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Camera manufacturers are falsely advertising

Camera manufacturers are falsely advertising

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by: Retired_Engineer Active Indicator LED Icon 13 OP 
~ 9 years ago   Jun 12, '14 10:14pm  
I was thinking of upgrading my digital camera, so I looking at new ones.  I thought some had some great lenses on them as they state "30x" on some and others up to "60x".  BEWARE, this is false and is intended to confuse people into thinking they are getting more "zoom" than they really are getting.Camera lenses have a focal length.  I won't get into a definition here, but 50-60mm is basically the same as the human eye sees.  Wide angle is less than 50mm and anything above 60mm is considered a telescopic or telephoto lens.   Many modern camera lenses have a zoom feature where you can change that focal length from wide angle to telescopic.  Normally, a 200mm lens is also called a 4x lens because it magnifies 4x what the eye normally sees.  That's why telescopic sights for rifles are usually designated 3-9x or a non-zoom setting of 4x.  What camera manufactures are now doing is tricking people with their "x" designations.  For instance, take the following camera: It is advertised as 30x.  Now, that seems like a very good telescopic lens. However, on the lower part of the lens body, you see the actual focal length is 4.3-129.0mm.  This means it goes from VERY wide angle to about 2x telescopic.  Not nearly as much telescopic ability as it seems!  What they are actually doing is using the 30x to define the entire zoom range (4.3 X 30 = 129)  so their "x" value is completely different from what most people are used to.  If you are looking for a wide angle camera, this one would be great.  I'm more interested in being able to zoom in on things for closeups or for things that are far away from me.Canon is not the only camera manufacturer doing this!  So just beware so that you know what you're actually buying.Side note:  the other numbers on the bottom of the lens body (1:3.4-5.8) are called the f-numbers (or focal ratio) and define how much light the aperture of the lens will allow to pass for the range of the focal length.  This number doesn't matter to most hobby photographers. 4951
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elguapo Active Indicator LED Icon 15
~ 9 years ago   Jun 12, '14 11:58pm  
I was thinking of upgrading my digital camera, so I looking at new ones.  I thought some had some great lenses on them as they state "30x" on some and others up to "60x".  BEWARE, this is false and is intended to confuse people into thinking they are getting more "zoom" than they really are getting.Camera lenses have a focal length.  I won't get into a definition here, but 50-60mm is basically the same as the human eye sees.  Wide angle is less than 50mm and anything above 60mm is considered a telescopic or telephoto lens.   Many modern camera lenses have a zoom feature where you can change that focal length from wide angle to telescopic.  Normally, a 200mm lens is also called a 4x lens because it magnifies 4x what the eye normally sees.  That's why telescopic sights for rifles are usually designated 3-9x or a non-zoom setting of 4x.  What camera manufactures are now doing is tricking people with their "x" designations.  For instance, take the following camera: It is advertised as 30x.  Now, that seems like a very good telescopic lens. However, on the lower part of the lens body, you see the actual focal length is 4.3-129.0mm.  This means it goes from VERY wide angle to about 2x telescopic.  Not nearly as much telescopic ability as it seems!  What they are actually doing is using the 30x to define the entire zoom range (4.3 X 30 = 129)  so their "x" value is completely different from what most people are used to.  If you are looking for a wide angle camera, this one would be great.  I'm more interested in being able to zoom in on things for closeups or for things that are far away from me.Canon is not the only camera manufacturer doing this!  So just beware so that you know what you're actually buying.Side note:  the other numbers on the bottom of the lens body (1:3.4-5.8) are called the f-numbers (or focal ratio) and define how much light the aperture of the lens will allow to pass for the range of the focal length.  This number doesn't matter to most hobby photographers.
 
@Retired_Engineer:
Thanks, but this proves that an engineer is incapable of NOT "getting too deep into it".
 
.....but that must be why the girls like you.
 
...thanks for the in depth review. 4951
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BooBear Active Indicator LED Icon 16
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 12:01am  
Yeah, I have no idea what all that means but if you were saying it in person I would have said Yes, just to shut you up.Emoticon 4951
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taramay Active Indicator LED Icon 14
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 12:32am  
Emoticon 4951
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Mccrj Active Indicator LED Icon 2
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 7:23am  
I don't see false advertising, Maybe in the days of poloroid the assumption was x was the zoom of a human eye, just need to read the box/lens to see what your getting.
An X zoom power is a ratio, so it is relative to the minimum focal length to the maximum focal length. It has no meaning other than that. 4951
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YourMajesty Active Indicator LED Icon
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 8:43am  
I am married to an Engineer so I got all that.  Thanks @Retired_Engineer!    By the way Engineers are very useful partners.  ;  )  I can imagine it and he can figure out HOW to do it.  LOL 4951
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Fallon Active Indicator LED Icon 18
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 8:48am  
Removed By Request 4951
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FoFa Active Indicator LED Icon 17
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 8:59am  
We must also remember that the 50-60mm normal eye if for the 35mm film equivalent of a lens.A smaller sensor (digital equivalent of the film) uses a shorter (in mm) lens to give the same magnification as a larger lens did on a 35mm camera,My APS-C sensor has a 1.5 (well 1.54 truly) multiplication factor due to it's slightly smaller size compared to 35mm film.So a 35mm lens in the "normal" lens on my camera.So it could truly be a 30X magnification factor depending on the size of the sensor.The larger the sensor, the larger the lens needs to be to cover the sensor (basically).The smaller the sensor, the smaller the lens but it can give the same magnification.Now that said, there are real advantages to larger sensors, and some real disadvantages to smaller sensors.That is why a DSLR typically better pictures with higher detail, sharper images and WAY better lower light levels. So it is not as straight forward today as it was in the film days.Phones have tiny little sensors, that is how they get away with tiny lenses.Also one reason they suck in dim light, and you get no Bokeh (blurring of the background) with them. 4951
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Retired_Engineer Active Indicator LED Icon 13 OP 
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 11:47am  
@FoFa:  I knew there were some differences between old 35mm cameras and digital ones. Thanks for the additional info.I struggle to decide if I want a DSLR or a "grab and shoot" camera.  The DSLR allows you to control so many more factors in taking photos but they tend to be bulkier and my wife can't use it.  After multiple attempts to teach her how to use my old 35mm SLR, I bought her a Canon Sure Shot 35mm.Later, I won a digital camera from work so our 35mm cameras got put away.  I selected another, newer digital camera when I hit my 30 year service anniversary.  They are both automatic cameras, which is great for most photographs, but sometimes I wish I had more control with the settings.  But it's certainly nice that the automatic cameras are so lightweight and compact in size!  I've also noticed that most automatic cameras have multiple modes which allow some additional control. 4951
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Retired_Engineer Active Indicator LED Icon 13 OP 
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 12:01pm  
I don't see false advertising, Maybe in the days of poloroid the assumption was x was the zoom of a human eye, just need to read the box/lens to see what your getting.
An X zoom power is a ratio, so it is relative to the minimum focal length to the maximum focal length. It has no meaning other than that.
 
@Mccrj:   As FoFa added, the equivalent "human eye" focal length also depends on the size of the sensor.  So you can't really tell what you are actually getting by reading the box (or the item description)... unless they provide the sensor size AND you know the math to figure out what mm is equivalent to the human eye.  I wouldn't mind their current use of the X factor, but I DO want to know how much much it can zoom relative to the eye.
4951
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FoFa Active Indicator LED Icon 17
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 12:35pm  
The interchangeable lens cameras without mirrors today take great pictures, have most of the functions as dslr's (including price), the lens are smaller but the sensors are usually larger. Everyone I know that owns one is happy with them. Their small size and great picture taking ability make them a real winner. The Sony's, Olympus and Panasonic really seem to be ones that shine in that arena (in that order).The newest sony a6000 series and older sony NEX series seem to top the great camera lists from what I have read.Olympus CSC (Compact system cameras) like the PEN or the newer E series.So if the quality and size is warranted, with interchangeable lens and a good sensor size. These are a good bet, just cost a bunch.The Olympus and Panasonic's use 4/3 system and can use each others lenes. They were the first to introduce this type of camera. Also a number of adapters are available to use other manufactures lenses and older lenses, they are just not always auto-compatible and are usually manual only.I use a number of older manual lenses on my Pentax DSLR, mostly because I can't afford thousands of dollar lenses. 4951
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fcabanski Active Indicator LED Icon 16
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 12:45pm  
What a bunch of crumbs. 4951
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Grimmie Active Indicator LED Icon 3
~ 9 years ago   Jun 13, '14 2:42pm  
[ Removed by Author ] 4951
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Groov1r Active Indicator LED Icon  New Member
~ 4 years ago   Oct 3, '19 2:06am  
[ Removed by Admin: Spammer ] 4951
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