Photographing The Pope

<p>I'll be in Italy, and will be at the Vatican when the Pope appears on the balcony above St. Peters Sq. Has anyone shot any pictures when he's there? If so, how long a lens would make sense? How close are you?</p>

<p><em>"how long a lens would make sense?"</em></p>

<p>The fountain in the center of St. Peter's Square is about 600 feet (200 yards, 180 meters) from the entrance. So the answer to your question is, it really depends on where you are in the square - as close as a couple hundred feet to as far as 900 feet (this is not factoring in the elevation to the balcony).</p>

<p>Yikes...</p>

<p>OK, sounds like my 200mm (equiv) won't be quite enough for a decent shot. Oh, well.</p>

<p>Here is my own audience with an earlier Pope. At least, I was part of the "audience".</p><div></div>

<p>Every time you double the focal length you get twice as close. On my monitor, JDM's picture with a 55mm is about 8 inches wide, and the window with the Pope in it is about a half inch wide. That means you need a magnification of about 16 times to get the Pope to fill the frame. That works out to an 800mm lens if you stood in the same place JDM stood. Maybe at 600 for a vertical.</p>

<p>If I can get that close, I should be sort of OK with the 200. Hopefully...</p>