This has to be the bargain of the year. A brand new (ex-demo) top of the range compact from Olympus with all the kit for £10. This will be the replacement for the Yashica 140 and will go with me at all times. In fact I'm planning a few days away and this will be firmly strapped to my side.

Ergonomically not the greatest camera I've had the pleasure to handle. However, it does suit my small hands and the buttons fall in about the right place. The viewfinder  is unusually small and, although clear and sharp, a little bit difficult to line up with your line of vision. You have to look precisely through the centre to see anything. The Yashica was similar in this respect. Ironically the viewfinder on my Olympus digital is better and it isn't even necessary.

The quality of images, although good, turned out to be disappointing. I had expected to get images as good or better than any compact I've used and maybe even give an SLR a run for it's money, but it failed to live up to this expectation. I took it with me alongside both the Zenit and an early model Agfa Silette on trips to Bath and Stratford among others. I expected the Zenith to come in first but when the Agfa came out better  than the Oly I was rather surprised. It seems that all we have gained from over 40 years of technological advance is convenience. As a point and shoot automatic it certainly is that and with the zoom lens it saves a lot of lugging around, but, if it's good quality images you want you will have to settle for inconvenience. Oh, and while I'm having a moan, why is it these P and S cameras always start up with auto flash ON, I probably use flash on around 1 percent of my pictures.