CHAPTER 8 HOW NEW TECH CHANGES PHOTOGRAPHY^133
In the V610, the top lens
zooms for the equivalent of
130–380mm. The bottom
lens covers 38–114mm.7
Which lens is active depends on how the photographer has set the zoom. In the
V570, the bottom lens zooms through a 3X range of 39–117mm (translated into
35mm film camera focal lengths). If the photographer zooms wider than 39mm, the
ultra-widetop lens takes over with a fixed focal length equivalent of 23mm for
another 2X power.6
The A570 pushes its wide-
angle capabilities further still
through an in-camera panorama mode
that stitches three photos together to produce
one wide, low photo covering almost 180
degrees. That’s the equivalent of an 8–10mm
wide-angle lens on a 35mm camera.8
After the photographer shoots the leftmost of the three pictures, the A570 first locks in the
white balance and exposure and turns off the flash so that the next two shots will have
matching exposures. Then the camera retrieves about a fourth of the previous image from
the right side and displays it in a semi-transparent overlay on the left edge of the camera’s
LCD viewfinder. By aiming the camera so that the overlay matches the new left edge of the
frame, the photographer shoots second and third frames that can meld smoothly into the
panorama.9
The images reflect off the coated surfaces and continue through the rest of the lenses, which are
mounted one above the other lengthwise inside the cameras’ bodies. This is where the lens ele-
ments move back and forth as needed to focus an image or to change the zoom factor. This
arrangement is also why the lenses do not protrude beyond the camera case.4
The twin lenses in both cam-
eras are aimed at separate
image sensors.5