Importance of Optical Zoom

[jewey4]

Hello everyone,
I have been reading all the posts on digital cameras but like most newbies, am still confused with what I should be going with. I've definitely decided to go the digital route.
There are so many positive posts regarding the Olympus C-5060 and although it is 5.1 Megapixels it only has a 4x Optical Zoom on it. The Olympus C750 has 4 megapixels but 10x optical. What should be my priorities? I'm mainly aiming for pictures to look great at a 4x6 size when I print or in some rare occasions 8x11. Most of my pics will probably stay digital so I can just share them online.
Oh, and I'm not ruling out other brands (Canon, Sony)- its just I've heard more stuff about the Olympus models. I'm open to any suggestions so I can keep researching.
Shouldn't I be concerned with the optical zoom? :06:
And can anyone briefly explain what RAW format is because that's a feature on the C-5060 and people have positive opinions about it.
Please help and thanks for your advice!
-Jasmine

 

[HammerNoMore]

Shouldn't I be concerned with the optical zoom? :06:

I'm kinda new at UW photography myself but I'd venture a guess that a 10x zoom won't do you much good underwater as anything far enough away to need it will be well outside of the range of your strobe.

And can anyone briefly explain what RAW format is because that's a feature on the C-5060 and people have positive opinions about it.

RAW format is uncompressed image data. Most digital cameras store data in the JPEG format by default. JPEG loses data to get higher compression rates. Usually this loss is not noticable unless the image is magnified greatly. Saving in RAW format will prevent the data loss at the expense of storage. Most memory cards will only be able to store a handfull of raw images.

James

 

[ChrisM]

Optical zoom is a good thing above water.

Optical zoom is (generally) a bad thing underwater. When shooting UW, rule #1 is get close (then get closer). You should (if possible) not use zoom (and NEVER digital zoom) underwater. All that does is give you a sense that you are closer than you are. The reason ius that you want as little water between the lens and the subject. More water = less light (bluer pics). Less water = less light loss (better pics)

One of the best lessons I ever learned (and I can't remember where I learned it) is to move in so that your subject fills the frame, rather than zooming in (wide angle lenses can help). If you can fill the frame with your subject at the camera's full frame, that's ideal. If you have to back out a little and then zoom in, that's OK too

These are just general guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

Chris

 

[Dee]

I'm kinda new at UW photography myself but I'd venture a guess that a 10x zoom won't do you much good underwater as anything far enough away to need it will be well outside of the range of your strobe.

RAW format is uncompressed image data. Most digital cameras store data in the JPEG format by default. JPEG loses data to get higher compression rates. Usually this loss is not noticable unless the image is magnified greatly. Saving in RAW format will prevent the data loss at the expense of storage. Most memory cards will only be able to store a handfull of raw images.

James

You can get perfectly good prints and enlargements with .jpg compression. I've got several great 11x14 prints from the SHQ setting. RAW has it's uses but you need specialized programs, or at the least plugins, in order to manipulate those RAW images.

Since you are a newbie to all this, don't worry about RAW and TIFF images just yet, just make sure the camera you choose has the option in case you decide to utilize it later.

 

[HammerNoMore]

You can get perfectly good prints and enlargements with .jpg compression. I've got several great 11x14 prints from the SHQ setting.

JPEG is great for most needs. When it really comes in handy though is if you are going to be doing a lot of modification to the image, especially with different programs. Everty time you safe a JPEG it applies the same loss algorithm to it and it will become more and more degraded. Try simlating this sometime with one of your images:

1. Load the image, rotate it, save it, close it.
2. Reload the image, apply color correction, save it, close it.
etc...

Do this a few times and then zoom in on a detailed area. It will start to look bad pretty quicly.

James

 

[Dee]

James, I agree. But for a person who is brand new to U/W photography, he hasn't even bought his camera yet, he's got alot of info to absorb. For instance he needs to learn to use that camera first and all the exposure info that goes along with it. And there's ways to avoid most of the comression losses when using jpg without getting into RAW right off the bat.

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel using RAW and all that goes along with it is more advanced than a new photographer needs to deal with just getting started. That's why I advised him to get a camera that has the RAW feature for future use.

 

[ChrisM]

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel using RAW and all that goes along with it is more advanced than a new photographer needs to deal with just getting started. That's why I advised him to get a camera that has the RAW feature for future use.

totally agree, though there's no reason not learn about it.. BUT THERE IS AN IMPORTANT LESSON HERE that every photog needs to know before turning on the camera....

IF YOU DO NOT SHOOT RAW DO NOT MODIFY AND SAVE IMAGES AS JPEGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Always keep all original jpegs, burn two cds, these are your negatives
2. Pick your keepers and save as PSDs or a similar (nearly) lossless format
3. Make all changes to the PSD
4. At the end, after you are all done with EVERYTHING.... save the PSD (so you have a nice version of your altered image)
5. finally, from the PSD, resize for web, or save fr web, or resize and add copyright, whatever web version you are going to present, then SAVE AS a jpeg (note - merely saving a PSD as a jpeg and then resizing it results in a loss)

Just so others don't ruin early but good shots by not knowing, as I did

Chris

 

[oversea]

JPEG is great for most needs. When it really comes in handy though is if you are going to be doing a lot of modification to the image, especially with different programs. Everty time you safe a JPEG it applies the same loss algorithm to it and it will become more and more degraded. Try simlating this sometime with one of your images:

1. Load the image, rotate it, save it, close it.
2. Reload the image, apply color correction, save it, close it.
etc...

Do this a few times and then zoom in on a detailed area. It will start to look bad pretty quicly.

James

I was playing with some pics and thats what seemed to happen. Can they be transferred and saved w/o sacrificing the quality? Does this occur when transferring from the camera? Any suggestions on a program ie adobe photoshop etc.

 

[HammerNoMore]

I was playing with some pics and thats what seemed to happen. Can they be transferred and saved w/o sacrificing the quality? Does this occur when transferring from the camera? Any suggestions on a program ie adobe photoshop etc.

See ChrisM's post on this which offers an excellent method. You can save your original JPEG in any number of lossless formats, GIF, PNG, BMP, PCX, some varieties of TIFF, etc. and you will only incur the original loss from the storage to the memory card which is negligable.

The act of copying a file from the camera to your hard drive does not recompress the image and does not cause any further loss. It's the editing that causes trouble. Any time you make an edit, even if it is a rotate or resize you have an entirely new image that must be recompressed. You can load an image and make 10 changes and save and you will only recompress once. If you load it make 1 change and save it 10 times you will recompress 10 times and pretty much destroy the picture.

I wouldn't really worry about RAW format unless you are looking to do some professional photography because the size of the files are prohibitive. As Dee points out just knowing it's available (as it is on most modern digital cameras) should be enough.

James

 

[jewey4]

5. finally, from the PSD, resize for web, or save fr web, or resize and add copyright, whatever web version you are going to present, then SAVE AS a jpeg (note - merely saving a PSD as a jpeg and then resizing it results in a loss)

Chris

Thanks for all the responses. I am new so I probably won't be using RAW immediately. I WILL be using Photoshop to alter images so thanks for the advice about saving.