AtoZ Challenge: Z – Zoom (Digital)

Zoom (Digital)

We all know what zoom is and that there are two types, optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom changes the focal length of the lens and closes in on the subject, while the digital zoom uses algorithms and software to do the same. The effects, however are not similar.
Optical zoom shall not degrade a picture quality, where as digital zoom will. To demonstrate, this post.

Below is a photo of a cute shih-tzu puppy named Bitsy.

Shih tzu puppy

And then I was curious to see what has reflected off her eyes, so, I zoom in digitally.

shih tzu puppy, zoomed

What I get is a blur. A pixellated image with horrible quality.

On the contrary, in a previous occasion, I had optically zoomed in to the eyes of a squirrel and the result is shown below.

squirrel

I hope the comparisons shall make it evidently clear that no matter what the camera companies publish in their camera brochures about the digital zoom capability, one must always base their opinions on the optical zoom provided.

In the previous series, Z was for Zoom Burst.

This post finishes up the A to Z series, for the second time. I ll summarize all the phrases in a separate post, and then, you, my dear reader shall have glossary of 52 terms, related to photography with suitable images and explaination for your ready reference.

See you all in the upcoming posts soon.

Cheers!!

 

Up close

Heyy there all,

I had been planning to do a close up photo collection of everyday items for quite sometime now and then yesterday I was, enough planning, lets just do it. But hey, neither do I own a macro lens needed for these insane close ups, nor can I acquire one anytime soon (too costly to buy,yet). Should I let it stop me, hell no!

These are what I shot. Recognition should not be an issue and I hope you do like the photos. My set up, the last photo  in the group 🙂

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My set up consists of a table lamp, a lens hood, old hard disks and the lens I used was the 55-200mm zoom with a close up filter attached.

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The photos taken using a close up filter are not as sharp as we would love them to be, but then the filters cost almost 1/10th the price of a good macro lens. For an occasional close up shoot, I dont think investing in a macro lens is very fruitful, but if you want extreme close up and clarity, the close up filter is not your way out.

Have fun shooting!

Cheers!