A definition of Digital Zoom

An extension to the optical zoom ranges of most digital compact cameras. This crops the image to provide a narrower angle of view, before interpolating the results back to a normal resolution. This process does not add any extra detail to the image – it simply guesses pixel values based on those already there – and the results are likely to be less satisfactory than those achieved with the standard optical zoom range. As such, it should only be used when absolutely necessary.