Find advice on any digital camera in our resource center. In optical zoom mode, the camera uses motorized lenses that move back and forth to bring the subject of your photograph closer or farther away from you. With digital zoom, the camera takes a part of the picture the lens captures, enlarges it, and throws away the rest. The resulting picture is actually of lower quality since it is based on just part of what the lens and the sensor can capture.
Focal length is basically the measurement in millimeters from the lens to the sensor.
A common focal length measurement today, for example, is 38-115mm. The lowest number in a focal length range is the lens' widest setting, and the largest number is the most close-up setting. For example, if you fully zoom in on a subject with a 3x-zoom lens, your subject will be three times as large from when it was framed in the camera's widest setting. The proper filter can improve the color and sharpness of a photograph tremendously, but filters are generally used by only professionals and dedicated hobbyists. Wide-angle lenses let you photograph a wider area than a regular camera lens would normally capture.