On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 03:26:07 GMT, m II wrote:

You are right. I must start to read my posts before sending. Page 34 of
the manual says:

8, 7, 5.5 MP res. Zoom = 12X

5, 4.5 MP res extended zoom = 15.3X

3, 2, 1, 2.5 MP res extended zoom = 19.1

It sounds as if all that's happening is that Panasonic is doing
in-camera cropping that could be better done with the computer. For
instance, take the 8mp image on the computer and crop to produce 4
equal sized quadrants. Each contains only 2mp, but has a field of
view equivalent to what you'd get if the lens had the ability to
zoom out to 24X. If the Panasonic did this it would capture only
the central 2mp. You could get the same thing by cropping the
central 25% of the image on the computer, but you'd still be able to
use any part of the 75% that the camera would have thrown away.


This is all before the 4X digital zoom is even started.I haven't had any
need.for the 76.5X combined zoom (at 3 mp)

All's not lost. You can still add 4X (or 8X or whaterver) digital
zoom to any of the images on the computer if you ever need it. g