Digital Cameras by Kim Komando
some things about cameras and zoom.

Digital camera advertising often emphasizes megapixels. Buyers focus on
this and tend to give the zoom lens little thought. That's a mistake.
A zoom can give a distant subject excellent detail. Today's crop of 10x
optical zoom cameras provides great flexibility at a reasonable price.

There are a number of three megapixel, 10x optical zoom cameras on the
market -- Fujifilm FinePix S5000 ($399.95), Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1
($499.95), Olympus C-740 ($399) and the Toshiba PDR-M700 ($499.95).

The optical lens numbers on digital cameras can be compared to 35mm
film cameras. The FujiFilm S5000, for instance, is the equivalent of
37mm at 1x. At 10x, its lens is the equivalent of 370mm. The more you
zoom into a subject, the greater the magnification.

This is important when you cannot get up close and personal. If, for
instance, your son is celebrating a touchdown in the end zone, you can
shoot his picture from the stands. Snapping such a picture without a
powerful zoom isn't really possible.

On my Web site, I have two pictures, one taken using the 1x optical
zoom and the other at 10x. The difference is striking. They're at:
    http://www.komando.com/kolumns10xzoom.asp

Optical zoom should not be confused with digital zoom. Camera
manufacturers advertise both. But digital zoom is not nearly as
useful as optical zoom.

Digital zoom crops part of the subject and enlarges it to fill the
screen. This spreads the pixels and degrades the picture. Digital zoom
attempts to compensate by adding pixels in a bit of guesswork called
interpolation. This generally doesn't work well. Although there are
times when digital zoom is useful, optical zoom is much more important
in the buying decision.

Manufacturers often market cameras with a total zoom figure. This is
the optical zoom number, multiplied by digital zoom. For example, the
Fujifilm S5000 offers a 2.2x digital zoom, in addition to the 10x
optical zoom. Fujifilm promotes the camera as having a total 22x zoom.
You'll be better off looking at the optical and digital numbers
individually, and giving more weight to optical zoom.

The powerful optical zoom does have a downside: It can be hard to hold
steady. Any movement on your part is magnified. This results in a fuzzy
picture. You may find that a tripod is helpful.

Many digital cameras have a tripod mount on the bottom. Portable
tripods fold into a compact four-inch length that fits into a pocket
or camera bag. And they weigh only a few ounces.

If dragging a tripod around is unappealing or impossible, look for
stationary objects--a bench, your car, etc--on which to rest the
camera. You can improvise and still get excellent pictures.

If this is your first digital camera, you may want to get some advice.
Otherwise, you could fail to center on other features that are
important to you. Specialty camera shops usually have knowledgeable
people who can guide you around pitfalls. They should be willing to let
you try different makes and models without feeling rushed. But you can
expect to pay list price at these shops.

Before buying from any store, online or not, clarify that the
camera is new--not refurbished or remanufactured--and that it has
a U.S. warranty.

--> A LITTLE ABOUT ME: KIM KOMANDO
My weekly radio show is heard nationally by 8 million people on over
400 stations. I also do a Computer Minute each weekday, heard on more
than 285 stations. I write a weekly column that runs in more than 100
newspapers. And my Q&A column appears weekly in USA Today. I also write
for MSN's bCentral. You can read my bio here:
    http://www.komando.com/about_kim.asp

--> DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN WEB SITE?
Help me spread the word! Link your site to my site. The instructions
and cool artwork are waiting for you right here:
    http://www.komando.com/fanlinks.asp

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