What is one disadvantage of using digital zoom on a camera?

When using digital zoom, the camera essentially crops the image to give the appearance of zooming in on a subject. This cropping reduces the overall resolution of the image, and as a result, the quality can suffer greatly. Pixelation occurs because the remaining pixels are enlarged to fill the space of the original image, leading to a loss of detail. Essentially, digital zoom does not enhance the image quality but compromises it, making this choice the correct answer.

In contrast, optical zoom works by using the camera's lens to magnify the subject without altering the sensor's resolution, thus maintaining image quality. Other options, such as reducing the aperture or needing additional lighting, are not inherently linked to the impact of digital zoom itself.