Looking very much like a conventional 35mm camera, Olympus's Camedia C-860L majors on ease of use, but is technically good, too. A sliding lens cover acts as the power switch and incorporates the flash tube. The LCD screen also displays the camera setup, but a separate panel on the Camedia's top surface shows most of the key status settings. Several key features, like selecting macro mode, are controlled from separate buttons here, too.

Olympus provides no power supply with the Camedia C-860L, though there is one available as an optional extra. This means you're running on Alkaline batteries all the time, unless you invest in a NiMH or Lithium set and a charger. The camera is supplied with an 8MB SmartMedia card, so in high resolution mode you have room for just 18 shots.

A couple of extra features are noteworthy. The Camedia has a panorama mode, where you can take up to 10 pictures in sequence, using a visual aid on the LCD monitor to line up each shot in the sequence. Olympus's Camedia Master software can then stitch them all together on your PC. The camera has variable sensitivity, too, from ISO 125 to ISO 500, considerably higher than most digital cameras and intended for low-light and indoor shots.

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Picture quality is reasonable, with clarity and focus right down from normal to macro settings. The Camedia C-860L is a good camera, but needs a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger included in the price.