Definition of zoom lens: It usually refers to the zoom in or zoom out of different multiples by changing the optical structure of the lens, so as to obtain different field of view and imaging size. When zoom lens changes the magnification, it often jumps, such as from 1x to 2x, 5x, etc., not continuous change.

Definition of Varifocal Lens: It is a lens that can continuously change the focal length within a certain range. By changing the relative position of the lens internal lens group to realize the continuous change of the focal length, so that you can easily adjust the angle of view of the shooting and the proportion of the size of the object in the picture without changing the lens to achieve a smooth Varifocal effect.

Operating Methods

Zoom lens: Generally, it is necessary to manually change some optical components inside the lens, or switch different lens combinations through specific mechanical devices to realize different magnifications. The operation is relatively more complicated and may require downtime for adjustment during the zoom process.

Varifocal Lens: You can rotate the zoom ring on the lens or use the motorized zoom device to quickly and continuously change the focal length during the shooting process to achieve real-time varifocal effect, which is more convenient and flexible to operate.

Application Scenarios

Zoom lens: Commonly used in some of the imaging magnification has specific requirements, and do not need to frequently adjust the magnification of the occasion, such as industrial inspection, microscope imaging, aerial photogrammetry and other fields. In these applications, once the required magnification is determined, the corresponding zoom lens is used to obtain stable, high-quality images.

Varifocal Lens: It is widely used in various photography and videography fields, such as news interviews, movie shooting, TV series production, advertising shooting, sports event broadcasting, monitoring, etc.. It can quickly adjust the focal length in different shooting scenes to adapt to different shooting needs and capture the ideal image.

Lens Construction and Cost

Zoom lens: usually has a more complex optical structure, in order to achieve different magnification, the need to design a number of different optical systems, and to ensure that in different magnification can have a better image quality, so the lens volume and weight is relatively large, the cost is also higher.

Varifocal Lens: Although there is also a complex optical structure, but compared to the zoom lens, its design is more focused on achieving continuous changes in focal length, in the lens structure is relatively simple. Modern Varifocal Lens through advanced optical design and manufacturing process, can ensure the premise of imaging quality, control the volume and cost of the lens, making it more versatile and cost-effective.