The focal length of lenses doesn't cause perspective distortion, which is often explained as "lens compression." Period. Now before you call me crazy and dismiss whatever I have to say, I’d like to invite you to take a dive into how lenses work and what actually causes perspective distortion.
Somehow or other lens compression effects seem to have hit the zeitgeist. A day does not go by when I fail to see some news photograph critiqued on the grounds of lens compression. Either what it appears to show is fake (or allegedly fake) due to lens compression, or lens compression is concealing some truth. So here's a little description of it, and a cautionary example.
Most the time when I am out doing landscape photography, I have a Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS and Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS with me. On road trips, I try to bring my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II -- it’s a fantastic lens with great image stabilization and impressive image quality. Unfortunately, it is a bit too big and heavy for me to bring out more often!
Photography can be confusing. I get it. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Because of this, at times it helps us to actually put some of these theories and myths to the test. One of these myths is the concept of compression and, with it, parallax.
Using lens compression to capture a giant moon is nothing new, but photographer Daniel López has taken things to a whole level. He set up an ultra-telephoto lens about 10 miles (16km) away from a volcano and captured this mind-blowing 2-minute video that shows a moonset in real-time.
Here's an enlightening 7-minute video by Fstoppers that explains why "lens compression" is a misconception that's actually "perspective distortion".
Photographer Eric Pare recently went out into the desert and shot a set of photos showing a model sitting next to the moon. And the size of the moon in the photos wasn't faked. Pare managed to capture a gigantic moon by using a 1120mm lens and having his model sit very far away.