When are two lenses better than one? When you can have both a 3x optical zoom and an extreme wide-angle lens – equivalent to a 5x optical zoom when combined – within the same camera.

The stylish, mobile phone-sized Kodak EasyShare V570 is that camera, and manages to squeeze both features into dimensions less than an inch thick.

The V570 not only has dual optics, but also two sensors, with a resolution of five megapixels.

The theory is that the set up will extend your picture-taking creativity, allowing fish eye lens/circus mirror-style effects alongside standard snapshots.

The wide-angle facility is also great for group shots, landscapes and panoramas, enabling a full 180-degree scene to be captured within three photos. A feature within the camera's menu system will automatically stitch these together into a single image.

With a press of the power button, the camera is quick to get going, with a wait of barely a second before the first shot. Images are framed using the large, bright 2.5in screen on the camera’s back.

To avoid confusion, an on-screen indicator reveals which lens is being used. Like most compacts at this level, there are 22 in-built scene modes allowing you to simply point and shoot for tricky subject matters such as sports shots or portraits at night.

As the EasyShare name suggests, the V570 is simple to operate and taking photos quickly becomes second nature. The only real moan is that just 32Mb of internal memory is included with the camera, so budget for a removable SD or MMC memory card to save a decent number of images in one go.

Video clips can also be captured in high resolution MPEG-4 (DVD-quality) format at a smooth and naturalistic 30 frames per second.

Budding Spielbergs will be pleased to learn that the zoom can be used in this mode, and that individual frames from moving images can be printed out as s tills. This is especially easy to do if you invest in an optional Kodak Printer Dock for £130.

The five-megapixel images the V570 delivers are pleasingly colourful and naturalistic, and in truth only an expert eye would notice a difference in quality between these and those of many of the similarly-sized eight-megapixel compacts on the market.

If we’re being picky, the camera’s performance in low light could be improved – tell tale speckles similar to film grain, known as image noise, are visible if on-camera flash isn’t used. But this is common among digital compacts.

Watch out also for fingertips creeping into your photos when using that second wide-angle lens. Get this right, and colour and detail-rich images are the order of the day.

Also Consider
Sony Cyber-shot M2 
Verdict: Five-megapixel camera that looks more like a mobile phone but takes great pictures and video.
Rating: 4/5
Price: £399