Product: Olympus AZ-1 Price: $3,480 Pros: Great big LCD display, easy to use Cons: No optical viewfinder, 3.2 megapixels
The Olympus AZ-1 is an attractive, compact and deceptively simple camera that most users will come to grips with in no time at all, even without a manual. In short, this is the digital camera your mother has been waiting for.
The reason its simplicity is deceptive is that the apparent lack of features actually hides some pretty smart functionality. Its designers have managed to get rid of almost every external control, moving them to the camera's software. But while most camera interfaces can be confusing to use, this one manages the challenge very well.
The most striking feature of the AZ-1 is its LCD display. At 2.5 inches, this is one of the largest on any camera, so to see it on such a compact system emphasises the size. The 215,000-pixel display has a 300:1 contrast ratio, and images can be viewed easily from almost any angle.
Besides being easy on the eyes, the LCD is big enough for Olympus to have built in some really useful menus. With 22 programme modes to choose from, the user can simply scroll through to find the right situation for a photograph. To help in the choice, each mode displays a photographic example and a brief description of what that mode does.
For example, there are settings for candlelight, snow and beach, or subjects behind glass.
