Destined to be one of the cheapest 5.1-million-pixel digital compact cameras on the market is the Olympus C-180, which is due in shops this month priced around £130.

The C-180 sports a 1.5in LCD monitor and a lens designed to deliver the viewing angle equivalent to a 36.7mm lens on a 35mm film camera (the lens contains two aspherical elements). There is also a 4x digital zoom.

Features include a top shutter speed of 1/1500sec and exposure compensation of ±2EV in 1/3EV steps.

On-board scene modes include Portrait, Beach & Snow, Sport and Landscape.

Powered by a choice of CRV-3 or AA batteries the newcomer is PictBridge compatible, which means it can print directly from a printer that also complies with the PictBridge direct print standard.

The 120g debutante contains 14MB of internal memory and pictures can be stored on an optional xD-Picture Card.

For more details call Olympus on 0800 072 0070 or go to www.olympus.co.uk.