Ever since the dawn of the digital camera age Olympus has graced the market with a series of excellent products. Its C-800L may have had a lukewarm reception, but the C-820L soon rectified that.

We get our hands on Olympus’s newest additions to the mju range, including one with a 7x optical zoom and one waterproof to 10 metres.

A completely new digital SLR system has arrived in the shape of the Olympus E-1 and is perhaps the most eagerly awaited professional camera this year.

In appearance the Olympus Camedia is rather ordinary, mirroring closely what is standard fare in the conventional SLR field, and perhaps even a little dated. This however belies the superior performance that the Olympus put in this month, which impressed the Labs team enough to award it with the Labs Award for Quality.

Undoubtedly the key feature of the Olympus C-750 is the huge 10x optical zoom lens. This is ideal for sports photography or getting close to camera-shy subjects. We’d expect a lens of this size to introduce severe chromatic aberrations, but Olympus has used extra-dispersion lenses, which make sure light is evenly distributed across the CCD.

The Olympus PEN E-P1 may look like a throwback to retro photography, but it’s expensive and flawed. However, it's beautiful image quality renders almost impossible to dislike.

It used to be a case of whoever had the largest CCD was going to sell the most cameras.

It used to be a case of whoever had the largest CCD was going to sell the most cameras.This may have held true when there was only a handful of digital still cameras on the market, but today it is a different story.

Olympus first introduced SLR (single lens reflex) to digital cameras in early 1998 in the form of the Camedia C-1400L.

If used properly this rugged camera is well worth the money and makes you feel a little more manly into the bargain

Not the pinnacle of image quality, but superbly compact with plenty of neat features

Olympus’ Four Thirds imaging system comes of age in a classy compact SLR that makes the rest look ordinary

An 18x zoom in a compact, well-built body. General handling and image quality are great too.

The first thing that struck me about the Camedia C-990 Zoom was that it looks and feels like a camera.

Worth the wait. The E-3 matches pro SLR capabilities with the ease of use of an entry-level cam

The E-510 has a barrowful of features and is a joy to use but we miss the size and convenience of the cheaper E-410

An attractive, light and well-built camera, but it has average image quality.

The Olympus Camedia C-740 is a 3.2-megapixel camera offering images at 2,048 x 1,536, with a maximum 10x optical zoom. Offering USB connectivity, miniature xD-Picture card support and video output that allows pictures to be viewed on TV as well

Digital photography has made enormous strides in recent years, and as a result, the technology is being incorporated into affordable consumer products.

A superzoom without stabiliser is like a car without suspension. Prepare for a rocky ride