Many people in their quest to find the perfect camera are often confused by the seemingly similarities that optical zoom and digital zoom create.  While they are very similar, they offer great differences.  Not all cameras offer both zooms; however before you buy a camera, you need to determine which zoom you are more concerned with, as it relates to your pictures you want to take. 

Many people in their quest to find the perfect camera are often confused by the seemingly similarities that optical zoom and digital zoom create.  While they are very similar, they offer great differences.  Not all cameras offer both zooms; however before you buy a camera, you need to determine which zoom you are more concerned with, as it relates to your pictures you want to take. 

Optical Zoom –This is a much more accurate type of zoom typically, it involves the use of lenses, and light, the exact foundation that photography is based upon.  Optical zoom means that in basic simple terms the image you want to see is magnified as it actually appears.  It is like looking at the subject under a microscope in that all of the details of the image are exactly how they really are.  Optical zoom is typically not cheap; most cameras that include this feature tend to be more on the higher end of the camera scale.  They are worth the money though, personally my camera offers a 12x optical zoom, this means that I am able to bring the things far away, very close to me without blur and fuzz. 

Digital Zoom –This type of zoom is different from optical in that instead of magnifying the image as it appears, it magnifies the image from a digital standpoint.  This means that there is room for error; lines can appear blurred, colors altered slightly.  This is because the last digital image that was seen is blown up, instead of putting the image under that microscope we talked about for optical zoom.  For those who are not wanting to do a lot of zoom pictures a digital zoom camera is perfectly fine.  The novice photographer who is looking for a snapshot camera, or even just taking a few pictures of their trips will find that digital zoom works perfectly for most normal photos. 

As you can see, there are several specific differences between digital zoom and optical zoom.  If you are comparing the zooms based upon prices, you will find that digital zoom tends to be cheaper, however most cameras will only offer a digital zoom to approximate 4x, with optical zoom, and the camera of your choice it is possible to increase the zoom to as much as 15x.  As you can see, there is a great difference between the zoom ranges in the zooms.  Many cameras that offer optical zoom, also offer digital zoom.  The reason for having both zooms is so that the different advantages of the zooms can both be used in the same camera.  Good luck camera shopping and enjoy your purchase.