@pomarede by the way... the Lunar Orbiter images were deliberately downgraded for public release, presumably to obfuscate the available quality of American spy satellites imagery of the era:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Orbiter_Image_Recovery_Project

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/first-photo-earth-from-the-moon/

So the actual photo on the left should be:

@xChaos
What? No, it was not deliberate. The picture you show was digitaly enhanced 40 years later, in 2008. It’s in the links you have.

@pomarede

@eriksandblom yes, it is true, that it was digitally enhanced. But not from the level, which was published in 1960s. I have read some article claiming, that the fax-like feeling of the original published image was not the original available resolution, which was kept secret at the time. But I cannot find the source now, which is of course problematic.

The quality available for planning of Apollo landings was probably something in between - probably not as high, as digitally processed restored data, but still much better, then what was released to the public in the 1960s. It is quite likely considered, that the camera used was secret military grade technology (of the era).

@pomarede