It seems that most winning photos are taken with higher-end SLRs. Why not have a contest for those of us who use more basic consumer point and shoots? There are more of us out there with these types of cameras than expensive SLR's, so you won't have a lack of highly qualified entries.--Harry B, Henderson, Kentucky

I appreciate your concern, Harry--but let me assure you that all photos are considered equally when I judge the contest, and point-and-shoot entries have just as much of a chance of winning as those that were taken with a digital SLR. In fact, when I review the week's entries, I just look at the photos themselves. I don't discover what camera was used until I begin to write the results of the contest in Digital Focus. Consequently, we frequently feature photos by point-and-shoot cameras. And that's not too surprising, since point-and-shoot cameras are every bit as capable of taking excellent photos as their more "professional" siblings.

As I've said on many occasions, Ansel Adams made his art with cameras that were staggeringly primitive compared to even a low-end modern point and shoot. It's not the camera--it's how you choose to use it.

A separate contest would, I think, be counterproductive, because it would imply that photos taken with point-and-shoot cameras can't be as good as or judged alongside pictures from digital SLRs--and that's not the case.