In photography, zoom allows you to get a closer view of your subject. Whether that be zooming in to see a subject far in the distance, zooming to view the inside of a flower, or anything in between, zoom has got you covered. In this article, we’ll discuss the difference between optical zoom vs digital zoom.
Traditionally, zoom involved using a lens that had variable focal lengths to allow you to photograph a subject up close, or turn the zoom and see something further away. However, many digital cameras these days allow digital zoom. This allows you to zoom in on a subject without having a lens with variable focal lengths.
How Do They Work?
Optical zoom physically moves lenses and components of the lens to magnify the image that appears on the camera screen. On a lens capable of optical zoom, you will usually rotate a ring on the outside of the lens, or push a button to tell the lens to zoom in or out. Most lenses will indicate that they are capable of optical zoom by stating their focal range (ex: 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm).
Digital zoom does not require a special lens. This is a feature that requires a camera with digital zoom. Most high-end cameras do not have digital zoom, but this is a feature commonly found on beginner and intermediate cameras. This is usually a feature present on cameras without an interchangeable lens. Digital zoom also magnifies the image on your screen. However, unlike optical zoom, digital zoom is simply cropping out the edges of your frame to create a larger image to fill the space.
Imagine loading an image into your favorite photo editing application, and cropping the image to be 25% of its normal size. This is exactly what digital zoom is doing, except that it is doing it in the field. Your image is much smaller than it would be with optical zoom.
Which is Better?
If you can afford a higher end camera with interchangeable lenses, optical zoom is much better. Optical zoom does not crop the image, but rather uses the elements of the lens to create a magnified image of the same size. For example, if you take an image of something far away using optical zoom, it will be the same size in pixels as the image would have been without using optical zoom. However, if you use digital zoom, the image will be much smaller. On a subject very far away, this can often mean that the subject will have less detail.
The only benefit to digital zoom is that usually cameras with digital zoom are generally more cost effective than their optical zoom counterparts.
The bottom line is that using optical zoom vs digital zoom, you can achieve a very similar image. However, an image taken with optical zoom will maintain a much higher resolution than one taken with digital zoom.
