What is considered good zoom for a digital camera?

Question

I'm going on a wildlife photography trip and need to know how much zoom im going to need.

Answer 1

It depends, but first of all, be sure that it has Optical Zoom. It provides a better solution for digital photography and does not decreases picture quality. Avoid cameras without digital zoom. After that, the rest it's like Icecream: the more, the better. If your budget supports a 700X optical zoom, buy it. If you can only get 3X optical zoom, then buy that one. The rest depends on you. If you want more "aficionado" stuff then buy a camera that supports lens changing. Than way you can buy a huge lens (like the used in professional and sports photography) and have all the zoom you might need for your trip =P

Visit Steve's Digicams for a more deep review of digital cameras you might want to buy

Answer 2

a 12x optical zoom could be fantastic, however remember that the closer you zoom to an object, the more heavily the zoomed image will shake, resulting blurred images. If you want to buy a camera that has a high zoom function, make sure you purchase one with an OPTICAL STABILIZER (it's also called STEADYSHOT) in some of the cameras such as in Sony. Optical stabilizers filter out the shakikng of our hand, which is extremely useful if we we zoom to a far distance, which results a sharp image.

One more thing: make a distinction between opcial and digital zooms:

Optical zooming moves the image objective inward or outward, bringing the picture closer to you.

Digital Zooming doesn't bring anything closer to you, but instead it ENLARGES the pixels of the given photo, that might result in the loss of image quality.

So buy a camera that has a high optical zoom, such as 12x optical zooming. Digital zoom is included in every cameras, don't worry about it. (and once you buy a large zoom machine, buy one with an Optical Stabilizer) -Panasonic offers the cheapest cameras with built in optical stabilizers and they might also be good, since they also use Leica lenses (Leica is a famous camera and lens producer)

Answer 3

Most Digital cameras have Either Digital or Optical zoom. Some have both. Digital takes the actual image and blows up the pixels to get it closer while Optical pulls the image closer before it converts them to pixels. A higher Optical zoom is better for producing bigger pictures from the imigas. The digital zoom can start to look grainy once you try to enlarge it past a certain point.

Answer 4

There's a lot you can do with a hybrid digital camera, and one of these will typically cost about the same as a good zoom lens for a dSLR. I would say that unless you have a lot of money to throw at lenses then you're better off with a good hybrid digital - try them out in the shop and read up on them before you buy. I would lean towards Nikon, Panasonic or Sony, each of their leading models has something different to offer.

Answer 5

The basic answer is for you to buy as much zoom as you can afford. The opportunities this safari offers may never occur again, and you don't want to miss even one spectacualr shot for lack of magnifying power.

For lens quality, I recommend you stick to name brand manufacturers.

Don't forget to bring your old camera. Especially if you intend to purchase a high end digital with interchangable lenses. You dont want to have to waste time switching lenses from the long zoom to something else for a closeup of an exotic bug or flower.

I don't know who's organizing your trip, or what you've been promised. Some photo safaris are able to bring you very, very close to the wildlife. But wild animals tend to be fickle and unpredictable. That feeding lion may not be by the roadside when you pass, but on the ridge, fifty yards away. Your long lens will be the difference between an interesting animal, taking up 10% of the image and the close up of teeth and eyes.

Bring lots and lots of memory cards, or a laptop to upload and store your day's images.

Happy hunting!

Answer 6

Go for a camera with an optical zoom of 6x or more. Don't worry much about digital zoom, because it won't matter while you're actually taking the pictures.

Answer 7

Just bought a 70 to 300 mm zoom to short wildlife.

Answer 8

the best zoom for a digital camera is 20 times optical zoom. but if u have a good resolution on ur camera u can use also the digital zoom a lot. It depends on the resolution that ur camera has

Answer 9

For wildlife photography the higher the zoom you are better off

Answer 10

If you have an SLR digital, I would recommend at least a 200mm lens (preferably a 300mm).

If you are currently looking for a good deal, the Nikon D50 is currently on sale (in the EU) and it comes with the 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses. The 200mm is especially useful for taking wildlife that's at a distance away.

If you're taking an automatic, they generally do not zoom in as much, and you may not be able to get the rare shots of tigers, birds, deers... from afar.