The Filmmaker's Eye

zoom shot

Originally introduced to movies in the late 1950s, the zoom lens allowed, for the first time, to change a lens’ focal length while a shot is taken, letting filmmakers have a dynamic field of view without the need to move the camera or switch lenses. Although zoom shots resemble dolly shots, they differ in the way they depict space and movement. In a zoom shot, the camera remains stationary, maintaining a constant perspective as the lens zooms from wide angle to telephoto (zoom in) or from telephoto to wide angle (zoom out). In a dolly shot, the perspective does not remain constant, because the camera itself is being moved. Unlike dolly shots, where audiences feel as if they are moving toward or away from something in the frame, zoom ...