Help with digital power

[QALHNTR]

I'm an old 35mm camera guy. I started with my dad's old Ansco Regent ( I still have it complete with leather case and bellows). In '76 I bought the state-of-the-art Fujica ST-801. The second camera to have a shutter speed of 1/2000. With all of the lenses I bought (even though they are screw-thread type) it is still a useful camera. My Canon EOS gets most of the duty now.

I'm on my third digital, an older Sony with 5x zoom and 2MP. Here's my question. How does the digital 10X translate into a 310mm? Is there a general conversion scale?

For my puny mind, how in the heck does a relatively short digital lense (on optical settting only) have the same power as a 10" long 300mm telephoto?

Is the quality sacrificed? Thanks for the answers in advance.

Duke

 

[AnnieAK]

If you look at the specs for your lens on the digital camera, it says something like "31-310 equivalent". The actual mm is probably more like 6.3 to 63, that's what the Olympus C 740 is. It all has to do with how small the sensor size is, or something like that.

 

[_droptine_]

Yes, it does have to do with the sensor size of digitals. The area that has to be focused on is smaller than it is for a 35mm camera.