Recently InfiRay Outdoor has released grandly the newest ground-breaking thermal imaging monocular-InfiRay ZOOM product through a customer-friendly way- Facebook Live. One of the ZOOM' s biggest features with which InfiRay has received patent is: it supports not only digital zoom function but also a 2X optical zoom brought by focal length adjustment from 19mm to 38mm. To carry on the above, let's talk about the digital zoom and optical zoom in the thermal units.

So what's the optical zoom and digital zoom?

Optical zoom

Despite the seeming similarity between them, they are a whole lot different. The history of optical zoom goes back centuries when people invented the first telescope in the world. From the term optical zoom you can guess and deduce that it has adopted the adjustments to the lens system in order to bring an object image closer which means a “lossless” magnification. Every lens has a key characteristic related to optical zoom: its focal length. The bigger the focal length of the lens is, the greater the optical zoom will be.

(The primary definition of the focal length in the optical system is expressed as the physical distance from the entrance lens or a specific point in a complex lens assembly to the point where all the light rays converge, which normally is the thermal sensor and measured in

millimeters.)

Digital zoom

Digital zoom is a relatively recent invention with the development of digital technology and now can be found in almost all thermal imaging devices. Strictly speaking, it is not “zoom” at all. It is just processing to the digital imaging display on the unit’s screen. When you zoom in digitally from 1X to 4X, what your device gets is an electronic magnification of the imaging pixels created by the objective lens.

What's the difference between optical zoom and digital zoom?

Obviously, these two concepts denote the magnification of thermal imaging. Noticeable is that the traditional thermals only have a fixed and constant optical magnification, basically on it the users can magnify digitally the imaging on screen through the internal digital zoom.

In short, with optical zoom the users can get the subjects close before you capture them. With digital zoom, the users can choose the part of the thermal image and later magnify it to the correct size. For disadvantaged parts you will have more chances of imaging quality loss with digital zoom, and sometimes you will meet with the lens errors occur when zooming with less advanced lenses.So what if a thermal that combines optical and digital zoom? That’s what we will talk about it.

Breakthrough brought by InfiRay ZOOM Product

InfiRay ZOOM product supports a 2X optical zoom as well as a digital zoom range up to 4X. Optional adjustment from 19mm to 38mm focal length which means ZOOM enables users to rebuild the field of view. This combination of optical zoom and digital zoom brings advantages in helping hunters to search and target prey or objects in ease without losing recognition and details of it.

In actual applications in the hunting area and outdoor, under 19mm focal mode the user is able to own a relatively wider field of view and a larger range of viewing to the surrounding for searching and detecting the larger area or terrain where they will take activities in. Oppositely, when users have locked the certain targets and will have further action, they can turn it to 38mm focal length status (narrower field of view) and get a 2X optical magnification to the certain items that you are targeting, surprisingly, it is still with the “authentic” imaging quality.

                                                                                                                    19mm Focal Length in the Thermal 38mm Focal Length in the Thermal

In conclusion, the optical zoom will bring users more “original and authentic” magnification to the thermal imaging alike the targets are closer to you. Digital zoom magnifies the imaging digitally, it helps users to target objects and is mostly adopted on market. So a thermal device with a combination of optical zoom and digital zoom is an innovative design and option for users in prospect. More importantly, more choices on markets for users and their needs are better. So if you want to learn more about the newest InfiRay ZOOM product with 2X optical zoom, please check:

https://www.infirayoutdoor.com/thermal-imaging-monocular-zoom-series_p69.html