It's the dirty little secret of digital cameras: Try zooming in to capture a distant subject--say, your daughter scoring the winning soccer goal--and what you get is a fuzzy photo. The problem is that the 10X or 20X "digital zoom" feature the packaging boasts of doesn't actually capture close-up details. Instead, it just uses software to enlarge the digital image that you already had.
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Enter the true optical zoom for digital cameras. U.S. News took five new models with optical-zoom capabilities between 8X and 12X to the San Francisco Zoo for comparative shots. Though they were a bit tricky to master, they did deliver close-up pictures actually worth keeping.
Even the most user-friendly of the quintet, the Kodak EasyShare DX6490 ($500) and the HP Photosmart 945 ($500), take getting used to. Optical-zoom gadgets feature loads of options that can be daunting even to a techie. You can set any of these cameras for low-light shots, fast-action images, or even "macro mode" for close-ups. No two brands place each feature in exactly the same place. If you have some experience with a digital camera already, you might want an optical-zoom model with a similar setup. Some, such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10 ($600), hide more-advanced options under a series of menus. Others--including the Fujifilm FinePix S5000 ($400)--use tiny buttons and dials for selecting each option directly.
But after my testers and I spent an hour getting used to the eccentricities of working with each camera, we began shooting some of the best animal pictures we've ever taken. The group included a 10-year-old boy, who latched onto the Fujifilm camera and captured a bald eagle's sharp stare in pinfeather-accurate detail. His 8-year-old brother had no trouble zooming in with the Kodak EasyShare for a nice shot of an anteater lunching in a dimly lit room. Their mother, a technophobe, used the HP Photosmart to capture every wrinkle and hair around an elephant's eye. Her friend, a gadget fan, used the Lumix for a top-quality shot of an iguana's colorful head.
We all came to appreciate the quick shutter, small size, and quality metal heft of the Olympus Camedia C-750 ($550). Alas, both the Olympus and the Fujifilm use the proprietary xD memory card standard instead of the more common SD, knocking both these cameras down in our rankings. SD is the format to go with: It makes it easier to move your digital photos to other devices and to obtain quality prints from photo shops.
In the end, we could not resist the unique 12X features of the Panasonic Lumix. Its sharp Leica lens captures images that would require a hefty 420-mm lens on a film camera. It also offers the widest aperture of the group--meaning it captures the most light in a dimly lit environment--and has the best autofocus in its class. It even has manual focus, a rare option that appeals to experienced photographers. These features are enough to make digital camera fans--and field-tripping families--go wild.
Far-Out Focus
Some digital cameras offer true optical zoom, unlike the common, fuzzy digital zooms.
12X zoom: the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10 (top)
10X zoom: the Kodak EasyShare DX6490, the Olympus Camedia C-750, and the Fujifilm FinePix S5000
