Frequently Asked Questions
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Q: What is interpolation? Does it affect the quality of my photos?

A: Interpolation is a term for how a camera interprets, or "guesses" how an image should look when digitally zoomed in, and then adds pixels to enlarge the image. Previously, if you enlarged a 320 x 240 image to 640 x 480, the program simply doubled-up each pixel. This resulted in an image that looked blocky. Now, with more advanced programs such as Photoshop, interpolation is done on the photo while enlarging. The interpolation calculations allow the computer to pick better pixels to add to the image, rather than just using the pixel next to it. In this way, the enlarged image looks smoother and cleaner.

Note that the amount of photo information has not changed, and the image is not going to change much. For example, in an original image, a person in the background looks like a white dot. After digitally enlarging the image through interpolation, the person still looks like a white dot, only bigger. This is how interpolation differs from an optically zoomed image, which could clarify the person in the background somewhat.