Digital zoom 1x 8x which means. Zoom in CCTV
We all want the best in life - friends, books, cars or even cameras. But even the best things can be disappointing - for example, if you live in a large mansion that you dreamed of since childhood, you realize that you do not need 5 bedrooms and 6 toilets. The same can happen with a camera - the highest scores do not mean you will enjoy the performance of the camera.
You need to know that there are no hard and fast rules for buying a camera that produces the best possible image. In the end, it all depends not only on the zoom and pixels, but also on the photographer and the subjects being photographed. But, of course, details and specifics also matter a lot. For example, it is better to give preference to optical zoom than digital, because there is still a difference. You should also pay attention to the focal length of the lenses.
Focal length ("XX" mm) is the power at which the camera can focus on a subject, and optical zoom (read "X" x, for example 16x reads sixteenx zoom) is the magnification available to the camera. This means that if a lens has a long focal length, it has a narrow and not large angle of view, and a short focal length implies more wide angle review. To make it clearer, let's consider an example: let's say you buy a camera with a focal length of 35mm and a 10x optical zoom. This means that the minimum distance available to the camera is 35mm, and the maximum distance, thanks to the 10x zoom, will be 250mm. If you buy a camera with a shorter focal length, then you can take pictures with a wider angle of view. This is why it is very important when buying a camera to know what kind of pictures you will be taking.
To make it easier to decide which camera to buy, we offer you a set of simple questions, answering which you will determine what kind of zoom you need.
Do you need a camera to take pictures of your loved ones and friends, for example, at birthdays or other parties? In this case, you don't need a big zoom - 2x or 3x will be enough. In fact, when photographing large groups of people, a wide angle of view is more important to you than a large zoom. If you need to take close-up photos, it is better to get closer than zooming in, narrowing the perspective of the shot and distorting the image.
Would you like to capture natural scenery while hiking in the woods or mountains? To take high-quality pictures of nature, you need to hold the camera firmly in your hands, avoiding distortion and blurring. Therefore, for distant shots, you will need a 5x or 7x zoom. This will ensure high-quality and even images with long distance, will not reduce the viewing angle and retain all the details.
Do you want to take pictures of small objects that are very far away, such as birds or? Then you need a really big zoom, for example 10x. If you are interested in objects, and not what surrounds them, then a camera with a narrow perspective with a 10x or 15x zoom is suitable for you - so you can take pictures of a lion's face or even a hawk's beak.
Where do you want to take photos - outdoors or indoors? If you are going to photograph more at home or in the office, then due to the lack of space, you will need a wide angle of view. In this case, a 2x-5x zoom camera will suit you. If you want to photograph outdoors, then you will be provided with a good angle of view, so for photographing distant objects you will need a large zoom - from 5x or more.
When you buy an expensive camera, it is important to know what and why you are spending your money. Knowing your needs and goals will help you get the right camera for you.
The term zoom comes from English verb zoom, which literally means "to enlarge the image." When choosing a camera, many are guided by the number of pixels of the matrix, although this indicator is not the main one. As well as decades ago, the dominant factor in image quality is still optics.
Optical zoom
Optical zoom is a lens system's method of bringing an object closer, which is why it is called that. Optical zoom in photographic technology has existed for more than half a century, and the high-quality effect of image enlargement is achieved using a special device called a zoom, which is a complex optical system with the ability to change focus using multiple lenses. Magnifying the subject by means of a zoom lens helps to obtain a picture at the exit without loss of quality. There are two types of zoom: with manual mechanical focus or with automatic focus adjustment, which is convenient for amateur photography, but useless when creating a professional picture, for example, in macro mode. Autofocus does not provide for high sharpness at multiple optical zooming of the photographed object. In a word, in cameras with auto focus magnification, as a rule, is no more than three times the value, while when using a mechanical zoom, an object can be brought closer to more than ten times. Among the disadvantages of cameras with manual setting Sharpness and zooming in (optical zoom) is the most common risk of dust getting inside the lens.
When choosing photographic equipment with digital zoom, a golden mean is needed between the number of megapixels of the matrix and the zoom of a zoom lens, because even with zero and five times zoom, the image is fixed at the same number of megapixels.
Digital zoom
The definition of digital zoom came along with the proliferation of compact digital cameras, which were popularly nicknamed "point-and-shoot cameras". The digital zoom is not connected with the approach of the object, since the picture displayed on the display is only stretched using the camera's matrix, being a method of framing with a significant loss of quality.
With digital zoom, the picture loses its sharpness, since focusing in this case is simply absent, because focusing and focusing can only be done if the camera has an additional optical system. As a rule, the use of digital zoom is justified to enlarge the subject by no more than 40-50%, because with a larger zoom, the clarity of the picture will be very low.
Articles and Life Hacks
Our material is for those who want to understand what the digital zoom actually is, which is available in your smartphone, according to the characteristics listed on the seller's website.
In fact, there is absolutely nothing complicated in it: it is just a software scaling of the image received from the camera sensor before saving it to a photo to a file.
What else is zoom
Why digital? Because besides him, there is also an optical zoom. Moreover, if it comes about cameras, it is much more common in them.The camera lens is large enough to allow designers to anticipate focal length changes. It is this parameter that determines how "close" or "far" in relation to the photographer the subject will appear in the picture.
The focal length range in specialized cameras is from 10 to several hundred millimeters. Moreover, for them, the developers provide for interchangeable optics, both short-focus (wide-angle) and long-focus (telescopic).
The design of the smartphone camera does not allow anything like that. Therefore, their creators have to get out, compensating for the weakness through the use of software.
What are the disadvantages of digital zoom
First of all, it degrades the quality of the resulting images. The amount of information received from the camera sensor is fixed: the smartphone cannot change either its resolution or the characteristics of the lens system.Therefore, in order to get an image of a larger scale with the same image size, the image has to be “stretched” programmatically. In this case, the clarity of details deteriorates, and digital noise appears.
How to deal with it
There are several options to combat the impact of digital zoom on smartphone image quality, so you can choose the most suitable:
- Purchase expensive model with optical zoom.
- Choose a device with a high-quality dual-module camera.
- Save image in RAW format for editing on PC.
Smartphones with good dual-module cameras aren't cheap either. However, their device allows you to get better photos due to the difference in the focal length of each of the modules.
One of them can be wide-angle, and the other one is telephoto. By combining the information received from the two sensors, the camera application is capable of digital zooming much more correctly.
The latter option, oddly enough, is also found only in top-end, in extreme cases - sub-flagship models.
Unlike saving images in JPEG format, which leads to serious loss of quality when they are further edited, RAW format saves much more data and allows you to get a much higher quality image.
Unfortunately, such files take up much more space than JPEGs.
The conclusion from the above is unambiguous: cheap phones are not designed for high-quality photography. Those who do not want to purchase a separate camera, but want to get impressive photos, need to choose a model from the top segment.
Even digital zoom will be much better in it than in a budget gadget.
Evaluating the capabilities of a camera, not least of all, experts pay attention to whether it provides a zoom and what is its magnification.
Despite the fact that today everyone has photographic equipment, at least in the form of a camera in a smartphone, not everyone uses zoom. The reason is simple - a lack of understanding or lack of information about what zoom is and what it is for.
Term Zoom borrowed from English, where the verb "To zoom" used in the meaning "Rise, rise" ... The noun "zoom" today in English language used to mean " close-up, scale ".
In Russian, this is the name for a type of lens for photo-video shooting, in which the possibility of changing the focal length is provided, which makes it possible to increase the resulting image. In fact, the zoom provides the camera with the capabilities of a telescope, i.e. shooting distant objects with a zoom effect.
The term "zoom" for a variable focus lens is specific to photographic technology. In the film industry, the word "zoom" is used for this, and in television, such lenses are called "zoom lenses."
Before the emergence digital technology zoom lenses were made exclusively on the basis of optical lenses. With the advent of digital cameras, there was a need for digital zoom, or Digital zoom. It turned out that digital zoom is much easier to implement and can be used not only in photo and video equipment specially designed for shooting, but also in cameras.
In the characteristics of digital cameras, the number indicated opposite the "zoom" parameter means the maximum magnification factor of the picture without significant loss of quality.
The zoom factor means how many times the focal length can be increased for shooting a distant object. In a conventional lens, there are from three to seven optical lenses, which are fixed relative to each other and serve to fix the light flux in a certain place. 
Previously, when all cameras were film, the size of the frame on photographic film was the standard 35 x 24 mm. Photo lens manufacturers were guided by this standard: perception similar to the image visible to the human eye was obtained at a focal length of 50 mm.
The first zoom lenses did not increase the focal length by more than two or three times, since the calculation of the optics required for a larger zoom was very challenging task... Moreover, for use in household appliances it was also necessary to focus on the sharpness of the photographic image: it should not get lost when using the zoom. Until now, the optimal zoom effect is obtained when using three to four times the zoom, and higher magnification values deteriorate the picture quality.
The principle of image approximation using optics is based on a reduction in the viewing angle and a mechanical increase in the focal length. The lens extension can be smooth or stepped and is implemented using a complex system of glass optical lenses inside its housing. When you change the zoom, the rest of the camera parameters remain unchanged, this is very important point that allows you to take pictures of excellent quality.
In optical lenses, it is possible not only to "zoom in", but also to "remove" the subject of photography by reducing the focal length. This technique is necessary for shooting small objects, the so-called macro photography. It allows you to obtain high-quality images in a magnified form and is often used for shooting insects, plants and other very small objects with a magnification effect.
It should be understood that digital zoom has nothing to do with optics and is implemented, as a rule, in software. Simply put, from the base image, an area that needs to be increased is "cut out", after which the distances between the pixels of this area are stretched with a predetermined magnification. In this case, the clarity of the picture is inevitably lost, and the edges of the depicted objects are often blurred, and the image itself is blurred.
The final quality of images taken using digital zoom directly depends on the size of the base sensor, i.e. from the resolution of the digital camera. As a rule, in smartphones, the matrix is small, so there is no need to talk about high-quality multiple zoom, but in expensive digital cameras this feature is quite comparable to the quality of images captured with an optical zoom lens.
Optical zoom "zooms in" the subject using optical lenses that are located in the lens barrel. At the same time, the image quality remains practically unchanged. 
Digital zoom enlarges the already obtained image, stretching the image using digital processing, so its quality depends on the size of the electronic matrix and the magnification factor.
Choosing and buying a camera is not an easy and responsible business: not only do you need to take into account all the desired functions and characteristics of the device, but you also need to find such a device in a suitable price category. The most main mistake buyer - unquestioning relying on the words of the sales floor consultant. As you know, the main task of managers is to increase sales. For good advertising of a product, marketers go to various tricks, for example, indicate in the description of the device great value zoom, and what kind of zoom (optical or digital), do not indicate, hoping for the incompetence of the buyer. To avoid all this and choose the optimal device, you should know in advance everything about the zoom function and the types of zoom.
What is zoom?
Zoom is a special parameter of the camera lens that allows you to change the scale, thereby enlarging distant objects. With its help, you can shoot stars from a distance, scale and photograph even flowers in a window on the 9th floor, even tests military equipment and the departure of shells without any mental and physical harm.
The zoom depends on the focal length value. FR is the length of the segment from the middle of the lens to the matrix, i.e., the focusing point. It is customary to mark it on the lens in millimeters, for example, a pair of numbers 5.8-24 mm: the first number is the FR at the short end, and the second number is the FR at the long end. If we divide the number of the long FR by the number of the short one, we get the zoom value equal to four.
Digital zoom
Now that we know what zoom is, it's worth understanding its main varieties: digital and optical. Some cameras combine both types.
Digital zoom, when compared with optical, is a kind of fiction, because through its use you can get only a digital processing product, and not a really high-quality approximate object in the photo. Scaling occurs by stretching the central part of the photo with the program until it reaches the size of the original frame.
If the digital zoom ratio is large, the image can be enlarged with less loss of quality, but if it is small, then with the increase, the quality is lost forever. Already filled microfragments cannot be improved qualitatively, so such images become highly pixelated when enlarged.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to say unequivocally that using digital zoom, you can get only a low quality image, because the digital processing methodology does not stand still, but is constantly improving. In comparison with devices literally 7 years ago, the current processing programs of cameras are able to significantly increase images, and this is done so well that stretching is almost imperceptible.
If this zoom definitely does not satisfy your requirements, you can always either turn it off or change its value in the settings.
Optical zoom
Such a zoom is an enlargement of an image by using an eyepiece. By reducing the viewing angle, i.e. the focal length, the object in the photo is brought closer. The main advantage of optical zoom over digital is the fact that when the image is enlarged, the inter-pixel distance does not decrease, so the quality of the photo does not deteriorate.
The focal length range can be seen directly on the lens. Naturally, with the optical zoom, its highest possible value is preferable, especially since the industry does not stand still, literally "stamping" more and more improved devices.
Superzums - record holders of zoom magnification
At the present time, only an 80-year-old grandmother can be surprised by the optical 10x zoom. Progress is evident, and the current generation is already free to enjoy compact cameras equipped with 50x zoom. This is evaluated not just as a breakthrough, but as a whole leap, a leap of generations. Indeed, what is digital zoom compared to optical superzoom? Compact cameras with such a zoom in terms of unsurpassed photo quality have already managed to compete with bulky sets of DSLRs and countless lenses that professional photographers sweat to all photo shoots. Naturally, such compact superzoom will not replace many of the specific "gadgets" of highly functional photographic equipment, however, in terms of mobility and ergonomics, they give them a head start.
Due to the fact that compacts already have a powerful zoom, the lens of such a camera does not need to be constantly removed / put on in order to find the most suitable one in a particular photo shoot, so this prevents dust from entering the matrix.
Zoom is also present in camcorders. The most progressive option in this case will be the manual superzoom. Even in spite of the fact that a video camera with a zoom is not a novelty nowadays, the presence of such a function in the device is a significant bonus.
Therefore, it is best to opt for an optical zoom unit or a super zoom compact. You already know what digital zoom is and what the quality of photo enlargement is. Zoom should not be the main reason for buying a device, it is better to purchase good camera, providing for the possibility of changing optics. In this case, if the desire or to have a high-power zoom completely overwhelms you, you can always buy a suitable lens.
