The first thing that strikes you about this compact digital camera is how slim and elegant it feels and how clearly laid out are the controls. Although the black casing would suggest a masculine character, testing in the field clearly showed that both the style and user-friendly appearance especially appealed to women.
But neither sex can fail to be impressed by the 2.5-inch Photo Fine viewer, which Epson claims is the world's highest definition consumer display on the market with 256 pixels per inch. There's no denying the almost surreal clarity and sharpness of the preview images and the high quality of the colour rendition and brightness, which is what you'd expect from a 5-megapixel resolution camera.
There's a choice of 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom and a range of information can be displayed (or hidden) on the LCD. You can see details of battery, resolution, exposure, ISO speed, white balance, photos taken, Macro, etc. There are five scene modes (normal, landscape, portrait, night view and night portrait), three quality settings and five flash settings (including slow synchro).
Video can also be captured as the movie mode offers VGA resolution at 30 frames per second and the built-in microphone gives reasonable sound reproduction. In addition, there's a separate outdoor mode which alternates between high brightness and high contrast to help in adverse lighting conditions.
There are two extra visual treats that might tip the balance if you're choosing between similar models. The first is the continuous photography mode that will allow you to take three rapid shots at maximum speed - especially good for those action moments you want to capture, or grabbing a celebrity as they flash past!
The second is the Print Image Framer (PIF) mode which links some preset frames to your picture, both in preview and when you're about to copy or print off the final result. Four types come with the camera but others can be created or imported using the Print Image Framer Tool and PIF Designer software that comes in the box.
Other bundled software includes Epson Photo!4 (to store, review and arrange your photos), QuickTime to play your videos back, and Epson PhotoQuicker to help print your works of art through the computer. If, on the other hand, you don't want to spend time transferring your material to the PC or Mac, then there's one more surprise in store.
Using a technique called Direct Print Order Format, a simple button on the back of the camera will enable you to fix a print order for your pictures (including multiple images on one page) and then bypass the computer and send them directly to the printer via a USB connection. This can only happen, though, via selected Epson Stylus Photo printers - more are expected to be added to the list.
