optical zoom vs. Megapixels

[ajalidatta]

I want to buy a Canon digital camera (my first digital). I had alomost decided on the Powershot G5 when I saw that it only had 4x optical zoom. And when I compared cameras on optical zoom, I found that the ones with the higher optical zoom (6x and above) are the ones with the lower megapixels (3x-4x). Why is that? Why can't I get a 5 megapiexel camera with a 10x optical zoom?

[gary_hendricks]

The Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 (http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz20-review.html) is one of the most popular 5 megapixel, 12X optical zoom cameras out there.

[Balrog]

You might also want to check out the Panasonic FZ5 - smaller version of the FZ20, without manual focus but has pretty much everything else, and it's cheaper too.