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Glite Dictionary
zoom lens

zoom lens

5 3.7
A camera lens that lets you make distant objects appear nearer without changing lenses
  • noun
  • /zum lɛnz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : lente zoom
  • To capture the stunning wildlife photos, I adjusted the zoom lens to get a closer view.
  • mm zoom lens
  • 200mm zoom lens
  • 80-200mm zoom lens

I'll be at BNH buying a zoom lens to capture her.

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Examples

  • My wife used a Nikon Coolpix 8800 with a 10x zoom lens, which was easy to transport and took excellent images.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Just give 'em a hand-held camera with a zoom lens.

    Fedora (1978)

  • - Hand me the zoom lens.

    Nerve (2016)

  • - See about getting this new zoom lens.

    Boogie Nights (1997)

  • I'm going to take my big zoom lens, get you in the distance like this.

  • All right, So that zoom lens, I mean that is, that is some tremendous detail right there.

  • If you don't need that zoom lens, this, I mean, this might be the way to go.

  • If you use a zoom lens, it should be tested at different focal length settings.

    Academic text (1996)

  • If we didn't have a massive zoom lens, we wouldn't have been able to see anything.

    Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West (2022)

  • I made extensive use of my 25-50 mm zoom lens, mostly at the wider angles.

    Academic text (1994)

Synonyms

camera lens
vszoom lens
7 2.9

A curved glass or plastic piece that focuses light onto the camera sensor

is a specific type that changes magnification by altering focal length without swapping optics

Surface Forms

zoom lens singular
zoom lenses plural

Morphology

zoom + lens

The meaning 'a lens with variable focal length' is directly derivable from combining 'zoom' (the action or capability of changing magnification) with 'lens' (an optical device), i.e. a lens that can 'zoom'. This follows a regular noun–modifier composition and is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Zoom lens comes from zoom, the idea of making something look nearer, and lens, the glass used to take a photo. You turn a ring on the lens to make the picture look bigger or smaller, so the name means a lens that lets you 'zoom' without changing lenses.