Originally posted by jogiba There is no way in hell you will see a 24-720mm (35mm eqiv) F2.8/5.6 lens for Pentax DSLRs
Note quite.
Still cameras only produce a subset of their pixels in video mode, typically by subsampling across the entire sensor surface. If only the center fraction is sampled (like the new Canon does offer as an option), then the total zoom range for 720p with a 14.6MP sensor and with the DA18-250 in 35mm equivalent terms becomes:
27.5 - 1400 mm (50x)
Of course, subsampling would have to be flexible to allow a smooth digital 3.65x zoom range at the tele end of things. But this feature will come very soon in all video-capable dSLR, I am sure (even the DA*16-50 becomes 24 - 280 mm). Digital zoom is a good thing in video mode to be exploited. Unlike in still mode, it doesn't necessarily detoriate resolution and can't be done in post-processing! And because of their higher overall resolving power, digital zoom has much more power for dSLRs compared to P&S.
Last edited by falconeye; 03-05-2010 at 09:51 AM.