"For many years...[a] camera operator generally carried around a complete set of the principal lenses, which he carefully tested before a shoot, one at a time...This changed with the introduction of variable-focal length lenses...[Such] lenses are now generally referred to as zoom lenses. They enable the operator to make a continuous transition between short and long focal lengths. These lenses covered an extremely wide field an, within the field of view, provided a constant change in perspective. This had a very distinct effect on the viewer's perception of the image and the incessant modulation gave the impression of movement, the illusion of moving toward or away from the subject...[The] traditional approach to news and reporting was revolutionized and the zoom lens became an essential component of journalism; it provided the ability to film, to capture, the immediacy of an event."
*This is a comment on a change in optics in the beginning of the 1960s.
Douchet, Jean, Cedric Anger, and Robert Bononno. French New Wave. Zzdap Publishing, 1999. pg. 206
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This is the first step that the camera takes to break free from the 2 dimensional compression of a 3D world. Yes, granted the dolly-in camera movement already prevalent in the 1920s. What is amazing about the introduction of the zoom lens is that it uses the very native technology of optics to reintepret the image. Now it is the camera's "brain" that infers the immediacy of the event, not an added human mobile interference. This metaphorizes the camera as a self-sustainable unit of perception, like the brain. A cybernetic comparison.
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