The typical miniDV or DVD camcorder magnification is up to about 35X. I am wondering why digital cameras are still stuck in 10X, 12X, etc. though one is now available with 18X.

Are we just getting sold a bill of goods? Or it is just a stalling tactic for the next generation of digital camera?

There are two kinds of zooms, physical and digital.

The better the glass, the larger the glass( more light for lower F stop) the better the zoom. Digital just magnifies the pixels and goes grainy in a hurry. If you are getting a point and shoot camera disregard the digital zoom number and get the best glass you can.
If the glass isn't good then your pictures will not be as good as you'd like!

Bill,

This might be due to the differences in pixels.

A video camera has 720x560 pixels - which is 0.4 of a megapixel.

Compare that to even compact cameras that have up to 12 megapixels.

There is also the question of sensor size.

Compact cameras have relatively very small sensors, despite the high megapixel specs. This means the light gathering ability of the sensor is not as good as a larger sensor with the same number of pixels.

If you have compared photoes taken by two cameras of similar number of pixels. One is a compact and one an SLR, under poor light conditions. You would realze the big differences between the quality of the two.

I have tried a number of high magnification fixed lense cameras. And in my opinion the Panasonic are by far the best. Followed by Canon. The rest, like Olympus and Sony, fall far behind in both usability and quality.

With SLRs, you are really limited in choice by either Nikon or Canon.

There are video cameras that can take stills too. But I have found the quality of results are no where near as good as from a dedicated digital still camera with the same pixels.

Zoom is a complicated subject as it is relative and does not compare linerally to millimeters of focal length of the slrs. Doccash