Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 User Manual page 105

The "Digital cropped image"
From the area in red outline in the illustration the resulting image is
produced. It has the same pixel density as a full sized image size
therefore the resulting maximum print size is much smaller. (divide image
width x 300 to get actual print size for normal photo prints!)
If you look closely at the set up menu it gives you a clue!
At 12M 4000 x 3000 pixel, A2 print 16 x 20 inch
At 8M 3624 x 2448 pixel, A3 print 11 x 14 inch
At 5M 2560 x1920 pixel, A4 print 10 x 8 inch
So what you are getting is a smaller file size only, with the applied digital
crop. You would get the same result if you physically printed the full size
16 x 20 inch print from the 4000 x 3000 image and the guillotined it to the
11 x 14 size. The results would be identical!
It is however not the same as "digital zoom". Digital zoom works by pixel
interpolation – method by which when a digital image is enlarged the
scaling software "guesses" mathematically what the pixel colors would
be for the area between the original image and the enlarged one.
Effectively the image is "made up" and hence always looks slightly
"pixelated" where these extra pixels have been created.
If you limit the amount of digital zoom to 1.5 and if you are only using the
output for small prints, HDTV or web images they will be of sufficient
quality as seen above. It is a convenience factor only though as this
could always be done in post production editing.
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