tbutler | Photo of the day - Shoot the Moon (Reply)

This was taken by a Pentax Q, which is kind of a cute (and unusual) little camera. It looks almost like a toy - a miniature digital SLR that fits in the palm of your hand. Except that it doesn't just look like a mini DSLR; it actually operates like one, kinda. Allowing for how the small size limits the number of controls they could put on it, the Q allows a high degree of direct control over taking pictures. It has a small image sensor, which has minuses and pluses. As a very general rule, the larger the sensor, the more light it can gather, meaning better low-light sensitivity; on the other hand, a small sensor has a high magnification factor when used with older film camera lenses. And it is very easy to adapt old film lenses to the Q. Result, this picture - which was taken with a used lens I picked up for around $40, that magnifies as much as a small telescope when used on the Q.

(Of course, the disadvantage of the cheap lens is that it isn't as sharp. I've seen moon pics on Pentax Q forums that are much sharper... but they were taken with lenses that cost over $1000. Much as I love photography, I can't justify spending that much on just one lens.)