Top kit you can’t do without

Essential gear for making the most of your telephoto lens

14 Gimbal head

Telephoto lenses can be heavy, so to take the strain off your biceps and help you achieve a smooth panning action, a gimbal head on a sturdy tripod is the way to go. We used a Benro GH2 head on a Manfrotto 055 tripod here, for a smooth motion with our 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

15 Teleconverter

In need of more reach? A teleconverter sits between your lens and camera body to magnify your focal length and produce more zoom. A 2x teleconverter, also called a ‘doubler’, will double the focal length, so a 200mm lens would effectively become a 400mm lens, and so on.