Originally posted by Deiberson right now, I understand the Zoom to adjust the beam of light. If I want the light to be spread out more...I drop the zoom down to 24mm. If I want a narrow hard beam, I'm bump up to 85mm. I could then still increase the intensity on manual by going from 1/4 to 1/1. Would this in theory be correct?
Right, although in terms of "hard light" vs "soft light", zoom won't make much of a difference for direct flash.
What it will make a difference for is: If you are in a situation where you cannot achieve proper exposure at max power and the flash is "zoomed out", you may be able to achieve proper exposure when the flash is "zoomed in". Of course, the zoom needs to be equal to or wider than the lens focal length (if on-camera) if you require full coverage of the frame.
The other is that, for an equal exposure scenario, if the flash is zoomed in as far as possible without vignetting, recycle times will be lower because you can drop the power.
There are tricks that can be performed (such as feathering) with zoomed flashes that do not cover the frame.
An extreme example of flash zoom is the Better Beamer - this focuses a flash beam so it only covers an area similar to the FOV of a 200-300mm lens or so, but allows for MUCH more light in that area. I've used it for taking pictures of my undergrad school's pepband from across the whole hockey rink (I have season tickets in the townie seats.) - even a max-zoomed 540 could not emit enough light for such a situation.