Gigapixels next?

Is the analog world catching up to the digital world?

I’m not sure, but it feels like many digital camera manufacturers are trying to zero in on a large number of consumers who have now begun to replace their old compact cameras with the digital “minicam” or compact cameras. I’m talking about cameras like the Canon Ixus 400, Ixus 700, and so on.

What bothers me the most is not the fact that I can get a digital camera the size of my visa card (well, that’s a sales pitch I’ve heard) that gives me anywhere from three to seven megapixels; no, it’s the fact that most of these cameras still suck in the zoom department. Three times optical zoom just won’t cut it. You can, of course, never have too much zoom, but a 5-8 times optical zoom would sure be handy in a compact camera. And yes, before you say it, I realize this impacts the size of the camera. Well, they’ll just have to give their R&D crew some more money!

I’d also like to see more people stand up and raise a complaint or three about the use of the wording “digital zoom”. What kind of crap is that?! I wonder how many people have purchased a digital camera after having been told that “this baby has a three times optical zoom, and then to enhance the zoom even further, it sports a 12 times digital zoom” .. there ain’t no such thing! Sure.. if you have a 6-10 megapixel camera, you can “zoom” in once or twice and still maintain top notch quality, but hardly at three megapixels!

I’m still very happy with the 20D, and with my wife’s Ixus 400 for “party shots”.. all we gotta get now is the “in-between-model” 🙂