I want to but this camera but as it’s expensive i want to make sure the zoom is good. I don’t know what 4x optical zoom means so can someone tell me if it’s good or not? 
It’s not for taking pictures of nature, i want it because i have a few concerts coming up and i want close up footage because i’m sitting very far away.
Optical zoom is the facility to get closer to the subject without distortion to the picture quality, digital zoom will pixelate when applied.
4 x Optical zoom is a good standard but if your looking to take nature shots, or be some distance from your subject you will need a larger optical zoom, Fuji do a nice 10 X optical zoom camera.
If you intend to crop or enlarge you will need to use optical zoom over digital also.
Good luck
July 27th, 2009 at 1:20 am
The optical zoom is the actual optical focal length from wide angle to telephoto. 3x is the standard, better cameras have optical zooms from 5x to 20x. This is important to know, since P&S cameras are not able to interchange lenses like a DSLR can.
You need to know what subjects you intend to shoot to know if the focal lengths of the lens on the camera you are choosing are enough.
If you want to shoot wildlife, you will need a camera with at least a 10x optical zoom
References :
proFotog
July 27th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Optical zoom gives u zoom with less blur than the digital zoom we have a kodak with 10 x optical zoom and get better quality pics its the easyshare zd710 and was only £99 and as we already had the easyshare doc we can print instant pics at weddings special occassions
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July 27th, 2009 at 2:28 am
Optical zoom is the facility to get closer to the subject without distortion to the picture quality, digital zoom will pixelate when applied.
4 x Optical zoom is a good standard but if your looking to take nature shots, or be some distance from your subject you will need a larger optical zoom, Fuji do a nice 10 X optical zoom camera.
If you intend to crop or enlarge you will need to use optical zoom over digital also.
Good luck
References :
July 27th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Its an average amount of zoom. The Zeiss branded lenses on the Sony cameras can sometimes be better than their equivalent Sony version. So watch out for that too.
References :