When I was first down in Cocoa Beach earlier this year for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour, my friend Trey and I had rented some really big lenses from BorrowLenses.com.  Our intentions were to get some incredible close-up shots of Endeavour as it lifted off the launchpad.

Unfortunately, the launch was delayed for several weeks, which left Trey and I trying to figure out what we could instead get pictures of with these humongous lenses.  Since we were staying within walking distance to the beach, we decided to get up before sunrise one morning to get some shots of the sun coming up.

We arrived on the beach about 20 minutes before sunrise, so Trey asked me to whip out my video recorder so he could share with you a little information about the lens he was using and also explain why it’s necessary to use a Gimbal tripod head when shooting pictures using very large lenses.