I broke down and bought a Sony 308 DVD camcorder, which has 25X optical zoom and 2000x digital zoom. The lower end 108 (doesnt have surround sound recording, less Mpix stills, no CMOS, etc) has a 40x optical zoom. I even saw higher end models with just 10x optical.

Why do the more expensive ones have worse zoom?

[alpine101]

Because anything over about 5x is useless without a tripod and simply used as a macho marketing gimmick.

[rhubarbe]

Because the smaller the CCD the more zoom is possible. Cheaper cams have smaller CCDs and so they get huge zoom, because the marketing men can't resist it and it sells cams to novices who are used to being sold geewhiz numbers.

But the larger the CCD the better the recording quality? Thanks guys

[senu]

Originally Posted by vettegofast

But the larger the CCD the better the recording quality? Thanks guys

Yes bigger CCD ,better definition ( even though video res is fixed) better low light, better colour but the amount of Zoom from the same lens focal length will be less..not a bad thing as long Zoom (especially hand held) is not going to result in a decent footage

thanks.