Does zooming in on a camera always produce terrible quality photos?

[ScootieBooties]

I recently got a new phone, the Galaxy s7, after my s3 stopped working after about four years and decided to take some pictures of a neat looking moth that was on my back door and the quality was..Varying.

I tried taking pictures further away with increased zoom levels up to 8x so I didn't have to get close and scare it away accidentally yet have it big enough to see in the picture, but it didn't seem to bother it when I was and is in fact still hanging there today. The quality of the photos were terrible and they looked all blurry and off so I ended up deleting them before getting evidence today for this post and zooming back into 8x and snapping a few photos before deciding which one looked best shown here: http://puu.sh/q31yc/a14a3d9d8c.jpg
It also took quite a few tries to get this quality from 1x zoom as well with the camera up close and personal with the moth shown here: http://puu.sh/q318m/a1720d0eeb.jpg

 

[chanchan05]

The links aren't working for me, but yes, digital zoom on any digital camra will degrade quality. What's happening is that it's blowing up a few pixels to cover a particular image size. For example, zooming in 8x might mean you're using 12MP/8, so thats about 1.5MP. So you're getting a 1.5MP picture. Dedicated digital cameras overcome this by using optical focus which phones do not have in general (the lens apparatus that extends out of the camera and changes length as you zoom in or out).

 

[tech_head]

Digital zoom is just a bad crop. You are much better off taking a full image and then cropping in a computer. Just say no to digital zoom.

 

[dpham00]

Sometimes you will need to use digital zooming or else the camera will blow out the light in some low light situations. But in general, I avoid digital zoom

 

[Alanhd]

Digital zoom = spawn of the devil. Always crop after the fact if needed.

I know what dpham00 is saying but it's worth spending time getting to know pro mode so you can set the exposure point etc without having to zoom.

 

[AxlMyk]

Go to Ebay and search for cell phone telescope. I have an 8x and a 12x. They work very well.

 

[1812dave]

Digital zooming features should be banned by international law.