zoom in and out of the scene to be captured by moving the lens of the camera. The greater the optical zoom factor, the farther away the object can be captured. Optical zoom can support the image subject after imaging, the resolution and image quality will not change, and it is relatively clear.

Digital zoom. In fact, it is an electronic enlargement of the image, and a part of the pixels on the original CCD image sensor is enlarged using an "interpolation" algorithm. Through digital zoom, the captured scene is enlarged, but its clarity will be reduced to a certain extent, similar to the Zoom function in VCD or ***, which can only reduce the original image size, so that the image becomes larger on the LCD screen, but it will not make the details clearer.

To put it simply: optical zoom is to zoom in and out of the scene by changing the relative position of the lens in the lens, and optical zoom will basically not cause the image quality to be reduced; Digital zoom is used to change the pixel size through the processor in the digital camera, so that the visual perception of the scene is enlarged or reduced, and digital zoom will reduce the image quality, so optical zoom is better than digital zoom.

Zoom Another important focus of a lens is the zoom capability, which includes both optical zoom and digital zoom. Although both can help magnify distant objects during telephoto shooting, only optical zoom can support the addition of more pixels after the image of the subject, so that the subject is not only larger, but also relatively clearer. In general, the higher the zoom factor, the more suitable it is for telephoto shooting.

Optical zoom, like conventional camera design, depends on the focal length of the lens, so the resolution and image quality do not change. Digital zoom can only reduce the original image size, making the image larger on the LCD screen, but it will not help to make the details clearer. Therefore, when buying a digital camera, we often recommend that you pay attention to the optical zoom magnification.

Currently, mid-range cameras generally have an optical zoom of about 3x, but there are also products with ultra-long zoom function, such as models with 10x optical zoom.

1.Optical zoom.

It relies on the optical lens structure to achieve zoom, and the zoom method is similar to that of a 35mm camera, that is, the camera lens movement is used to zoom in and out of the scene to be photographed, and the larger the optical zoom factor, the farther the scene can be photographed. Most of today's digital cameras have optical zoom ratios between 2x and 5x, and some code cameras have optical zoom effects of 10x. The optical zoom factor of the home camcorder is 10x 22x, and it can shoot things up to 70 meters away relatively clearly.

The use of a magnifier increases the optical zoom factor of the camcorder.

2.Digital zoom.

Digital zoom, which is actually an electronic enlargement of the image, uses a part of the pixels on the original CCD image sensor"Interpolation"The processing method is to magnify, and the pixels on the CCD image sensor are enlarged to the entire screen with an interpolation algorithm. With digital zoom, the captured scene is enlarged, but its clarity will be reduced to a certain extent, a bit like the zoom function in VCD or ***, so digital zoom does not have much practical significance. At present, the digital zoom of digital cameras is generally about 6 times, the digital zoom of video cameras is about 44 times -600 times, and 40 times is enough in actual use.

If the zoom factor is not enough, we can add a magnifier in front of the lens. If the angle of view is small, you can add a wide-angle lens accordingly.

3.Smart zoom.

The new and exclusive Sony Smart Zoom function. Zoom can be used to shoot without magnifying particles, so that the magnified image can maintain the original detailed quality. Smart zoom provides different degrees of enhanced zoom function according to the choice of different image sizes.

Unlike digital zoom, smart zoom keeps the image quality the same as the original image.

The main difference between digital zoom and optical zoom is that optical zoom achieves 10 times closer to the target by moving the focal length of the lens, and can clearly magnify the image without any loss of image quality. The digital zoom function magnifies the image by 120x. But the picture quality has an impact.

When the optical zoom digital camera zooms at a long distance, the sense of space and hierarchy of people or things is better than that of digital zoom, but the use of digital zoom products is more convenient.

The differences between digital zoom, optical zoom, and digital zoom are as follows:

1. The use of the above zoom methods is used to shorten the distance and magnify the image.

2. Digital zoom is the effect of enlarging the pixels through the built-in software function of the camera, so the larger the size, the more blurry the photo will be, affecting the sharpness. Digital zoom costs little because it is a software feature, and the overall gagging of the camera is now negligible.

3. Optical zoom is realized through the hardware function of the camera lens, which is equivalent to placing a high-power telescope before the photo, because the clarity of the photo is very high, the finer the lens, the clearer the magnified photo, and the sharper the photo imaging. Therefore, the better the imaging of the optical zoom camera lens, the more expensive it is.

4. Digital zoom and digital zoom are different names for the same function.