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This is a very small 5 mega pixel unit, it has 3x optical zoom. The dimensions are 9x6x3cm and weights less than 200grams, so, it will easily fit in a pocket. Unlike earlier offerings this has a solid lithium battery and perhaps the only poor feature only a 16MB SD card is supplied, with cards so cheap now I would have expected at least a 32MB card and why not 64MB.

It features probably the largest TFT screen on this type of unit it is described as 2.5inches but is 5x4cm and given the cameras 9cm total width see how prominent this is. The only other controls on the rear of the unit are a four position joystick with the centre being the ‘select’ choice, a menu button and the wide angle/telephoto rocker.

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The rear has only a tripod screw, the right side has a door to the Lithium battery and SD card. The left side has a rubberised bung to cover the mini USB connection and DC input. That leaves the top that has the power button and the now near normal wheel (six position) with the shutter control in the centre.

Like many digital cameras today you can print direct to supported printers. In fact if you have a card reader then you could download images to the PC without any need for use of the setup CD or USB cable. However unless you know you have all the manipulation software you need I would certainly try that bundled with the camera.

There are three possible resolutions 2560x1920, 1600x1200 and 640x480. There are also three compression modes Fine/Normal/Economy so that makes nine possible combinations and between 7 and 223 images can be stored on the supplied 16MB card. My own opinion is that 7 images on a card is just not enough storage, of course you really only need the 5MP size if you want to print up to A3 or enlarge a portion of the image to say A4.

Regular readers will know my opinions on digital zoom however it has one good use and that is to zoom into a portion of a taken image using the TFT screen and the controls and ease of use of this feature with this camera are excellent. In fairness to Epson the only zoom mentioned on the box is the 3x optical and to use digital zoom to take images you have to turn on a setting in the menu, well done Epson lets hope more follow your lead.

As with most modern units you can take short video sequences, again there is a choice of three resolutions 640x480, 320x240 and 160x120 with fine and normal compression this means the supplied 16MB SD card can take between 3 and 80 seconds of video.

One novel feature is the ability to frame images while still in the camera, a bit of a gimmick but for people printing direct it may be of use.

This camera takes excellent images from a few centimetres to infinity, the flash is okay but I found when using auto flash in reasonable lighting conditions images tended to be a little dull, in poor light it was excellent as were the outdoor images without flash. www.dabs.com have it for £236.13.

http://www.epson.co.uk/products/digital_cameras/L500v.htm