Dash cam with zoom capability

[Nigel]

When you say to somebody that some video is a zoomed video but which in reality was recorded with a telephoto lens they will easy understand what is about.

It is correct that it is a zoomed video, because, if it was recorded on an iPhone, the person recording it zoomed in from the normal lens to use the telephoto lens. If you read Apple's description of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it correctly says that it has a telephoto lens with 5x zoom (relative to the standard lens). The telephoto lens is a prime lens, not a zoom lens, but the phone camera does have zoom and the videos produced from the telephoto lens are zoomed relative to the standard lens. The standard lens is actually a zoom lens, since it has adjustable focal length, the telephoto lens is a prime lens with fixed focal length, and the camera is a zoom camera.

People when hear about something with tele they will thing to something like TV o teleportation. At least with TV you are close because it is about a video.

"Tele" actually means "distant", so a telephoto lens gives an image of the distance, not a portrait or close up, it can be a zoomed image if you also have a closer image, but on its own it is not zoomed and it is not a zoom lens. TV is a device for viewing at a distance, teleportation is being transferred to a distant destination.

 

[Nigel]

For those that don't know a Field of View is measured in linear distance at a given range,

Maybe you had better update wikipedia:

Field of view - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mtz]

Of course we are here on some specialized forum so people here should understand and use the correct terms

There is no reason to use the wrong term just because the correct nomenclature might confuse an amateur or average person

I am sorry @Mtz but I must disagree with you

I have no problem to disagree with me, you should not be sorry if you are on the right side.

But I live in a non-english country surrounded by average people, almost nobody of my friends will understand what I want to say if a video was recorded with a telephoto lens.
1. We have a romanian word called Telefoto. As you can see it is almost the same as the english one but with missing the h letter. If you will go to the official romanian dictionary and ask what means Telefoto, they will say something like: Apparatus that electrically transmits a luminous image at a distance; image thus obtained. The strange thing is that such apparatus does not exists for average people, nobody will search on local Amazon for a Telefoto device and even they will search because they saw it on official romanian dictionary, the result is null. Something close to it is a video projector. But we have another name for it, we never say to a projector to be a telephoto device. We call it video proiector.
So, if you will say to the people, in romanian, that the dashcam is with a Telefoto lens just because you don't know the romanian translation of the word Telephoto, you will be wrong as official romanian definition and if that people doesnt know english they will not understand. But they understand the Zoom effect or the zoom lens even the dashcam can not have varifocal lens.
In another definition of this word they say that this word is coming from the french word téléphoto, and they say to look at the word called teleobiectiv.

2. If you will use google translate for the word Telephoto, the result is Teleobiectiv. This is the same word they say to look about for Telefoto secondary meaning version. Going again to the official romanian dictionary to look for the correct term explanation of Teleobiectiv, we will find this: A (tele)scope-like photographic lens that attaches to cameras or cameras and is used to photograph objects at great distances. And average romanian people will understand that a Teleobiectiv is another lens attached to the original lens of the camera. And this is almost correct. Even as the secondary and less important explanation they say that Teleobiectiv is: Photographic lens, with a long focal length, used for photographing very distant objects. And this should be the correct definition for a telephoto lens used n a dashcam.

But if I will tell to Average Ion that my video was recorded with a Teleobiectiv, he will think that I attached some telescope to the dashcam to record the objects closer. Only a photo specialist will understand (but not 100% for sure) that it is about a telephoto lens.

More than that, when you say to somebody something like `look at this zoom video`, they will always know that it is a zoomed video, no matter if it is by software, fixed lens or varifocal lens, but the disaster come when you will go again to the official romanian dictionary and you will see that they accepted the word zoom as a romanian word (even it is not) and its meaning is: Photographic lens with variable focal length. But if you will go on the streets and ask romanian people what is the meaning of the word zoom, 99.999999999% of them is that it is the effect, the zoomed image and almost nobody will tell that zoom is a lens, an object. Nobody. Even the official and unknown meaning is about a lens.

As official name for the telephoto lens it should be Teleobiectiv, even people will think to an attached lens.

Of course, here on this english forum we should use Telephoto, but in reality, in our countries, maybe is better to use another definition to make people understand that the video recorded with a telephoto lens is a zoomed video.

 

[DT MI]

Maybe you had better update wikipedia:

Field of view - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That entry, like many others on the internet, is one of the many that are using the term incorrectly. (BTW, Wikipedia entries are no better than the individuals making them. You and I are capable of posting or editing them - including incorrectly if wanted.)

From: https://shuttermuse.com/angle-of-view-vs-field-of-view-fov-aov/

"The Wikipedia entry for field of view starts with the first line “For the same phenomenon in photography, see Angle of view” which certainly seems to indicate that the two are interchangeable. Unfortunately it quickly contradicts itself in the very first line of the angle of view entry by citing a source that clearly states that people should not treat FOV and AOV the same. That source, linked in the previous sentence, states that AOV is an angle, whilst FOV should be a measurement of linear distance."

 

[Dashmellow]

OK, I guess it's time to drag out my old thread about this subject for those who haven't seen it.

AOV (angle of view) vs FOV (field of view) explained​

 

[Dashmellow]

I have no problem to disagree with me, you should not be sorry if you are on the right side.

But I live in a non-english country surrounded by average people, almost nobody of my friends will understand what I want to say if a video was recorded with a telephoto lens.
1. We have a romanian word called Telefoto. As you can see it is almost the same as the english one but with missing the h letter. If you will go to the official romanian dictionary and ask what means Telefoto, they will say something like: Apparatus that electrically transmits a luminous image at a distance; image thus obtained. The strange thing is that such apparatus does not exists for average people, nobody will search on local Amazon for a Telefoto device and even they will search because they saw it on official romanian dictionary, the result is null. Something close to it is a video projector. But we have another name for it, we never say to a projector to be a telephoto device. We call it video proiector.
So, if you will say to the people, in romanian, that the dashcam is with a Telefoto lens just because you don't know the romanian translation of the word Telephoto, you will be wrong as official romanian definition and if that people doesnt know english they will not understand. But they understand the Zoom effect or the zoom lens even the dashcam can not have varifocal lens.
In another definition of this word they say that this word is coming from the french word téléphoto, and they say to look at the word called teleobiectiv.

2. If you will use google translate for the word Telephoto, the result is Teleobiectiv. This is the same word they say to look about for Telefoto secondary meaning version. Going again to the official romanian dictionary to look for the correct term explanation of Teleobiectiv, we will find this: A (tele)scope-like photographic lens that attaches to cameras or cameras and is used to photograph objects at great distances. And average romanian people will understand that a Teleobiectiv is another lens attached to the original lens of the camera. And this is almost correct. Even as the secondary and less important explanation they say that Teleobiectiv is: Photographic lens, with a long focal length, used for photographing very distant objects. And this should be the correct definition for a telephoto lens used n a dashcam.

But if I will tell to Average Ion that my video was recorded with a Teleobiectiv, he will think that I attached some telescope to the dashcam to record the objects closer. Only a photo specialist will understand (but not 100% for sure) that it is about a telephoto lens.

More than that, when you say to somebody something like `look at this zoom video`, they will always know that it is a zoomed video, no matter if it is by software, fixed lens or varifocal lens, but the disaster come when you will go again to the official romanian dictionary and you will see that they accepted the word zoom as a romanian word (even it is not) and its meaning is: Photographic lens with variable focal length. But if you will go on the streets and ask romanian people what is the meaning of the word zoom, 99.999999999% of them is that it is the effect, the zoomed image and almost nobody will tell that zoom is a lens, an object. Nobody. Even the official and unknown meaning is about a lens.

As official name for the telephoto lens it should be Teleobiectiv, even people will think to an attached lens.

Of course, here on this english forum we should use Telephoto, but in reality, in our countries, maybe is better to use another definition to make people understand that the video recorded with a telephoto lens is a zoomed video.

It is hard to know just where to start in attempting to reply to your post. The dictionary terms you are presenting seem misinformed and misused although maybe its partly a matter of translation.

Firstly, the prefix "tele" simply means "at a distance". It comes from the Greek word tēle, meaning “far off". The prefix tele in any language is used for many kinds of words and terms. Thus we have telephone, telegraph, telegram, televison, etc.

It makes no sense to even present us with the Romanian word "telephoto" because it has nothing to do with lenses or optics and as an English word there would be no reason for Romanians to use it that way. The definition you present seems to suggest that it refers to television, although I guess it could be a video projector. Either way it is not relevant to our discussion. And we are talking about capturing images, not projecting them or viewing them.

We have a romanian word called Telefoto. As you can see it is almost the same as the english one but with missing the h letter. If you will go to the official romanian dictionary and ask what means Telefoto, they will say something like: Apparatus that electrically transmits a luminous image at a distance; image thus obtained.

Your initial interpretation of the word "Teleobiectiv" seems accurate I honestly don't know what to make of your secondary interpretation of the Romanian word "Teleobiectiv" and I have no idea why you would think that the average Romanian would believe that the word "Teleobiectiv" would mean that it is describing a secondary lens that is attached to an already existing camera lens. This is not what the word means! As I mentioned, the prefix "tele" simply means "distance" and the suffix "obiectiv" means "lens". "Objective" happens to be the standard English word for "lens" so it means the same thing as "obiectiv" in Romanian. "Objective" is a term universally understood to refer to a lens in all languages such when as looking through a microscope or a telescope.

"In optical engineering, an objective is an optical element that gathers light from an object being observed and focuses the light rays from it to produce a real image of the object. Objectives can be a single lens or mirror, or combinations of several optical elements." So, again, "Teleobiectiv" means "Telephoto lens", and "so Teleobiectiv" is the Romania word for the English term"telephoto" lens. In this case a "Teleobiectiv" lens is NOT attached to another lens but is the primary lens used on cameras. It can be permanently installed or removable such as on a DSLR but it is nothing more that a long focal length lens. This makes no sense.

And average romanian people will understand that a Teleobiectiv is another lens attached to the original lens of the camera.

But if I will tell to Average Ion that my video was recorded with a Teleobiectiv, he will think that I attached some telescope to the dashcam to record the objects closer. Only a photo specialist will understand (but not 100% for sure) that it is about a telephoto lens.

I find it hard to really believe that the Romainian people would have any reason to believe otherwise. I can't fathom how you arrive at such a conclusion.

All in all I believe you are confusing English words and terminology with Romanian words. Based upon what you have said here "telephoto" means one thing in Romanian and something else entirely in English, so no intelligent Romanian would be likely to use the word "telephoto" when searching in the Romanian language for a long focal length lens. He would use the word, Teleobiectiv".

As for "zoom"you are misusing the word. The word for our purposes simply describes a mechanical optical system that can spontaneously change focal lengths but the term "ZOOM" can apply to any kind of lens and has nothing specifically to do with telephoto lenses. Remember, the title of this thread is "Dash Cam with Zoom Capability"

"Zooming" a lens is merely the ability or capability to quickly alter the magnification that is available to the photographer or cinematographer. It does not in any way mean "telephoto".

While it is true that sometimes people use the term "zoom" to mean to zooming into an image such as when viewing on a screen but this use of the term has nothing to do with the use of the term in optics which is the literal use of the word whereas zooming in to an image that is view is more of a figurative or relative term. People have come to describe this as the Ken Burns effect which also includes panning.

As for the term zoom not necessarily having any specific meaning related to "telephoto lenses", I happen to own a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED Lens. This is a typical "zoom" lens but it is an extreme to moderately wide angle lens that can change magnification between 14mm and 24mm but it is not in any way a "telephoto" lens. Nobody would mistake it for anything but a wide angle lens even though it is indeed a "zoom" lens. I would imagine that some Romanians also have or are aware of such lenses.



Anyway, as I said earlier, my philosophy is to educate people rather than dumb them down. I think it is best for people to l learn the proper terms for things we use, especially our tools and technologies, regardless of what language you may speak or what culture you may come from. We are living in "The Information Age" after all.

 

[TonyM]

Soon we will see a never-seen video about telephoto dashcam recording.

Sounds interesting....

 

[Mtz]

Sounds interesting....

It is here and in my signature.

"Tele" actually means "distant", so a telephoto lens gives an image of the distance, not a portrait or close up, it can be a zoomed image if you also have a closer image, but on its own it is not zoomed and it is not a zoom lens. TV is a device for viewing at a distance, teleportation is being transferred to a distant destination.

OK, I used "Telephoto" everywhere.