Are camcorders as good as digital cameras?

Do camcorders offer high resolution photos just as digital cameras do? I find that the optical zoom feature of camcorders are very high(18-20X) compared to digital cameras....but I dunno how the megapixel range of photos taken using a camcorder...please help!

the resolution of a standard definition mini dv camera (camcorder) is 720 x 480. This is far below the resolution of most consumer grade digital still cameras. For example, a 6 megapixel camera has a resolution of roughly 3000 x 2000.

If you want to take still images, use a still camera. Use the right tool for the job.

Digital zoom is only a scaling of the image. It blows up an image. Therefore the resolution drops. You are better off to take a high resolution image, and then scale it on a computer so you still have the full size image after you push into it.

Digital zooms are quite worthless for capturing a high detailed or high resolution image. By definition, a digital zoom reduces the resolution (clarity) of an image.

me personaly i think camcorders are better.

Depending on the camcorder and the digital camera. I have both and the camcorder that i take pictures with, The pictures turn out not very well at all compared to the pictures on my digital camera camera or the video. But with the camcorder you can take longer video on the camcorder and you can see long distances almost like binocular's.

There is the cruel truth:
The camcorders take crappy pictures The still cameras video record nicely. It is more likely to have a nice decent video coming out of a still camera than a nice picture coming out of a camcorder
If you ask me I will never buy a camcorder, it is the most unnecessary thing. Now, think how many decent videos coming out of these pieces of cra* you've ever seen in your life?

dependes on the quality of both of them but a profi camcorder will not do what a profy camera will do because the camcorders are for video not for steel pictures

Yes

I hate camcorders...And, never ever buy a Samsung DigiCam. I bought mine 2 years ago, and I can't get the thing to do anything anymore.

Typically camcorders do not take as good a still picture as a digital camera - check the maximum megapixel rating for it. Regular film pictures are comparable to 3.2 megapixels so never buy a camera under that.

If you decide to get a camcorder capable of digital stills make sure it has a memory slot for the still pictures. A camcorder that doesn't have one will just record the still image to a few seconds of film and it's a real pain to get those transferred to your computer.