See the Stunning Short Film Shot at a Focal Length of 2,520mm

When you get into truly extreme focal lengths, the visual effects you can create are both beautiful and seemingly otherworldly. This amazing short film was shot at an equivalent focal length of 2,520mm, and the scenes it captured are fascinating.

"Sun Moon London" was shot by Luke Miller around London on October 5, 2017 (Harvest moon) and January 1, 2018 (supermoon). Miller used a Canon 5D Mark III loaded with Magic Lantern, a Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II, and a Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM with a 1.4x teleconverter. When he enabled the 3x crop mode in Magic Lantern and paired it with the Sigma lens and teleconverter, the result was a whopping 2,520mm equvalent focal length, providing the unique and gorgeous scenes you see in the film above. The entire thing reminds me a bit of the planes and cars scene from "Koyaanisqatsi." The result is a beautiful set of scenes in which abstract features intermingle with recognizable figures and objects, but where relative geography is almost always erased, bringing sun, moon, humanity, and architecture together almost as one. I definitely recommend taking three minutes to watch the film; it's quite an interesting look at the city. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

Log in or register to post comments
14 Comments

FANTASTIC!

Love the planes crossing over the Sun/Moon

Me too! These were most "wow" moments for me - had to go back few seconds to watch them again and again. :D

What beautiful visuals. Just stunning.

I think it's cool how the moon/sun move so dramatically compared to the buildings in the foreground without any timel apse speedup!

What's goin on with the sun at 00:25? Edit: The 2 flares coming off the right side..

My only guess is that those are solar flares, and if they are that's magnificent that he captured it.

It’s sunlight passing through the contrail of a passing jet; you can see the effect more closely at 1:45.

You mean Chemtrail? ;)

That was pretty amazing. Perfect music choice as well.

Perfection!

Very well done indeed. I captured a few sequences like that at shorter focal and it's very hard to get it right as the slightest vibrations on the ground or a little breeze can ruin the sequence. You need a very sturdy tripod and framing is a huge pain.

Really amazing, I could watch this all day. More please !!

Very cool