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Is 3x optical zoom good enough for a digital camera? |
I'm not a professional photographer. Is 3x zoom good enough to get decent images of distant objects like on sports day or a function in an auditorium etc? I'm going to be a stick in the mud and politely disagree - with conditions - with everyone saying that you need 10-12x zoom to get the shots you want. First of all, shop according to effective focal length instead of "X" power zoom ability. I think you want something in the 140-200 range as your top end. We don't know how close you will be at "sports day," for instance. It sounds to me like this is a grade school event and not some major league, professional athletic competition. You would be right on the sidelines of any activity, I assume. For pictures inside an auditorium, you will not be able to use the built-in flash if the subject is more than about 12-15 feet away, so maximum lens is important. The greater the zoom, generally speaking, the smaller the lens opening. I am going to ask you to consider a 4x zoom camera and see if you think it will be suited to your needs. If you think you need 10-12x, then feel free to ignore me without even considering this answer. Go here and look at the sample images: http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/canonsd7... There is a whole row of 30 images across the top of the page. Click on any one of them and view the picture. Take note of the focal length of the lens. For instance, the first picture (the top of a statue) is taken at 140 mm. This is the longest length available on the Canon SD700-IS. Go here: http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/canona71... and check out some samples from the Canon A710-IS. Take a look at the 4th one, for instance. This might give you an idea of how things would look in an auditorium. I don't know... All I'm sayin' is that you might not need to spend $400-500 to get the functionality that you want. You would be smart to go to a camera shop and look through these two cameras, plus a Canon S3-IS (for instance) and just get an idea how near or how far you can zoom in on things. Again, if you want killer zoom, just ignore my answer and follow the advice given by others above this answer. Source(s): http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_... No you would want at least a 10X zoom for sporting events. 3X zoom is really good for up close photos for example a family photo for a Christmas card or something. But if you are in the stands at a sporting event...you would need more like a 10X zoom to really get anything close to a close up photo. Think of it like binoculars....I don't think they even sell 3X zoom binoculars A 3x zoom is pretty week. I agree with the previous answer that you would want at least 10x. And don't look at digital zoom because when you zoom digitally you loose a lot of quality. I'd say probably not. I have a 3x zoom camera and a 12x zoom. For both of those situations, I'd pick the 12x without hesitation. Definitely not. The zoom is one of the main reasons why I want to upgrade. My camera currently has 3x optical zoom (and I've had it for almost 3 years). It is fine for every day situations but for what you described (or for at a zoo for example) it's not enough. I've cranked up the digital zoom (4x) to make it 12x to get some close up shots. But it's better to have at least an 8x optical zoom, I'd say. IF Dr. Sam is correct, maybe the perfect compromise just may be a 5X optical zoom, which Kodak puts out; model EasyShare C875. It's an 8 megapixel camera with just a 2 sec delay and uses AA batteries. I myself use a 12X optical zoom by Sony. Maybe for a lot of people the super zoom is overkill; but I use the super zoom quite often. |
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