British photographer Luke Miller used a 2520mm super telephoto "lens" to film an ultra-large-scale video of the sun and moon in London

By: Nic

Previously, we introduced how local photographer Kenneth Wong used the "compression effect" of a telephoto lens to make the sun and moon appear extremely large, creating a highly impressive visual effect.

British photographer and filmmaker Luke Miller recently produced a 3-minute short film titled "Sun Moon London," using a 2520mm "long lens" to capture ultra-large images of the sun and moon against famous London landmarks such as the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben.

Miller is passionate about photographing London and has often used telephoto lenses to create "compression effect" photos. He had long been curious about how far this effect could be pushed. On one occasion, he discovered the Magic Lantern feature, which provides a 3x image magnification without any loss in quality, instantly turning a 600mm lens into one with an effective 1800mm focal length, making the visual effect much more interesting.

For this latest project, Miller combined a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens, and with the 3x image magnification, achieved an equivalent focal length of 1800mm. He also used a Sigma 1.4x extender, bringing the total focal length to 2520mm.

Regarding this latest shoot, Miller said the biggest challenge was the local weather—any slight cloud cover would ruin the shot, and even a light breeze could cause vibrations that couldn’t be corrected even with post-production stabilization.

In the end, he found that keeping the tripod at its lowest height and additionally securing it in front of the lens helped reduce lens shake.

During one shoot of the London Eye under the moonlight, he accidentally captured a satellite passing through the frame. Here is the related footage:

To view more of Miller’s work, you can visit his Instagram and Vimeo.

Source: PetaPixel