Is 30x Optical Zoom Enough?

A lot of people are huge fans of megazoom compact cameras. During the time when 12x optical zoom was the industry standard, many had wished for a longer one. They still want more when Olympus released the 18x optical zoom SP-550UZ.

Then almost everyone else that matters was releasing their own superzoom cameras, including Canon which jumped into the ride and released the 20x optical zoom SX1 IS and SX10 IS. That was in 2008.

30x optical zoom not enough?

26x optical zoom would have been enough

Olympus might have appeased the thirst for optical reach when it released the 26x optical zoom SP-590UZ in January 2009 and if camera makers had stopped the race right there and then, many would have been contented with what they had and there would have been no more call for optical reach beyond 26x.

But now camera makers are saying, “No, it’s not enough. You still need a longer zoom” and went on to release 30x optical zoom cameras, in the form of Olympus SP-800UZ and FujiFilm HS10, at 14 megapixels and 10.3 megapixels respectively.

Is 30x Optical Zoom Enough?

But is 30x optical zoom enough? We say, “Yes. The 30x optical zoom is just about enough to tide over the next three to five years. We may still want a longer zoom but what we really need is a truly magnificent megazoom camera in terms of image quality.”

With 30x optical zoom, coupled with digital magnification, you can almost jump right into the craters of the moon.

Image quality has been hogging the complaints about superzoom cameras for years. It’s as though all the camera makers cared for when manufacturing their ultrazooms is making the zoom lens longer.

But we say, stop it for the time being. High ISO capabilities, larger sensor, crisper image at telephoto end, should be the new battle ground in the optical race.