Glossary
Optical zoom
Zoom done by a real telephoto lens, without losing detail. Digital zoom only crops and enlarges.
Optical zoom uses a telephoto lens (often a periscope design) to get closer without losing detail — 3× or 5× means that many times closer than the main camera. Digital zoom only crops and enlarges the image. Makers sometimes quote optical-quality zoom from cropping a high-MP sensor; Zynverse shows the maker's exact wording next to the value.
Also called: telephoto, periscope, zoom lens, digital zoom