newbie question re Digital/optical zoom

External Since: Sep 30, 2003 Posts: 28

On 23 Feb 2004 20:35:11 GMT, "Canopus" <BNRAGMAOKKXT.RemoveThis@spammotel.com>
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

>> Digital zoom is only sales hype and just a crock of crap.
>>
>
>Well, it has its place.

>The first 3x are optical
>zoom, after 3x to 6x it's digital zoom.

Hang on! You mean that half the "6X zoom" of the 602 is digital?

Geeze I'm angry! When I was looking at cameras (before I new of
dpreview etc), that was not pointed out to me by the sales guys. In
fact I was specifically led to believe that I was comparing 10X
optical zoom (Oly) with "6X zoom" (type obviously carefully not
mentioned) (Fuji).

In the end I bought the Oly, believing I was getting another 1.5X
extra, not 3!

BTW, I did buy at another shop. I did not trust those guys.
**************************************************** sorry

..........no I'm not!
remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Spike....Spike? Hello?

External Since: Oct 03, 2003 Posts: 30

Old Nick wrote:

> On 23 Feb 2004 20:35:11 GMT, "Canopus" <BNRAGMAOKKXT.RemoveThis@spammotel.com>
> vaguely proposed a theory
> ......and in reply I say!:
>
>
   > >> Digital zoom is only sales hype and just a crock of crap.
   > >>
  > >
  > > Well, it has its place.
>
  > > The first 3x are optical
  > > zoom, after 3x to 6x it's digital zoom.
>
> Hang on! You mean that half the "6X zoom" of the 602 is digital?
>
> Geeze I'm angry! When I was looking at cameras (before I new of
> dpreview etc), that was not pointed out to me by the sales guys. In
> fact I was specifically led to believe that I was comparing 10X
> optical zoom (Oly) with "6X zoom" (type obviously carefully not
> mentioned) (Fuji).
>
> In the end I bought the Oly, believing I was getting another 1.5X
> extra, not 3!
>
> BTW, I did buy at another shop. I did not trust those guys.
> **************************************************** sorry
>
> .........no I'm not!
> remove ns from my header address to reply via email
>
> Spike....Spike? Hello?

Yep, only the first 3x are optical. I saw a review on the S602Z which,
although they liked the camera, complained that when you were zooming
it had an irritating habit of pausing during the zoom. Well, the pause
is to indicate where it changes from optical to digital. I just wish
they had put a marker on the zoom scale you see in the viewfinder as
well.

Mind you, there seems to be an indication that once you have the ring
adapter for the 602 you can then add a telephoto lens etc. to it so as
far as I'm concerned the extra 3x digital zoom is just a
toy...sometimes handy on the fly.

Rob