Telephoto lens perspective shots

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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
My original reason for taking these comparison shots was somewhat morbid. I had read that a Canadian sniper made a confirmed world record shot of 2.2 miles. As someone who has done target shooting, I wanted to get some perspective of the difficulty of that shot. I am posting the photos I took for those who may be contemplating buying a telephoto lens and/or teleconverter.

My son and I went up to Pt. Edwards in Edmonds and set up my camera equipment at a viewpoint on Pine St. above the condos that are in the background of many of my photos. I used my Canon 5D Mark III as it has a full frame sensor. All photos were taken @ 1/250, f/16, auto ISO.
01.jpg


50mm using a 24-105 wide angle zoom. I have been told 50mm is a "normal" view with no telephoto magnification. The flat open area with water is the Edmonds marsh, where I take many bird photos. The street in the distance that you will see better in the telephoto shots is Sunset Ave., where I take many train, bird and sunset photos. Using the railroad mileposts, it is about a mile north of the camera.
02.jpg


700mm (or 14x) using a 500mm telephoto lens + 1.4x teleconverter mounted on a tripod.
03.jpg


1000mm (or 20x) using a 500mm telephoto lens + 2x teleconverter mounted on a tripod.
04.jpg


Even though it was not hot, you can see there is still distortion caused by heart waves, which is a big factor in taking telephoto shots. If you are contemplating getting a large telephoto lens, be prepared to spend additional $$$$ for a heavy duty tripod and mounting head to secure a steady base for taking photos.
 
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Bill Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
I was told that for camera lenses, 50mm = "normal" view, or 1x. To compute the "power" of my telephoto combos using the 5DIII (full frame sensor), I used the following formula: lens focal length (mm)/50mm = X power.

500mm + 1.4x TC = 700mm/50mm = 14x.

1000 + 2x TC = 1000mm/50mm = 20x.

Does anyone know if this formula is correct for a camera with a full frame sensor or was I misinformed?
 
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Terry O

Well-Known Member
I know for sure that a 'normal' lens (i.e. 50mm) is based on a full 35mm frame. So, I think your formula is correct, no matter what I said, Bill :).

Terry
 
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