Does Zooming Affect Distortion?

[leonardhofstader]

So please forgive my ignorance and plebian-ness, but I am trying to take a picture with a pocket digital camera, and I have a question. It has a small range of optical zoom.

My question is in which of the following two scenarios is "more real"?

• Subject seated about 5' away, camera not "zoomed in" at all
  
  
• Subject seated about 15' away, camera "zoomed in" at maximum

In both situations, the subject is occupying approximately the same amount of space in the final image. A tripod is used, so vibrations are not an issue. My dilemma is, which is more accurate to "reality"?

 

[Comet6]

i’m not much of a photographer but i think the camera not being zoomed in would be better

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