Nikon CoolPix P500, Quick Start Manual, Page: 73 / 289

31
Step 2 Frame a Picture
Bas
ic Ph
otography an
d Pl
ayba
ck
:
A
(Auto)
M
ode
Using the Zoom
Rotate the zoom control to activate the optical zoom.
Rotate the zoom control toward
g
to zoom in,
increasing the size of the subject. Rotate the zoom
control toward
f
to zoom out, increasing the area
visible in the frame.
• When the camera is turned on, the zoom is at the
maximum wide-angle position.
• Rotating the zoom control all the way in either
direction adjusts the zoom quickly, while rotating the
control partially adjusts the zoom slowly.
• A zoom indicator is displayed at the top of the
monitor when the zoom control is rotated.
• The zoom can also be operated by rotating the side zoom control (
A
5) toward
g
or
f
.
The function of the side zoom control can be set in the Assign side zoom
control (
A
198) in the setup menu (
A
185).
Digital Zoom
When the camera is zoomed in to the maximum optical zoom position, rotating
and holding the zoom control at
g
triggers digital zoom.
Digital zoom can magnify the subject up to about 4× beyond the maximum
magnification of the optical zoom.
• The camera focuses at the center of the frame and the focus area is not displayed
when digital zoom is in effect.
C
Digital Zoom and Interpolation
Unlike the optical zoom, the digital zoom uses a digital imaging process known as interpolation to
magnify images, resulting in slight deterioration of picture quality depending on the image size
(
A
84) and digital zoom magnification.
Interpolation is applied at zoom positions beyond
V
when taking still images.
When zoom is increased beyond the
V
position, interpolation is initiated and the zoom indicator
turns yellow to indicate that interpolation is being applied.
The position of
V
moves to the right as image size decreases, allowing for confirmation of the zoom
positions at which shooting without interpolation is possible at the current image mode setting.
• Using Digital zoom (
A
197) in the setup menu (
A
185), it is possible to restrict the magnification
of the digital zoom to a range where images do not deteriorate, or to set the digital zoom so that
it does not operate.
Optical zoom Digital zoom
Zoom out Zoom in
Maximum optical zoom Digital zoom enabled
W hen the image size is small