Have a look at the new offering by Olympus. As readers gear up for the spring runs and summer sun, they inevitably begin to contact me about “best” camera choices for their individual purposes. This can be a Hobson’s Choice at times. These days choices are built around price point first and foremost.

- Available in Crystal Blue, Pure White or Midnight Black
- High-precision 3x optical zoom (38-114 mm) to capture landscapes through to stunning portraits, even when it’s wet
- The easy way to perfect images – Intelligent Auto Mode detects the five most commonly used scenes and adjusts settings, focus and exposure automatically
- 10 Megapixels to make prints up to poster-size
- Digital Image Stabilisation for less blur
- See and share images more easily on the 6.4cm/2.5” LCD (230,000 dots)
- Face Detection for perfectly focused and exposed faces
- 17 shooting modes (e.g. Underwater Water Snap) ensure the camera has the right settings for different situations
- movie recording with sound (up to VGA resolution at 30fps)
- xD-Picture Card and microSD Card compatible

I nearly pulled the trigger on purchasing the previous version of this camera, but opted instead for the Sanyo Xati, and have been pretty happy with it thus far.

Keep in mind, the Olympus is primarily a still camera that shoots video, while I opted for the Sanyo because it is primarily a video camera that shoots stills. There, anglers, is the fray.

There’s not much written on this camera yet, but please feel free to apply for your camera bailout and write us a REAL review. Inquiring minds want to know…

PS – I have seen this listed as a model 500 and 550 interchangeably – could be the haze of a press release or distinct models or US versus Overseas versions.