I used to fear my phone’s zoom button — now I can’t stop tapping it

I love photography. I will go to spots just to capture a specific angle or vision. I also pack my camera before anything else for a trip. Needless to say, I use my phone’s camera a lot, too.

As a reviewer, I went back and forth before deciding to get the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. When I got my hands on it, I realized something: The way I used my phone had changed — I was clicking a lot more photos.

My best guess is that my previous phone’s camera wasn’t that good, leading me to subconsciously avoid clicking photos when I felt the results wouldn’t be nice. In some ways, that is the entire spiel of the Pixel series, producing results that are generally appealing.

On similar lines, I also started clicking far more zoomed shots — not using the 1x field of view unless I had to. And I think so should most people.

Here’s why most of us avoid zooming

You’ve probably been told not to zoom in while clicking photos. It’s commonly accepted that photos are of the best quality when shot at the native 1x focal length.

While there’s some truth to it, it’s becoming increasingly debatable.

For many years, phones used to come with a single rear camera, without a dedicated ultra-wide or telephoto lens. Back in the day, computational photography wasn’t around either. Image sensors were also far less sophisticated, and processing power was much less.

All of these factors combined meant that any level of digital zoom beyond 1x would yield worse results. They would be no better than clicking a photo and then cropping into a specific part — essentially blowing it up.

As this became common knowledge, people unanimously agreed that zooming in is almost always a losing game. And that advice has stuck around for years now, discouraging users from tapping the zoom button even today.

So, what has changed?

The thing with technology is that it’s always evolving and improving.

Smartphones have come a long way over the last few years, both in terms of hardware and software progress.

Many phones today, especially the higher-end ones, come with a dedicated telephoto lens with a higher focal length. The zoom levels vary, but they are higher than the base 1x, giving you some additional options.

Secondly, image sensors have become much better, and now sport much higher resolutions. Features such as pixel-binning create better detail in all lighting conditions.

Lastly, image processing has taken massive leaps. The SoCs inside your phone now include a very capable, dedicated image processor, whose sole job is to take camera input and provide better output.

Not to mention, many phones these days also employ computational photography and AI to “add” more detail and clarity to the final shots. Some may call it unethical or fake, but for me, anything that helps me get the shot I want is a win.

All of this combined enables modern smartphones to fare better than their predecessors. Sure, the mileage will still vary, and higher-end devices will do a better job than budget phones, but in general, they will be better.

If none of these are true for your phone, zooming in is still likely to provide a better exposed and focused image than one without.

How we view photos has also changed

In my opinion, the biggest reason why most people should be less scared of the zoom button is that image quality is no longer the most important factor, or at least not the weakest link anymore.

You know why? Social media. Most photos that are clicked are uploaded as short-term stories or simple posts. Such avenues greatly reward better photos instead of clearer ones.

And by better, I mean one that clearly conveys what you are trying to show. And for such cases, zoomed in is often better.

In today’s short attention spans, if it’s not evident what you are trying to show with your photo, you’re unlikely to get the message across adequately.

For me, a simple thought like “What am I really trying to show or convey with this shot?” has changed how I look at photo compositions.

Enter the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL

When I started thinking about photos in this way, it changed my priorities. Having an objective of what I wanted to show before pressing the shutter button upped my photography game.

This process made me realize that, while clicking photos, what we usually want to show is something small or specific, rather than the whole frame. The native 1x focal length of phones, which is around 24mm, is a little too wide for that.

Without getting into the technicalities of focal length conversions, what you need to know is that the most appealing zoom length is around 2x or 50mm, as it closely matches the perspective of human vision.

It also helps that the Pixel 10 has all the features I mentioned earlier that help shoot better zoomed photos: a dedicated telephoto lens, improved optics, incredible levels of post-processing, and a generous helping of AI.

Get up close and personal with your zoom button

As someone who travels frequently and enjoys photography, having a reliable telephoto lens has fundamentally changed how I click photos.

I went from almost never zooming to clicking about half the shots at a greater-than-1x zoom. Most photo samples in this article are frames that wouldn’t look as nice if they were not zoomed.

Which is why I encourage everyone to try giving zoomed photos another chance — you might be in for a surprise.