Lens closed twice, capturing elephant zapping insect (9)
I believe the answer is:
telephoto
'lens' is the definition.
(telephoto lens is a kind of lens)
'closed twice capturing elephant zapping insect' is the wordplay.
'closed twice' becomes 'toto' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'capturing' indicates putting letters inside.
'zapping' is a deletion indicator (some letters are zapped away).
'insect' becomes 'ant' (ant is a kind of insect).
'elephant' with 'ant' taken out is 'eleph'.
'toto' going around 'eleph' is 'TELEPHOTO'.
(Other definitions for telephoto that I've seen before include "Magnifying lens in a camera" , "Long type of camera lens" , "Kind of lens" , "It helps paparazzi get closer" , "Long-distance lens" .)