[OT] Cameras (was Re: Why is Python popular, while Lisp and Scheme aren't?)

[Fernando Pérez]

Frodo Morris wrote:

>> P&S cameras are ok, but their control is fairly limited to none. Some (like
>> the Oly Stylus Epic) have excellent optics, others have crappy optics
>> (pretty much all zoom cameras, you just can't make a decent zoom of that
>> size, physics gets in the way).
> 
> Yes you can - the lenses are called telephoto (because the focal planes
> lie outside the optics - a common misconception is that a 'telephoto' is
> any old zoom lens).  I agree you'd probably get something akin to the
> fisheye effect around the edges, but it'd still work :-)

What I meant is: you can't make a decent long focal length lens (say ~200mm 
focal length) that reasonably fits the body size of a P&S camera. And by 
decent I mean an f/2.8 lens with negligible aberrations, distortion and 
vignetting. There's a reason why all pro glass is the size it is :)

cheers,

f.