Conversations about zoom technology in smartphones have become more common since the release of the Huawei P30 Pro and the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom smartphones. These implement all three types of camera zoom: optical, digital, and hybrid. Such concepts can be confusing if you haven't dealt with the topic before, so we are here to clear any doubts. Here's what to need to know about camera zoom, whether it's optical, digital or hybrid!
What is camera zoom?
Let's start with the basics. In photography, camera zoom refers to making a subject appear closer or farther away in an image. Zooming in gives you a closer look at objects, while zooming out will let you capture a wider space.
Optical zoom
Optical zoom is achieved by using a series of lens elements. Glass can move through the lens to zoom in or out. Optical zoom offers the best results and is the truest form of image magnification. Because the content in your photograph is enlarged by manipulating rays of light coming from the scene, optical zoom offers lossless results.
Optical zoom offers the best results and is the truest form of image magnification.
Optical zoom should offer identical results to moving closer to your subject. Of course, that's in theory. Glass quality can affect results. Depending on the lens, aperture can also be reduced as you increase the focal length. Regardless of the downsides, optical zoom continues to be the best solution if you can't physically get closer to your subject.
In smartphones, optical zoom is a novel feature. Samsung made the Galaxy Camera back in 2012, but that didn't quite take off and neither did the second iteration. Polaroid and ASUS also gave the idea a shot without much success. But those were niche products with little to no appeal to general consumers.
Meanwhile, modern smartphones like the Huawei P30 Pro and Oppo Reno 10x Zoom are highly appealing to consumers, and also have zoom lenses installed inside. Unlike a DSLR or point-and-shoot camera, lenses don't protrude out of these devices. Instead, these phones have embedded periscope-like lens setups that achieve the same effect, without affecting looks. In this case, lenses don't actually move to achieve optical zoom; instead the phone seamlessly switches to the camera with the higher magnification factor.
Digital zoom
Digital zoom achieves a similar effect to optical zoom, without mechanical work or glass elements. It will essentially cut off areas around your scene to make it seem like you are closer to the subject. The remaining part of the image is enlarged using algorithms, hence the name digital. Unlike optical zoom, digital zoom is not lossless, meaning some information from the scene is discarded in the process. The algorithms will add pixels in order to preserve detail in the magnified image, but this process is imperfect. That's why digitally zoomed images will often look blurry and smudgy.
Digital zoom is good to use it when you need to better compose an image and can't physically move in closer, but keep in mind image quality will deteriorate as you zoom in.
Digital zoom is the equivalent to cropping an image.
Digital zoom is the equivalent to cropping an image. This is why I recommend taking shots at the original focal length if you rely on digital zoom. You can always crop later if you must, and the results would be the same.
Digital zoom is what most smartphones use, but they tend to get some help on the software side of things.
Hybrid zoom
5x Digital Zoom 5x Hybrid Zoom 
Hybrid zoom is a fairly new concept used in certain smartphones like the Huawei P30 Pro. It takes advantage of optical zoom, digital zoom, and software to get improved results when zooming in further than the lens's physical capabilities.
Modern phones with optical zoom have lenses with 3x or 5x optical zoom. Trying to camera zoom in further than that should result in loss of quality, as you would then technically be using digital zoom. This is where hybrid zoom comes to the rescue.
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While the algorithms and techniques each manufacturer is using vary, the general concept is universal. Hybrid zoom uses software enhancements and computational photography to create a better image from multiple photos. This is similar to Night Mode and HDR, but with a focus in detail, as opposed to exposure.
The manufacturer can take advantage of the phones' different sensors and focal lengths to grab detail from multiple cameras simultaneously. All this information can then be used to intelligently improve the digitally zoomed photo. It's certainly not at the level of true optical zoom, but it's more powerful than basic digital zoom for preserving fine details at a distance.
There you have it: a brief overview of the key camera zoom methods: optical zoom, digital zoom and hybrid zoom.A deeper understanding of these zoom technologies will help you make a better decision when purchasing a new phone.
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