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Binocular Vs Camera Vs Camcorder (1 Viewer)

baofeng

Well-known member
Can anyone please explain to me the difference between a binocular vs camera vs camcorder?

For example, Panasonic had a 70X optical zoom which would beat most binocular and camera. To get a slighter higher zoom lens for sports action, I think one has to fork out more than $20,000.

If the optical zoom on Panasonic was so good, why do we have binocular and camera in the first place? Can I safely assume that optical zoom means no degrading of image quality even at night? Thankso:Do:D
 
Can anyone please explain to me the difference between a binocular vs camera vs camcorder?

For example, Panasonic had a 70X optical zoom which would beat most binocular and camera. To get a slighter higher zoom lens for sports action, I think one has to fork out more than $20,000.

If the optical zoom on Panasonic was so good, why do we have binocular and camera in the first place? Can I safely assume that optical zoom means no degrading of image quality even at night? Thankso:Do:D

some of the worst binoculars have 140x optical zoom. ;)

I don't know how good the image quality the 70x panny has. But I cannot get a steady shot with my 12x Camcorder without a tripod.
 
Can anyone please explain to me the difference between a binocular vs camera vs camcorder?

For example, Panasonic had a 70X optical zoom which would beat most binocular and camera. To get a slighter higher zoom lens for sports action, I think one has to fork out more than $20,000.

If the optical zoom on Panasonic was so good, why do we have binocular and camera in the first place? Can I safely assume that optical zoom means no degrading of image quality even at night? Thankso:Do:D

Its a complicated subject. And I'm no expert, but here goes.
Zooming is measured in millimetres ( mm ) what we see with our eyes is about 50mm. So you can look at 50 mm as x1.
So if a pair of binoculars are sold as 8x42, they are 8x50mm, so about 400 mm.
Camera manufacturers tell the truch about their optical zoom, but it is misleading the uninformed. For instance, take the [FONT=arial,helvetica]Panasonic LUMIX ZS3. It has "a 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens and 12x optical zoom[/FONT]" , and zooms out to 300mm. Its correct because its maximum zoom is 300mm and it starts off at 25mm. So 300mm/25mm = a zoom of x12. But its really only magnifies to x6 to our own eyes. So take the maximum zoom in mm of a camera and divide that by 50 to get the true multiplication factor.

As tio your second bit of the question "no degrading of image quality even at night?", an even bigger can of worms. Optically, the bigger the lump of glass at the front end of the lens, the more light it lets in. So a pair of 8x42 binoculars will let in more light than a pair of 8x30 ( the second of the two numbers is the diameter of the objective lens ). But I have no idea how a compact camera manages the light, because some have low light settings which do work.

HTH, but I'm sure that someone will be able to explain more fully and clearly.
 
Because magnification isn't the only parameter to measure the quality of the lens by.

Some difference between camera lenses and binoculars are:

1. Bins require an erector; cameras don't (just turn the image the other way up when viewing it).

1B. The erector adds complexity to bins but also makes them rather shorter (as the prism erectors fold the light path) and a lot more usable. Bins generally run with rather faster (smaller) focal number than most camera lenses.

2. A camcorder or point and shoot camera lens only has to satisfy a rather small number of pixels and low dynamic range of its sensor unlike say a SLR camera (or pro HD cine camera) or a binoculars. This means it can give up on resolution (that it never needs), chromatic aberration correction and the like.

3. Zoom lenses always have more glass in them and a slower focal ratio. They are always more compromises (aberrations and distortions and FOV) with zoom lens. They work less well at night.

4. All camera lens require a flat field otherwise the image goes out of focus to the edges which is not acceptable for a camera user (but is to some bin users). This lets you loosen up the design.

That 70x I suspect also has "digital zoom" which is a marketing term for cropping (throwing away pixels which never sounds as good ...). 14x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom would give you "70x zoom". As others say you need very good image stabilization with this. And you are throwing away pixels.

Your $20,000 SLR camera lens with 100mm aperture and perhaps 800mm focal length is a marvel of optical engineering (and won't be a zoom!) with a fair amount of exotic glass. But it will deliver publication quality sharp and color accurate images. If it's on a monopod or a tripod. Not quite the same as a 25mm objective on a camcorder. Or on a prosumer camcorder perhaps 50mm.

You might understand this better at some geeky photographic sites. They make us bin geeks look like beginners!
 
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