How far a camera can zoom?

What is camera zoom?

The zoom of a camera is a way to get a captured image closer without the need to
reduce the physical distance between the camera and the object to be photographed or
filmed. Contrary to expectations, there is not only one type of zoom, but three, including
digital, optical and hybrid zoom.

What are the zoom types?

With the entry and improvement of smartphone cameras, the topic of zoom has been
increasingly commented. In terms of focal length, a 7.7mm lens, or 50mm when compared to
35mm films, gives us an apparent distance image equal to the real one. So, the longer focal
lengths give us close-ups and the shorter ones make the image look more distant. The high
factors of multiplicative approximation are easily found in the market and these devices are
already capable of implementing the three types: optical, digital and hybrid, explained below.

● Digital zoom
In the case of digital zoom, the effect is the same as the optical one, but here
we do not deal with lens movement. It basically cuts the scene around the object of
interest, making it appear to be closer.
This type of zoom uses computational algorithms to perform the
approximation and, therefore, different from the optical zoom, it has loss of quality,
being the great problem of the technique, because if the magnification has a very
high multiplicative factor, the quality is lost drastically, causing the effect known as
pixelation. The difference is the fact that you can zoom in on an image without
needing a lot of physical space. The maximum approximation of this type of zoom is
600mm, which occurs in Super Telephoto lenses.
When we talk about compact cameras, the approximation, or zoom ratio,
indicates the power of the lens. To obtain this information, we just need to divide the
longest focal length of the lens by the shortest. Therefore, a 100 to 600mm lens
would have a zoom ratio of 600/100, that is, 6x.

● Optical zoom
Optical zoom, as the name suggests, uses lens manipulation strategies to
obtain an approximate image. In theory, the resulting image must be identical to if the
camera had approached the object to be photographed. This is just not guaranteed
because the quality of the lenses used to obtain the approximation has a direct
influence on the final condition of the capture.
The optical zoom was used for many years in cameras, which ended up
making the lenses very large, as they needed space to move around. Currently, with
the advancement of technology, it appears again in modern devices, with an evolved
technique and reduced space.
In terms of approximation, an optical set of lenses can capture and enlarge
objects that are miles away from the observer. However, there must be enough
 space for good lens movement. The best zoom rate obtained by a camera with this
type of zoom belongs to the Nikon COOLPIX P1000, reaching an incredible 125x.

https://www.lifewire.com/best-ultra-zoom-cameras-493676
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superzoom_compact_cameras

● Hybrid zoom
This type of implementation is relatively recent and basically consists of using
together the two techniques previously presented, taking advantage of both optical
and digital zoom. In general, lenses with this type of zoom offer a 3 to 5x
approximation in optical zoom and do the rest using the digital zoom algorithms, but
the fact is that this type of lens can adopt as a maximum approximation the set
between that made by the digital and optical zoom previously described.

https://www.androidauthority.com/camera-zoom-optical-digital-hybrid-1021264/
https://frogprints.co.nz/help/focal.cfm
https://www.zoom.com.br/camera-digital/deumzoom/qual-a-diferenca-entre-zoom-optico-e-
zoom-digital
https://photographylife.com/what-is-zoom-in-photography

How to get higher quality in a zoom?

To obtain the best results to approximate the image, if space is available for the use
of mobile lenses, as well as there is no problem in spending more for this, the ideal is to use
only the optical zoom.
If the required approximation factor is low, or if we don't spend a lot of money, digital
zoom may be the best option.
Hybrid zoom becomes a reasonable alternative for those who do not want to spend a
lot, but do not give up on image quality.

https://frogprints.co.nz/help/focal.cfm