• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Optical Zoom

Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
212
Location
Oklahoma City
I have a question, do you scarafice megapixels if you get a camera that has a high optical zoom. I have a hard time understanding this. I have seen camera's with 12x optical zoom but low mega pixels. And others that are high on the megapixels and don't mention anything about optical zoom. I ask this cause all I could find in the archives was on video camera's. And am I correct in thinking optical zoom is better than digital. Digital just takes the image and magnifys it correct? Sorry if this has been asked before and if this is in the wrong area. Thanks. James:)
 
I have a question, do you scarafice megapixels if you get a camera that has a high optical zoom. I have a hard time understanding this. I have seen camera's with 12x optical zoom but low mega pixels. And others that are high on the megapixels and don't mention anything about optical zoom. I ask this cause all I could find in the archives was on video camera's. And am I correct in thinking optical zoom is better than digital. Digital just takes the image and magnifys it correct? Sorry if this has been asked before and if this is in the wrong area. Thanks. James:)

I'm no expert - either.
But I'm certain that optical zoom is acceptable brcause it doesn't affect pixel size - whereas digital zoom is unacceptable because it magnifies/amplifies pixel size and ends up turning images into a jagged mess.
I have a camera that does optical and digital zoom - so I turned off the digital zoom.
Glad I did - much better results by leaving it that way.
You can experiment yourself and see it.
That much I can tell you...
 
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Optical zoom does not alter the image from what I understand. Watch out for digital zoom because like Rob said, it turns the image into a mess the more it's zoomed in.
 
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Big optical zooms don't drive you to lower megapixels, but they do typically require more lens elements to do it right. I think that high-megapixel sensors are more pricey than lower resolution sensors, so the camera manufacturers forego the high optical zoom to meet their price point.

My Canon G9 has a 6x optical zoom, which I consider pretty good, along with a 12 MP sensor. Unfortunately you pay for the combination.
 
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Thank you for everyone who answered. And for the link I like the way it explained. Now another question. Frames persecond is acutally what it says, so basically would the higher the frames per second mean getting better lighting shots in and around storms?
 
Uhhh Ohhh.
You have unknowingly opened up another can of worms.
Reason?
Not all videocam's can do lightning.
More comments from those who both know and experienced this problem will be coming your way.....
 
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