Carpe Lux Seize the Light

I don't know if all of you have thought about the actual difference between framing a shot with the zoom ring on the lens or just cropping afterwards - or how much a relatively inexpensive modern telephoto lens can magnify. I shot a few pictures while out bathing with the kids that I think will illustrate this.

Just in case anyone is still not convinced that shake reduction inna da house is effective, may I present this image of the moon, shot with a Pentax K-5, Sigma 170-500 and a 2x teleconverter, making a total of 1000mm. Manually focused (due to the TC taking away too much light for the AF sensors to work).

Hand held.

While standing.

The moon slowly sets over a snowy mountainrange with a pair of frozen birch trees in the foreground