Hi there I hope this helps you explain things to your friend - Optical zoom refers to an actual change in the lens in order to get closer to the thing you want to take a photo of. That's why the camera lens moves when you are using optical zoom. Digital zoom is basically like when you have an image on the computer, and you just zoom in with the cursor. It doesn't get a clearer, better image. Thus, optical zoom is more important than digital zoom.The Optical zoom ratio of a digital camera measures how much the lens can actually zoom in to make subjects appear closer. Be careful to not confuse Optical Zoom with Digital Zoom. Optical zoom actually enlarges a picture while keeping the resolution and sharpness of the picture high.
Always go for a higher optical zoom than digital zoom.
Real simple...
Optical uses a LENS to accomplish the zoom... (and is the superior method)
Digital... works on the image there... and "blows up" pixels... and with each digital zoom, you lose quality.
I hope this helps
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