Ok I understand the basics of optical vs digital zoom. But is there any advantage to using the digital zoom over just waiting till editing if you want to crop? I guess I don't understand the point of digital zoom. Any info? Does it preserve the print quality more?

For most cameras, the digital zoom is nothing more than a simple crop from the center of the shot, complete with all the coarse pixellation that you get if you just expanded your pixels by 4x.

Some cameras have special algorithms that enhance the digital zoom beyond a mere crop.

One important advantage of cropping over digital zoom is that the full image information is always available and should one crop not work out, additional efforts arepossible. Then there are some who think thatthere are image editors which will do a better job of interpolation than a camera.

In any case, my cameras are setto lock out the digital zoom feature.

I'm sure that there are other pros and cons of which I'm not aware.

The main point of digital zoom is that manufacturers can brag about having a high zoom without spending money on true optical zoom. In that regard it's just like a manufacturer using "interpolated" numbers for their megapixel rating.

Ironically digital zoom can be better than cropping if the camera is using JPEG. Some cameras will crop before compressing to JPEG which can come out better than cropping a full sized JPEG outside the camera.

Thanks Bruce.You have made me realise digital zoom is not completely useless

In addition to the above...I find it useful when using digital zoom as a sort of preview on site to see what your crop will look like later. Also use it sometimes with wildlife if I can't get close enough, just to chance framing the shot as best I can on the spot. So yes, it can be useful in a pinch. Best regards,

KennethD

Thanks everyone! That is kind of what I thought but just double checking!