I’m pretty sure this is in the right section. If I were to make a 100% accurate sniper scope or pair of binoculars, could it create the illusion on zooming in? Would cycles be that accurate with light paths and lens distortion?
Thanks
Hmmm… I guess I’m about to teach you something really shocking. Brace yourself!
Blender doesn’t bite. Cycles doesn’t either.
Seriously: Experiment! That’s the best way to learn anything.
In this case, you don’t need the whole stuff. Model just a few lenses, align them and look thru them with the camera. You’ll know.
I don’t know if the result is accurate… And it doesn’t matter. In CG, everything is fake. You don’t like the result? Tune the details to get what you want.
BTW, even I learned something with this experiment: UV Spheres aren’t good primitives to make lenses. Look at those distortions in the center of the right lens.
I could attach my blend file… But I won’t. You really need to experiment by yourself. 
What Kaluura said reminds me of the time I modeled a telescope (monocular two lens pirate kind) so accurately that it wouldn’t work - unless I made the scene a thousand times bigger! So I faked it by flattening the lenses until it had hardly any magnification power at all…