The lens is one of the most important components found on a camera. The better the lens the better the pictures your digital camera will take. A good lens will give you good clarity, colour, brightness and brilliance. Compact camera lenses can be made of plastic or glass or combination of both. Glass lens offer you the best clarity.
The Lens
Most compact digital cameras today have zoom lenses built in. Since you cannot change the lens on a compact digital camera, you need to carefully consider the lens capability of the camera you are looking to purchase. Most compact digital cameras come with a versatile zoom lens that covers the range from wide angle to telephoto.
Most standard compact digital cameras come with a wide angle lens capability of 35 - 38mm equivalent. Camera manufacturers' will quote lens's zoom capability in mm, for example 35 - 110mm equivalent or as a multiplier, for example x3 zoom lens (110 divide by 35). The first number refers to the maximum potential of the camera using the wide lens, while the second number is the telephoto end of the zoom range. More and more compact digital cameras are now coming along with wider angled lens, such as 24mm wide.
If you're looking for advice on DLSR lenses, visit our Guide to Digital SLRs.
Digital Zoom
Most digital cameras, whether a compact or DLSR, come with optical and digital zoom capability. The optical zoom used in the cameras lens draw the image closer. The quality of the image remains the same when using optical zoom. Digital zoom on the other hand uses a portion of the image and expands that image - the section of the image becomes bigger not closer. With digital zoom the image quality will be reduced.
When comparing what compact digital to purchase look at the optical zoom and not digital zoom capability of the camera. If you think you will need a powerful zoom that provides good quality images, go for a camera with an at least 5x zoom, if not more.