Does Ultra Zoom Equal In-Camera Cropping?

[Willowjune]

I have a Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS; just got it but I'm already dissatisfied. I'm realizing that I want to take photos of the moon and of wildlife in a nearby nature area, so, with very
little knowledge, I'm trying to figure out how to upgrade without getting something too complicated.

So I heard about Ultra Zoom digital cameras and got excited at the thought of not having to have extra lenses. But then I saw a review that said that an Ultra Zoom was the equivalent to in-camera cropping. I know very little about cameras, but I do know what cropping is, as I work a lot with Paint Shop Pro. So for instance, the other day I took a photo that had a jackrabbit in it, but it was far away. By the time I cropped the photo so the rabbit looked much closer, there weren't very many pixels of rabbit :>) I would want a zoom that showed the rabbit in detail. So is Ultra Zoom not good for that?

Thanks,
Willow

[OsmosisStudios]

The article was wrong.

Lenses with ultra zooms (Canon's SX30is, Nikon's P500, Fuji's HS20, etc) have long zoom lenses. They're fully optical. It's not cropping.

[kcoppock]

Yeah, exactly.

The main thing to look for when looking at specs is Optical Zoom versus Digital Zoom. Whenever you see digital zoom, that is simply in-camera cropping. You'll see a live view of the cropped in area, but you're still not getting an actual zoomed-in photo. Optical zoom refers to the actual mechanical zoom of the lens.

[Willowjune]

Originally Posted by kcoppock

Yeah, exactly.

The main thing to look for when looking at specs is Optical Zoom versus Digital Zoom. Whenever you see digital zoom, that is simply in-camera cropping. You'll see a live view of the cropped in area, but you're still not getting an actual zoomed-in photo. Optical zoom refers to the actual mechanical zoom of the lens.

Thanks, just the info I needed!