I am opening this thread just to discuss the Verrazzano bridge (as floated on TV on 9/11), as our member Rusty from Germany has brought up the issue in our WTC collapse thread. I will ask Rusty to expound his views on the matter here, on this dedicated page.
I have copy-pasted below my old post from the SIMCITY thread. If Rusty can find fault with it, I will gladly amend/correct or retract any basic errors or technical inexactitudes it may contain:
***********************************************************
THE VERRAZZANO BRIDGE ISSUES
At left: The Verrazzano bridge as aired LIVE on 9/11 on ABC TV (and later on the History Channel)
At right: The Verrazzano bridge as depicted in a private pre-9/11 aerial video.

There are three distinct issues with the 9/11 VERRAZZANO bridge imagery (this is, without even mentioning the absurd-looking colors and 'texture' of the imagery itself - which bear no resemblance to images shot by top-notch TV cameras).
ISSUE 1
It has been argued that this ridiculously large/wide aspect of the Verrazzano seen on LIVE TV on 9/11 could be explained by lens distorsion - caused by different focal lenghts of the given lenses used. As we see, in the above left ABC TV image, the bridge appears approx 3.3X taller/wider than in the above right PRIVATE image. Yes, when using a telephoto zoom lens (200mm or upwards), objects in the backdrop will appear larger than with a 'shorter' lens (such as a standard 50mm lens): this optical phenomena is called 'focal distorsion'. The problem is, large 500 or 1000mm telephoto lenses have notoriously a much inferior focus range/ depth of field than shorter lenses: when focusing on a subject in a given skyline, any object in the backdrop will be entirely out of focus / i.e. totally blurred. Yet, the bridge seen in the ABC TV imagery is perfectly visible and only slightly out of focus.
ISSUE 2
Here is now a sequence from the 9/11 LIVE TV broadcasts, showing the bridge drifting in the backdrop. It has been argued this could be explained by the TV helicopter camera's zoom out motion/and sideways drift of the chopper which supposedly carried the TV camera :

The problem is: at the end of this sequence, the zoom-out motion stops. Yet, the bridge continues to drift sideways at a rapid rate - far superior to the apparent 'helicopter' drift. And again, the bridge remains magically focused, this time even though a long zoom-out motion is performed ! That is truly an extraordinary / other-worldly lens which every pro-photographer in the world would dream of putting their hands on...
ISSUE 3
Furthermore, please consider these facts:
- The distance of the Verrazzano bridge from the WTC is/was almost 12km.
- The height of its pillars is 211m - roughly half the height of the WTC towers - 417m.
Now, imagine for a minute that the bridge pillars were as tall as the towers themselves. Here is what it would look like:
The challenge is open for anyone wishing to take it:
Choose two equally tall buildings (A -in foreground ; and B - in backdrop) placed 12kilometers apart. Use whichever existing lens you wish - and choose to stand at whichever distance you wish (from A) with your camera. See if you can get B to look as tall as we see it in the image above - and IN FOCUS!
Good luck!
