Optical/Digital & Resolution

[jhnel]

I am fully aware what the difference is between the Optical & Digital Zoom.


Question: If you have NO CHOICE but to use the digital too, to get close enough, even with the loss of detail and quality, would it make a difference if you used high resolution i.e. 5 meg instead of low, i.e. 1 meg?

In other words: when using the DIGITAL zoom, would you obtain better quality on higher resolution, if you don't intend printing the pictures?

[jrobert]

Whatever "digital zoom" can do in the camera, you can do later in post processing - meaning that DZ is entirely equivalent to cropping, and then printing to size. More pixels will definitely help.

-jeff-

[Jon]

The more pixels you have to work with the better, regardless of what you're doing afterwards. But post-processing will let you control the enlargement better than using the "canned" digital zoom will.

[kb244]

Just turn off Digital Zoom, Zoom in as far as you can go optically, and crop it out and enlarge on the computer, Digital Zoom (enlargement) done by the computer going to be way better than the camera will try to upscale it.

[jhnel]

thank you for your comments:)

[Avalonthas]

Zoom in further using the post process way because you can use specialty software designed to "zoom" up on ur object with a better mathematical algorithm and therefore you will experience the least amount of loss. Because of a cameras processor being so small and nowheer near as fast as a PC, it cannot do such complex math and therefore digital zoom gives less quality then if u did it on ur computer. You can use traditional algortithsm provided by Photoshop, or you can get third party software that can do an even better job. I forgot the name of the software my buddy uses (i think it starts with an L) but it does an amazing job digitally zooming a photograph, in my opinion 10 times better. Takes longer, but well worth it (and unfortunetly the software costs money for a PS plugin, but im pretty sure you can find descent free versions if u dont wanna pay). Can someone help me out with some software titles?