Super Telephoto

A very long lens of about 300mm or more that makes distant subjects you cannot approach look big. On full frame it is roughly 300-800mm, and this site shows it at 400mm. To frame a person at the same size you have to back very far away, so compression is at its strongest, with a distant background pressed up behind the person like a wall, and depth of field becomes very shallow.

Camera position seen at an angle from above. The 400mm camera stands far back, about 36 m from the character, and its field of view is very thin.

Camera view. The character is the same size, but the buildings behind look enormous and pressed flat right behind them.

How it feels

Compression
Flatness
Surveillance
Distance
Isolation

When to use it

Subjects you cannot approach, like wildlife or sports
A person in front of a huge sun or moon on the horizon
A scene that feels like secretly watching from far away

In the movies

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) · Source: Movieclips (YouTube) · Original video

Not to be confused with

Telephoto: The shorter end of the same family. At 135mm the background also looks pressed close, but not as flat as with a super telephoto.
Digital Zoom / Crop: Cropping and enlarging an image shot up close keeps the perspective of where it was shot. Compression that presses the background close only comes from shooting far away.
Zoom In/Out: A zoom is a movement that changes the field of view during the shot. Just zooming in from the same spot enlarges the image, and perspective stays the same.

Prompt

Keyword

super telephoto lens

Descriptive

Super telephoto 400mm shot from very far away, the distant buildings look stacked right behind the subject, almost flat.

Try these combinations

Super telephoto: a figure before a giant sun
Super telephoto shot of a lone runner on the horizon in front of a giant setting sun, heat haze
Super telephoto + city: streets stacked flat
Super telephoto 600mm shot of a crowded city street, extreme telephoto compression, people stacked flat