Digital vs. optical zoom (Page 2): Wow - seems no one has answered the exact question asked. Any digital zoom crops digitally and, therefore, has less pixels than the original. Clear...

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Wow - seems no one has answered the exact question asked.

Any digital zoom crops digitally and, therefore, has less pixels than the original. Clear digital zoom attempts to smooth the result by interpolating new pixels between the old ones. These are approximations of what really would be there if real.

Regardless, the amount of camera shake appears greater by the amount of zoom, just as it would have been if optical zooming had been used. There are digital techniques that attempt to reduce this shake. I don't know if they are in Clear Zoom.

BebuLamar

PHRubin wrote:

Wow - seems no one has answered the exact question... (show quote)

I answered in the third post.

BillO Loc: Eastern Shore Maryland

I am biting my tongue.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

BebuLamar wrote:

I answered in the third post.

edit: Deleted

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

BebuLamar wrote:

I answered in the third post.

BebuLamar is correct about camera shake being magnified, the longer the zoom, hence the need for a stable platform or tripod. Sony’s Clear Image Zoom, or CIZ attempts to effectively double the zoom range, digtally, without perceptible loss of image quality. It does a fair job, but if you crop and image to 100% or more, you can see ever so slight loss of IQ. Digital zoom, however, immediately results in loss of IQ, and the farther you zoom, the worse it gets. To add to the problem, at very long zoom ranges, atmospheric anomalies like heat waves, dust particles in the air, etc. This is all magnified at long zoom ranges.

I don’t know if this answers your question, at all, but in short, there will be more apparent camera shake as you zoom, and the more you zoom, the more apparent it is, since everything is, in essence, magnified. An image taken at max zoom, in your case, 600mm, will be degraded if you crop it to twice its size, as if it were taken at 1200mm eq.

BebuLamar

Wingpilot wrote:

BebuLamar is correct about camera shake being magn... (show quote)

The OP was asking about camera shake and it has to do only with the angle of view (or equivalent focal length) and doesn't matter how you get there. The quality of a digital zoom image is not quite as good as one with optical zoom but the the degree of blurriness due to camera shake is depending solely on the magnification. That is you will see more camera shake effect at 1200mm than 600mm regardless whether you get to 1200mm with the lens or by cropping.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

BebuLamar wrote:

The OP was asking about camera shake and it has to do only with the angle of view (or equivalent focal length) and doesn't matter how you get there. The quality of a digital zoom image is not quite as good as one with optical zoom but the the degree of blurriness due to camera shake is depending solely on the magnification. That is you will see more camera shake effect at 1200mm than 600mm regardless whether you get to 1200mm with the lens or by cropping.

Yup, exactly.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

togajim wrote:

I use a Sony RX10-III camera for my casual photogr... (show quote)

Yes.

bleirer

Minute 33 to minute 40 in this Marc Levoy lecture explains that cropping has the same impact on shake. https://youtu.be/ia9w4ZtdULs

From this course: https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/

Why we should believe him: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Levoy

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Shake control? Increase shutter speed, and ISO to accommodate the faster shutter. Speed is your shake control.

Also, adding a Tennis ball filled with Plaster of Paris ... attached with an embedded 1/4 20 screw to the bottom camera screw mount shifts the dynamics of shake both by inertia and also by gripping of camera. The left hand is "eagle claw" grip of the ball and the right-hand buts against the camera.

I added a light shield with magnifying lens so I can hold the camera close... of course, with the Sony 10 the eye is close to the eye view.
https://lifehacker.com/diy-tennis-ball-photography-stabilization-unit-5383615

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

togajim wrote:

I use a Sony RX10-III camera for my casual photogr... (show quote)

All pocket camera's are compromises. You want great images at 600mm? Get a 600mm f4 lens. You want great images at 1200 mm with a pocket camera? GOOD LUCK.
Again, you are in a compromising situation with your Sony RX10-III.
My suggestion is to try them out on the same image at both raw at 600 and jpeg at 1200. Keep in mind if your not on a tripod that you should be at a minimum shutter speed for both. At least 1/600 sec. at 600 mm and 1/1200 sec. at 1200 mm.
Your camera is designed to work best at it native focal length, I believe it is 24-600. That said any time you have a zoom with a 30:1 zoom your asking a lot of it to produce sharp images. Your camera is certainly capable of delivering as long as you understand that their are compromises to it's capabilities.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

PHRubin wrote:

Wow - seems no one has answered the exact question... (show quote)

Increasing zoom will increase shake. But so will magnification. And in camera interpolation (Clear Image Zoom) is no better than applying interpolation during post processing. More pixels but no more detail, and you have more control over the outcome - raw file, more dynamic range, fewer artifacts, etc. I am not a fan of Clear Image Zoom or AI assisted resizing. The current state of interpolation really only works at very large print sizes and viewing distances, where the interpolated pixels are not easily seen as "weird" image information. But at close distances and high resolutions, you can easily pick out an interpolated image.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Cropping in post will exaggerate the shake at 600 so the final quality degrade will likely look the same.

rhadams824 Loc: Arkansas

Wingpilot wrote:

BebuLamar is correct about camera shake being magn... (show quote)

I have taken the same photos with a Sony RX10-III at 600mm and at 1200mm (Clear Image Zoom). I then cropped the 600mm image to the same size of the 1200mm photo. I have not found that the Clean Image Zoom is any better than just cropping the 600mm. These photos were taken closer distances than you normally would and as someone said the atmospheric conditions would further degrade the clear image zoom photo. I agree that Sony has done a better job with the clear image zoom feature over just digital zoom. As has been pointed out, the longer the zoom the more the camera is subject to shake and needs to be stabilized better. Increasing the shutter speed to reduce shake may not be possible unless you have very good light.

bleirer

Filling the frame with the same size image by getting closer will reduce shake by increasing the angle of view, but change perspective. Plus you get burrs all over your pants by by walking into the weeds.