Quoting Alluceanot, reply 2I hate the zoom to cursor option and always have it disabled.
From my experience selecting a shit does NOT cuase the camera to automatically track that ship. You have to select it twice or press space bar. However I'm not sure how the camera behaves with zoom to cursor enabled.
It behaves like it is described, if the target is moving, when you zoom in the camera will move with it
First, TYVM Mooster for the fix. This should be something in the Options window.
Second, it behaves exactly like you described. When I'm monitoring a battle, I am constantly zooming in/out to different parts of the battle. That's when it happens. After I finish zooming into the area I want, the screen will start scrolling.
The zoom to cursor option in the options window is a bit different. I like that option. When I zoom out to the solar system view (C key by default), I just move the cursor over the planet I want then zoom back in using the scroll wheel.