Which lens category lets you change focal length on the fly?

• A. Wide-angle
• B. Telephoto
• C. Prime lens
• D. Zoom lens

Answer: (D)

Focusing on changing how a scene is framed without swapping lenses is the idea here. A zoom lens is built to cover a range of focal lengths, and you adjust it with the zoom ring to go from wide to telephoto (or anywhere in between) while you’re shooting. This lets you reframe quickly and keep the same setup.

Wide-angle and telephoto describe the angle of view a lens can capture, but they don’t specify whether the focal length can be changed during a shot. A prime lens has a single fixed focal length, so you can’t zoom. The key feature that lets you alter focal length on the fly is the zoom lens.