Variable Zoom

The Variable Zoom is an attachment that appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is a Sniper Scope that has multiple levels of zoom.

Singleplayer
The Variable Zoom can be found on all sniper rifles, the Crossbow and the G11, with three levels of zoom. Levels of zoom can be chosen by pressing the knife button while scoped in. Also, the level of zoom does not change after zooming out of the scope or switching weapons, only if you drop the weapon.

Multiplayer
It costs. It is available for the G11 and sniper rifles, but not the crossbow unlike in singleplayer. Other than that, the scope behaves the same. The low zoom can help the player engage closer targets, while the highest zoom level is more than the default sniper scope, which can help the player engage targets at very long ranges. The variable zoom scope does not bounce as much on the initial zoom in as the regular scope, as it is zoomed in less. For this reason it is favored more for "quick scoping".

It's also slightly bugged in split-screen play. The second level of zoom goes much farther than it should, which makes the third level zoom only a foot or so.

Zombies
The Variable Zoom scope is also available in zombies, when either the Dragunov or the L96A1 are Pack-A-Punched.