Answer by experts in Optics only pl. What is the difference bet. optical & digital zoom? Which is superior?

Olen Penhallurick: I'm not an expert, BUT, digital zoom is not really zoom. In optical zoom the lens does the work. In digital zoom the camera snaps a shot and crops it to fit the frame. Digi zoom is a built in photoshop.You'll get the same effect using optical zoom and cropping your image on computer with whatever software you're using. I have the digi zoom turned off on my camera, it's a useless feature. Stick to optical....Show more

Cherry Stampka: Optical zoom is the amount of zoom the lens has. For example it might go from 28mm to 135mm. The higher the milimeters the closer the image will appear. Optical zoom is the only thing you need to consider as it does not degrade the quality of your pictures. It is simply the lens moving further away from the shutter.Digital zoom is when the camera crops an image to make it appear closer. What your left with is a much smaller file that will look pixelated on a large monitor or if you print it. It is not recommended! that you use digital zoom....Show more

Dorris Homola: optical zoom is def superior to digital. This is because optical zoom is meant for focusing. Digital zoom only relates to pixals. If you can't focus on it in the first place, than the pixals will be messed up.