The spectacular pomp and pageantry of the first two days of the British Diamond Jubilee has been filling our newspapers with some great photographs of the best-known Royal Family in the world.
But from hundreds of professional photographers who gave us colorful images from the celebrations at London's Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral, and Horse Guard's Parade - it is undoubtedly the close-cropped supertelephoto shots that create the biggest impact. Who will forget the close-up of young Prince Louis's face (above), for instance, as he covers his ears and screams as the Air Force flyover passes over the balcony of the Palace?
But just how big a lens do you need to get these type of shots? We have got hold of a handful of images from the formal events from Thursday and Friday to have a look. And unsurprisingly the answer is that the photographers were in many instances using the longest (and fastest) lens set-ups on their cameras that they could get hold of.
The shot above of the four-year-old Prince, for instance was shot with a 600mm f/4 fitted with a 1.4x teleconverter on a Canon EOS R3. And even then Max Mumby's shot had to be heavily cropped to get the close-up that the newswire services wanted (you can see the wider, uncropped image, below).
But, of course, the exact lens requirements for the shot not only depended on what the photographer had available, but also on their precise vantage point. For a shot of the passing carriage's along The Mall a 100-400mm zoom was sufficient – but for other shots an 800mm lens was the default. Below are some other images with their full lens, camera and exposure details to help you get an idea of the gear being used.
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