How important is optical zoom on a camcorder?

Question

I cannot decide between a Panasonic 10X optical zoom with better features (like night shot and 3CCD) and a Panasonic 32X optical zoom with less features. I will use it for family videos and music recitals/concerts.

They are both HDD camcorders and the 3CCD one is about $150 more expensive, it also has light. I've decided now, I'll go for the 3CCD, it has everything I need, I was not sure whether I would regret about not choosing the 32X, but as you are saying 10X is more than enough.

Answer 1

woah. just so you know, 3 charged coupling devices (3CCD) on a camcorder means it uses 3 devices to transform light into picture so that makes the quality look WAY better. all professional camcorders use 3 CCD. and optical zoom isnt so important unless you plan on zooming a lot, but beacuse of the cameras 3 CCDs, you can have 10x optical zoom and zoom in just as much as the 32x optical zoom with better quality. so no matter what, i assure that the 3CCD 10x optical zoom camera is way better than the panasonic with 32x Optical zoom

Answer 2

Hello...
First you should know the difference of Optical and Digital zoom... The Digital is the one made by a software on camera which lose quality, like if you get a picture on your computer and zoom it several times, and the Optical is made by lens which doesn't affect the quality of the video...

The good thing of having more optical zoom is that you can tape recitals and music concerts been farther from the stage, if you don't have a good optical zoom you will have to use the digital and you will lose quality.

The night shot makes the video all green, that may be useful sometimes, but i guess you will not use that on recitals or concerts.

I am not very informed about the 3CCD thing, but I've seen that just in newer models of camcorders...

Its up to you, you should decide if you will use more the zoom or the night shot and the 3CCD...

There is this site of camcorders reviews, that might help you:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

Good luck!

Answer 3

If ALL other things are equal between the two cameras, the 60x optical is the winner. Optical zoom is the only "true" zoom, in which the lens elements actually move to magnify the light. Digital zoom is the camera's "guess" at what the image might look like if it was zoomed in. It essentially just takes the pixels in the image and makes them larger. You can do the same thing in editing software, and either way, it won't be clear. It'll be pixellated. I never even look at digital zoom when buying any kind of camera, since one of the first things I do when I turn it on for the first time is DISABLE the digital zoom so I don't accidentally use it. It's a non-factor for me. It doesn't exist. But if the 10x optical zoom camera has other features that are better than the 60x, it might be worth a look. You'd be surprised at how rarely you even need a zoom more than 10x, so other features might be more important. You have to do the full comparison. But strictly speaking of zoom, 60x optical is better than 10x optical. Don't even look at the digital part.

Answer 4

even a practiced professional can not be expected to hand hold more that about 4x zoom. if doing performances that call for a lot of zoom, you better consider a good camera support system aka tripod. baby pictures and concerts are at almost opposite extremes of what is best for camera features. you may need to decide where your priorities lie.

Answer 5

More details required

Answer 6

It depends