The game of the 'very small' and the 'very big'

Measurement of the length of a moving rod by a single observer is reconsidered, showing that the results depend on the distance between rod and observer and on the angle under which one of the ends is seen. In the case of a very big distance and a very small distance the conditions under which the Lorentz contraction can be detected is discussed, showing that results obtained in Manoukian and Sukkasena (Manoukian E B and Sukkasena S 2002 Eur. J. Phys. 23 103) are the consequences of simplifying assumptions.