What's it called · Film & video 10

Zoom

Also called: Optical zoom

A camera technique that changes lens focal length from a fixed position to enlarge or shrink the whole image.

Compare the person and background enlarging by the same factor with 'Static shot'.

Often confused with

• Dolly: A camera move that changes the relative sizes of near subjects and distant backgrounds by changing position rather than lens magnification
• Dolly zoom: A technique that also moves the camera to keep the subject the same size while the background changes
• Pinch to zoom: An on-screen pinch gesture that resizes content rather than changing a camera lens