| When you’re shopping for a point and shoot | | | | lens to perform the magnification. This type of |
| digital camera, you want to make a checklist of | | | | zoom will ensure your images are in sharp focus |
| the major features that will help you decide which | | | | throughout the camera’s entire zoom range. |
| camera to buy. In this article we discuss the | | | | You should also check to see that the optics are |
| zoom lens and how it is important to choose the | | | | made of glass and not plastic. A glass lens will give |
| right zoom lens features when selecting your | | | | you better images without distortion. This is what |
| camera. | | | | the best 35mm camera lenses – Nikon, Leica, |
| A zoom lens lets you change the focal length of | | | | Canon – have and it’s what you should |
| the camera. This means simply that the lens lets | | | | also demand in your point and shoot camera. |
| you choose how much the camera will magnify | | | | There is another type of zoom called digital zoom. |
| the image by zooming in and out of a scene | | | | Digital zoom does not use optics to magnify an |
| when you are composing your shot. Generally, the | | | | image, rather it simply takes a group of pixels in |
| higher the zoom magnification, the better. | | | | the image and processes them to make them |
| You will commonly see cameras sold with | | | | look bigger. The result is the image will be blurry |
| magnification of 2x, 3x and even 5x on some | | | | and grainy. This is not what you are looking for. |
| better point and shoot cameras. Make sure that | | | | When comparing cameras, ignore the digital zoom |
| the zoom refers to optical zoom. The optical | | | | and look only at the optical zoom since that will |
| zoom refers to movement of the elements in the | | | | tell you the real capabilities of the camera. |