You mentioned that you can zoom by moving the camera closer or further away. This doesn't seem technically correct.
I study astronomy and know that zooming is changing the focal length or in layman's terms; making the Field of View [fov] narrower or wider.
Can you do a real zoom in blender?
You're correct in the terms of real world cameras and lenses. In the real world, moving the camera closer or fsrther from a subject would be called a dolly, and changing the focal length or FOV is a zoom.
However, in Blender documentation and in almost all Blender educational content, moving a camera closer or farther from a subject is referred to as a zoom.