Zooming with a DSLR

[DJM]

Hello Again guys,

This is probably a very stupid question to you guys but here goes:

Without a zoom lens on your camera can you zoom when taking a photo (with a standard lens)?

Thanks

 

[Braineack]

without a zoom lens? no.

not unless you take a picture and crop it later.

or move closer/further to the subject.

 

[Ido]

If it's not a zoom lens, it's not a zoom lens.

 

[Designer]

Hello Again guys,

This is probably a very stupid question to you guys but here goes:

Without a zoom lens on your camera can you zoom when taking a photo (with a standard lens)?

Thanks

You still have two options:

Walk closer.

Crop closer.

They both work.

 

[ConradM]

Some DSLR's have an in camera crop feature as well.

 

[480sparky]

You still have two options:

Walk closer.

Crop closer.

They both work.

Option three: waste money on a screw-on telephoto adapter you see on fleabey for $10 shipped.

 

[DJM]

But when you crop will the photo not become pixelated?

 

[Braineack]

But when you crop will the photo not become pixelated?

depends. with so many megapixels you should not fear crop.

 

[robbins.photo]

But when you crop will the photo not become pixelated?

I think there might be some confusion of terms here. Ok, a zoom lens is just a lens that has a focal length that can be varied. So say your lens is an 18-50 mm - that is a zoom lens. You can select any focal length from 18 mm to 50 mm. A non-zoom lens is called a "prime", it has a set focal length that can't be changed. An example would be my 50 mm 1.8 AFS-G. It is set at 50 mm and I can't zoom in or out with it, I can only back up or move forward.

I believe that what you might be asking about here is telephoto lenses, which are lenses with a longer focal length. They also come in both zooms and primes, I have a 70-200 mm myself, so I can vary the focal length on my telephoto from 70 mm all the way up to 200 mm.

When you crop a photo a lot the final result will very much depend on the image quality of the photo you started with, and how much you had to crop it to get your desired field of view. If you start with an image that is fairly low in detail (lower MP sensor) and have to crop heavily, yes the final image will look pixelated. If you start with an image from a higher MP sensor you have more detail in the original image to work with, so you can crop those more and still have acceptable results when your done.

 

[ConradM]

Some old crop examples from my a77.











That's with a 24mp sensor.

 

[Braineack]

Max with Grandpa (Matte) by The Braineack, on Flickr

 

[DJM]

Ok thanks guys for the examples. Whats the sort of limit of mega pixels before a cropped picture becomes pixelated? I have been looking at secondhand Canon 40D, I believe it has 10 megapixels, would this be enough to prevent pixelation when cropping?

 

[DJM]

And what cameras did you guys use for the pictures above?

 

[ConradM]

Ok thanks guys for the examples. Whats the sort of limit of mega pixels before a cropped picture becomes pixelated? I have been looking at secondhand Canon 40D, I believe it has 10 megapixels, would this be enough to prevent pixelation when cropping?

Does it come with a zoom lens?

 

[astroNikon]

Jumping back to your first post ...
what is a "standard" lens
does it have the markings .... 18-55mm 1:3.5-4.5
or something like that ?

or just like 50mm 1:1.8

??

Because there are basically "zoom" lenses and then "prime" lenses. The first example above is a zoom lense meaning it can have various focal lengths. (18 - 55mm)
And the second is a "prime" lens where it has a fixed focal length (50mm)

pixelation .. depends how much you crops or enlarge the photo.