[kqr]

> When a camera zooms in or zooms out, there is a change in the geometry of perspective.

This is the opposite of what happens. The perspective is exactly the same, only cropped to a narrower field of view.

Changed perspective would be counteracting the lens zoom with foot zoom -- now this causes the change in perspective you talk about. But it's caused entirely by moving the camera. The zoom is just to preserve framing and could just as well be accomplished by cropping in post, assuming sufficient resolution.

[WantonQuantum]

You are 100% correct! I was unconsciously assuming the foot zooming. Thanks for picking that up!

[nyanpasu64]

I think foot zoom is the primary reason for faces looking weird (big noses) in smartphone selfies, while "a photograph occupying less of your FOV than the camera was capturing" is why people at the edge of a photo look distorted.