Zooming in on the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

I am on a boat. OK, a ferry to be precise and I’m heading to the Magic Kingdom from the Ticket and Transportation Center or the TTC for you Disney acronym enthusiasts (coughScottcough). Before setting sail, I fired off these six photos aimed at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, to demonstrate the all mighty and powerful zoom lens. Within my half dozen shots are 2 images taken while using the digital zoom. We’ll explore the pros and cons of digital zoom lenses as well.

All photos were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX100 IS point and shoot camera which has a 10x optical zoom.

For reference, the mm or milimeter of a lens refers to the distance between the front of the lens barrel (the glass) and it’s distance from the film plane or sensor.

All pictures were taken at ISO 80, f4 and at 1/320, 1/400 or 1/500. We call this shooting wide open and as fast as possible.

This first image was taken without using the zoom lens at all. The initial lens length is 6.0mm.

Image number two was taken at 11.5mm to get just a bit closer.

Pushing the zoom out to 34.9mm here makes a major difference. The photo is clean and in focus and you can enjoy the architecture and landscaping.

The final shot taken with the optical zoom at 60mm pulls you in closer and zeroes in on the main building.

Now, once you’ve zoomed the camera lens out as far it will go, you can switch over to the digital zoom. First off, I will tell you that I am not a fan of digital zoom. That is because when you use the digital zoom it literally increases the pixels thus distorting the image. It does not get you closer but rather enlarges or “blows up” what you see at the max optical zoom.

The CanonPowerShot SX100 IS has several digital zoom options: 1.6x, 2x, and standard.

Here I used the 1.6x digital zoom. The image has lost some clarity.

This last picture was taken with the digital zoom set to 2x. Any closer and I’d be intruding on Guests. There’s a haze coming off the building or something of a ghosting effect. I can also see the megapixels.

So, why do camera manufacturers offer digital zooms if they’re not all that hot. It goes back to when digital cameras first came out and man only offered digital zooms or a minimal optical zoom. For a while, the actual type of zoom lens on a camera wasn’t always clear. Packages read 4x zoom but the fine print would say 2x optical and 2x digital. All of that has changed.

The good news is if you have to, absolutely, positively get closer to your subject and cannot physically do so, you can use the digital zoom. However! You knew there was going to be a “however”, didn’t you?! However, you are much better of shooting with just the optical lens (as nature intended) and then cropping and enlarging the image later before printing it or posting it online.

If you’re out shopping for a new camera, be sure you know what the optical zoom is and not the combined. A few sneaky sales people still remain out there as well.

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