What's better - a 7.1 mp camera w/3 x zoom, or 6 mp camera w/ 4x zoom?

Question

Deciding which camera to get... !! Is 4 zoom really much better than a 3 zoom??? Or is it better to have the little more megapixels and crop on photo software to zoom pics in that way??

I am using it mostly for video clips, pics of my kids etc, just snap and shoot type stuff- scenery.

Note - I do use the pics in elaborate DVD slideshows that I play on my 55 inch big screen- wonder then if a 6 or 7 mp will show a difference at that size?? I know my old 2.1 showed graininess, but a 6 vs 7 may not be a big difference??

Answer 1

Either 6 or 7 MP will be bigger than the resolution of your TV, so that factor will make no difference to how the pics appear on the TV. For other purposes, the difference between 6 and 7 MP is negligible.

Be sure your new camera provides the best video resolution of 640x480 at 30 frames per second (fps). That will make a big difference in how your video looks on TV, compared to your old camera.

Some new cameras also allow you to zoom while shooting video. Or to take a still pic while shooting video (although this causes a brief interuption to the video). These features may be useful to you.

Finally, more optical zoom is always useful for the kind of pics you take. However, there is not a dramatic difference between 3x and 4x.

If your budget allows $300 to $350, you should consider one of the "ultra zoom" cameras, which include zooms up to 12x. Some examples are the Sony H1 or H2, the Canon S2, or the Panasonic FZ7.

Good Luck

Answer 2

I'd go for the better optical zoom. There is not that much difference in a practical sense between 6 MP and 7 MP. Try not to rely on software to the point that you become lazy with your composition. It is ALWAYS better to get the image you really want in your camera in the first place. I'm not saying that you should never crop and I do it all the time, but getting the right image is the most important part of the process. When you discover a better picture within the one you have already taken, it's a bonus.

Answer 3

Take the 6 mp with 4 x zoom.

The difference between 6 mp and 7.1 mp is negligible. It won't be visible to you when you print. If you are normally printing pictures in 5x8 inch size, then there is no difference. With good interpolation software you can also blow up your shot from 6mp camera. I have printed 16 x 20 inch size photos from a 6.3 MP digital SLR and displayed them in exhibition. However, to get the best quality I use RAW mode and do the fine tuning there after.

Also check the brand of the camera. Apart from Mega pixels it is the lens and the sensor which determines the quality of a camera. So stick to a good brand like Canon. Canon produces very good senors which produces very less noise as opposed to other digital cameras.

A camera with lower megapixels but with less noise can be blown to a bigger size than a higher megapixel camera. So keep in mind the above issues before buying.

Answer 4

The difference between 6 mp and 7.1 mp is negligible. Both will produce great 8x10 inch prints. With 7.1 mp you'll just have some extra wiggle room when you crop pictures on your pc.
The difference in optical zoom is more important. A little bit of extra reach - at either end of the zoom range - can mean that you get more shots. But again, it's a small difference.
It sounds as though you have two specific models in mind. I would simply get whichever one had the best reviews. Other things to consider are responsiveness (how long is the start-up time, etc.), how does the camera perform in low light situations (will the auto-focus take forever to lock on, how high does the ISO setting go, etc.), and most importantly, how's the image quality?
Here are two great sites for in-depth reviews:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default.asp?view=alpha

Answer 5

Unless you are going into high resolution printing or printing large format pictures or doing extensive cropping of the digital image then 6mp should be quite adequate.

Optical zoom can be very helpful. Some cameras now have, I think, 10x to 12x optical zoom.

3x optical zoom is quite minimal by current standards. With 5x optical zoom you can better compose pictures being taken at a distance. Of course, if you had the 7.1mp you could crop to compensate for the lesser optical zoom.

Might be "six of one and half a dozen of the other".

Price might be a consideration.

Actually, I am surprised that a 7.1mp would have only a 3x optical zoom.

And as a caution, I've heard and am inclined to agree with the concept that digital zoom is almost the least of considerations. Without it, you should be able to get a good large image and still crop it to what you want; rather than doing it with digital zoom.

Answer 6

The Optical zoom is much more important than the number of pixels.
Digital zoom will just calculate the position of the pixels. A professionnal software can have good results, but it will never be like what optical lense can do...

So choose the second one...

Answer 7

Depends on all the other factors and what you want to use it for. I tend to multiply the two together to get a rough guide, making the 6MP 4x the better choice.