Shooting images by zooming in on subjects without deteriorating image quality

You can use the digital zoom to zoom up to a maximum of 20x and capture subjects that are too far away for the optical zoom to enlarge. The images may appear coarse, however, depending on the recording pixel setting and the zoom factor used.

This section describes how to use the [Safety Zoom] feature to shoot images at the maximum zoom factor without deteriorating image quality.

Caution

As the actual locations of buttons / switches on cameras vary depending on the camera model, the illustrations that appear on this page may differ from your camera.

The position and shape of the operation buttons, screens displayed, and setting items may differ according to the model you use.

This section provides explanations based on the condition that the recording pixel value is set to [Medium 2] ().

1. Point the camera at the subject, and turn the ⋖ Zoom Lever ⋗ toward ⋖ Telephoto ⋗ () to the maximum telephoto side.

2. As the zooming operation stops when it reaches the largest possible zoom factor without image deterioration, release the ⋖ Zoom Lever ⋗.

The [Zoom Bar] gauge appears in yellow, and the maximum zoom factor without image deterioration appears in white.

At this point, the image can be recorded without deterioration by using the Safety Zoom feature.

Although the image may appear deteriorated on the LCD monitor, the image captured is recorded without deterioration.

Caution

If you turn the ⋖ Zoom Lever ⋗ further toward the ⋖ Telephoto ⋗ () side, the factor appears in blue.

If the [Zoom Bar] gauge and the factor appear in blue, the image becomes coarse.

The subject can be enlarged even further with the [Digital Zoom], but the image is deteriorated due to the digital processing operation of the camera.

If you want to use the [Digital Zoom] to enlarge the subject without deterioration, select a smaller recording pixel.

For details about the [Digital Zoom] factors that may cause image deterioration, please refer to the following chart.

The zoom factors vary depending on the model of your camera.

The larger the zoom factor is, the more likely image blurring occurs during shooting. It is recommended to use a tripod when you shoot images at higher factors.

If the recording pixel value is set to [Large] () or [Medium 1] (), images become coarse with the digital zoom.

Caution