As time passes, digital cameras continue to become better value for the same money, in much the same way that a computer bought today for £1,000 is far more powerful than one sold for the same price five years ago.

And so it is with the Acer CP-8660. At a pound under £250, it packs a lot of functions into a small design.

The most obvious feature of this camera is the huge preview screen on the back – no viewfinder here, sadly, but instead we are treated to a more cinematic experience with the 2.8in screen.
People either love or hate the lack of a viewfinder, and while we did miss it, there are benefits, including the ability to frame shots when holding the camera in odd positions.

As with most new cameras, no memory card is supplied to supplement the 25Mb of internal memory. We would recommend splashing out a few more pounds on a 512Mb SD card – luckily, memory is pretty cheap nowadays.

That said, the 8.28 megapixel CCD grabs a lot of data when it captures an image. A sample of six shots at full resolution varied in size between 2.6Mb and almost 6Mb. However, with this much information captured, the Acer took some great shots that were full of colour and detail.

The camera itself is bulky but well-designed. The aluminium-skinned body is slightly thicker than a cigarette packet, but the zoom barrel adds some bulk and the carry case seems huge as a result.

All controls fall naturally to hand, with a quick selection dial, play and capture modes, power and shutter buttons all within reach of the index finger. More complicated controls and the manual zoom lie under the right thumb quite happily.

A USB cord and power supply are thrown in with the camera. The former is disappointing – a mini USB cord would do exactly the same job, and there are more of these around. The latter is very helpful – with a big display and motorised zoom, battery life was good but not stunning; it ran on and off for about a week before needing a recharge. The charger comes with both continental and UK adaptors, which will be a boon to travellers and tourists.

Video mode is well thought out, and even at 12 frames per second – less than half the 30 frames per second maximum performance – we were impressed. It's a good feature, but not one that will turn you into Stanley Kubrick. The camera also has Pictbridge, which means direct printing to compatible printers.

One problem with the new crop of light, high-resolution zoom cameras is hand shake; with a 6x optical zoom, the odd blurred picture is inevitable. Luckily a function called DSP (Digital Signal Processor) helps, although this can only be used in manual mode and not in conjunction with other automatic shooting modes.

For the price, though, the Acer CP-8660 offers great value for money and is a good, all-round digital camera.

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