What is the difference between optical and digital zoom in a camcorder?
Optical zoom is created by the actual mechanical movement of the lenses (optics!) of the camera. This is similar to using a magnifying glass; the image quality is the same all the way through the zoom. Digital “zoom” is all electronic. Essentially, the camera (or computer) takes the image, and “guesses” at what it would look like if it was zoomed in farther. This results in reduced image quality and a pixellated image. You can do the same digital “zoom” thing by enlarging an image using your favorite video-editing program; so, you don’t even need a camcorder to make a digital zoom. So, optical zoom is the real, mechanical zoom. Digital zoom is an electronic guess. My take on it? I don’t even bother looking at digital zoom when buying a camcorder, and almost always have it turned off while shooting so that I don’t accidentally use it. Some camcorders advertise a 900-something magnification digital zoom, which is basically hype that serves almost no practical purpose. Pay MUCH more atten
