High Mag. at reduced Pixels.

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Bob Williams - 10 May 2008 09:01 GMT

The 10 MP Panasonic FZ-50, and perhaps others, have a very interesting
feature. The normal Zoom Range of the FZ-50 is 12X, (35-420 mm).
However, the Extended Optical Zoom function uses the center of the
10-megapixel CCD, and extends the zoom ratio beyond 12x when the
resolution is decreased. For example, the 12x optical zoom extends to
21.4x for 3-megapixel image recording , or 17.1x for 5-megapixel and
13.4x for 8-megapixel recording.
If I understand it correctly, this is not simply a Digital Zoom action,
but an honest-to-goodness OPTICAL zoom operation.
How does Panny do this?
Bob Williams

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frederick - 10 May 2008 09:09 GMT

> If I understand it correctly, this is not simply a Digital Zoom action,
> but an honest-to-goodness OPTICAL zoom operation.

¿Qué?

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Alex Monro - 10 May 2008 09:22 GMT

> The 10 MP Panasonic FZ-50, and perhaps others, have a very interesting
> feature. The normal Zoom Range of the FZ-50 is 12X, (35-420 mm).
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> If I understand it correctly, this is not simply a Digital Zoom
> action, but an honest-to-goodness OPTICAL zoom operation.

No, it's just digital zoom, without interpolating back up to the full
image size. You would get exactly the same effect by cropping in an
image editor program.

The only difference between this and other digital zoom functions is
that Panasonic is a bit more honest in making it clear that you lose
resolution.

Signature

Alex Monro
Exeter, UK
Running on Linux (Kubuntu 7.1)

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pjdd@rediffmail.com - 10 May 2008 21:01 GMT

On May 10, 1:22 pm, Alex Monro <nospamdeleteabusen...@argaty.org.uk>
wrote:

> > The 10 MP Panasonic FZ-50, and perhaps others, have a very interesting
> > feature. The normal Zoom Range of the FZ-50 is 12X, (35-420 mm).
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> that Panasonic is a bit more honest in making it clear that you lose
> resolution.

Making the subject appear larger by pre-cropping in the camera
could be useful for people who either don't want or don't know
how to process a picture with a computer.

I know several people who enjoy snapping pictures, but have never
held a mouse in their hands. They either let their kids download
their shots to a computer or take the camera directly to a print
shop to order 4x6 prints. There must be millions of such people
around the world and, in their own way, many of them are no less
serious about taking pictures than the people in this NG. Catering
to them is simply good business strategy and IMHO, more relevant
than cramming more and more pixels into a small sensor.

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user@domain.invalid - 10 May 2008 14:07 GMT

> The 10 MP Panasonic FZ-50, and perhaps others, have a very interesting
> feature. The normal Zoom Range of the FZ-50 is 12X, (35-420 mm).
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> but an honest-to-goodness OPTICAL zoom operation.
> How does Panny do this?

The magic of the advertising lie.

Doug McDonald

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Bob Williams - 10 May 2008 21:33 GMT

>> The 10 MP Panasonic FZ-50, and perhaps others, have a very interesting
>> feature. The normal Zoom Range of the FZ-50 is 12X, (35-420 mm).
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Doug McDonald

That was my first assumption too, but why does Panny call it "Extended
OPTICAL Zoom"?
Why not just call it Digital Zoom like everyone else?
"CREATIVE" Advertising I guess :-(.
Bob

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Doug McDonald - 10 May 2008 23:48 GMT

>>> The 10 MP Panasonic FZ-50, and perhaps others, have a very
>>> interesting feature. The normal Zoom Range of the FZ-50 is 12X,
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> That was my first assumption too, but why does Panny call it "Extended
> OPTICAL Zoom"?

Because they can, in the USA at least. It's not "creative"
advertising, it a lie, pure and simple.

Doug McDonald

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