Would someone explain optical zoom to me?

Roni Kurz: Optical zoom is the amount that the lens will zoom. Think of the lens like a telescope. The more zoom it has the closer you can bring far away items. If you look at the front of the cameras lens you will see some numbers. It might say for instance 20-400mm. This will give you a 20x zoom.Camera will also have digital zoom. This is achieved by the camera cropping your picture and will greatly decrease image quality. You are doing good by going with a camera with a lot of optical zoom as it does not decrease image quality....Show more

Jerald Florence: 20x sounds like a professional type camera.If you do not know what this term means, then I suggest you are buying a camera that is way over your head. To get started with family holidays /family fun type photos a 10x zoom would be adequate and half the price.Anyway optical zoom is the ability of the lens to move the focal point on the image sensor.The further the lens moves away from the sensor, the bigger th! e image is that is recorded.Digital zoom, uses software to make the image bigger, and in comparison to optical zoom, digital is not as good quality.Any thing above 10x zoom (either optical, digital, or combined) needs a tripod.Another important thing to consider in buying a camera is weight. Larger body camera with a big lens are very heavy to carry which is a pain if treking around a park etc, and it also encourages you to leave the camera on a table somewhere, where it easier to get stolen....Show more

Marita Stadick: Optical zoom is the ratio between two different focal lengths on a single lens. The greater the focal distance (expressed in millimeters) the closer (greater the magnification) you can get to an object. You stated 20X as an example. It's possible to have two lenses with the same zoom and different focal ranges. For example you can have a lens with a focal rage of 10mm-200mm (200/10=20) and one with 5mm-100mm (100/5=20). You have the same zoom but diff! erent magnifications. The lens with a maximum of 200mm would g! et you closer to your subject. Having a high zoom number usually means you have greater magnification by virtue of the math involved....Show more