Technofile: Object lesson

JVC GC-S5 DIGITAL CAMERA

Digital cameras offer real freedom - no more worrying about what the girls in the chemist's will say as they snigger through your risque holiday snaps. Then there's the convenience and speed of being able to plonk the images into your computer to manipulate, print and e-mail around the globe. The main trouble with this process has usually been that the journey into the PC involved lots of wires and patience in setting the connections up. Sony came up with a great solution in its Mavica camera, where the images were stored on a floppy disk, but now JVC has gone one better. The GC-S5 stores the images on a tiny techno-wafer, so the camera size is no longer constrained by the dimensions of a disk. Instead, by means of a cunning adaptor, the wafer slides effortlessly into your PC. The camera has all the bells and whistles you'd expect from digital: LCD screen to preview and assess your shots and a choice of image qualities, from impressively high resolution to basic quality (so the 8Mb wafer can store up to 155 images). Then there's a digital zoom and even a nine-frame picture display. Best of all, there's the luxury of instant deletion - faster than you can say David Bailey - for the one with the telegraph pole coming out of Mum's head. And all for pounds 550. Stockist details on 0181 208 7654.