Extended optical Zoom

[freedom1]

I have a Panasonic DMC-fz28
I'm going over the manual and getting familiar all the settings.
I don't understand whats happening when I use the extended optical zoom.
By dropping down to 3 mega pexils, I can double the optical zoom from 18X to 32X . How does this work?
If I take a picture at 10 mega pixels at 18X zoom, would I get the same effect of the extended zoom by simply cropping and enlarging the picture?

[JPW2020]

If I take a picture at 10 mega pixels at 18X zoom, would I get the same effect of the extended zoom by simply cropping and enlarging the picture?

Essentially yes.The camera is just cropping the picture and saving you the trouble.The FZ50 has the same feature-I never use it.

[Honest Gaza]

When I was looking at upgrading from my FZ-20 a couple of years ago....I was looking at the FZ-50 and noticed the same feature as JPW has mentioned above.

I'm not so sure I agree with JPW's response though. Digital Zoom from the Camera is the same as Zooming in from your PC....but I thought that the extended Zoom worked differently (better ?)

Gene may be able to shed some light on this question.

[David Metsky]

Not really, Extended Zoom is pretty much the same thing as digital zoom.

Plus, the Extra Optical Zoom* uses the center of the CCD to further extend the powerful 18x optical zoom when a resolution of less than 10.1-megapixel is used. This extends the zoom ratio up to 32.1x (35mm equivalent: 866mm) for images with 3-megapixel resolution or less. Adding the Extra Optical Zoom to the 4x digital zoom** extends the total zooming power to a maximum of 128x (35mm equivalent: 3,456mm).
There's only one way to use the center of the CCD and get a 3 MP image, and that's to throw away pixels, which is what it's doing. That's the same as digital zoom.

[garthmoe]

There has been a lot of discussion about extended zoom. I think some people are too hasty to dismiss it without really trying it. Unlike digital zoom, extended zoom does some in-camera processing and the pictures that result are far superior to digital zoom. I agree that you can PP and probably get the same results, but some don't want to bother with that. I have used extended zoom at 3MP - which gives 28.7x zoom and added an Olympus B300 1.7 teleconverter and I have got very good results with my
FZ18. (BTW I find that the Oly B300 is quite a bit superior to the TCON-17 that supposedly replaced it. I used both and got rid of the TCON).
I couldn't find all the research I looked into re. extended zoom, but I did find this site. The reviewer was quite happy with it.

http://www.stationstops.com/2008/07/07/panasonic-fz18-review/

Garth

[David Metsky]

Unlike digital zoom, extended zoom does some in-camera processing and the pictures that result are far superior to digital zoom.
The big difference is that extended zoom throws the pixels away, and doesn't try to interpolate back up to full 8MP image size. That's where the ugliness of digital zoom shows up. There may be some in camera processing and I'm sure it saves time without losing much (who needs 8 MP for the web?) but it's not doing anything I couldn't do better in my computer.

Bottom line to me, it's not doing anything I couldn't already do myself, but it may save time.

[Spandun]

The big difference is that extended zoom throws the pixels away, and doesn't try to interpolate back up to full 8MP image size. That's where the ugliness of digital zoom shows up. There may be some in camera processing and I'm sure it saves time without losing much (who needs 8 MP for the web?) but it's not doing anything I couldn't do better in my computer.

Bottom line to me, it's not doing anything I couldn't already do myself, but it may save time.

That is the exact only reason that I use it and that is becuase it saves time apart from that i wouldnt recommend it but unforutnately with one thing or another i just dont have the time that i use to have for my photography :(

[Setter Dog]

I use the extended zoom a lot on my FZ28, especially for pictures of distant animals in Yellowstone Park. While the net result may be the same as cropping, you have the advantage of seeing what the final product will look like when you take the picture, ....attitude of the animal, for example.

For my occasional prints, the 3mp the extended zoom gives me is just fine.