The Olympus VG-170 is a budget digital compact that sports some beefy-looking specification, but what exactly is it you get for a penny shy of £100, and is it any good? Doug Harman finds out.

Inexpensive; Flash power; 3D shooting mode; Ease of use

Picture quality; Image noise; Video performance; Build

The new Olympus VG-170 packs a host of features into an affordable, compact camera body. With a recommended UK price of £100 and available to buy for just £80 if you shop around, this camera falls firmly into budget compact territory - but comes with many more premium functions.

Do not be fooled by the Olympus VG-170 inexpensive RRP of ??? as it contains some great features like 3D mode and the most powerful flash in the Olympus "Smart" range that would, based on these features justify its purchase alone.

The Olympus VG-170 features the combination of a 1/2.3"-type, 14 effective megapixel RGB CCD image sensor and an Olympus-branded 5x optical zoom lens, which offers a 35mm-equivalent range from a useful 26mm wide-angle to a moderate 130mm telephoto.

The new Olympus VG-170 packs a host of features into an affordable, compact camera body. With a recommended UK price of £100 and available to buy for just £80 if you shop around, this camera falls firmly into budget compact territory - but comes with many more premium functions.

Packed with features; Cheap; Easy to use; Large; high resolution screen; Wide 26mm lens

Basic image quality isn't great; Many images have cold colour cast; Few Magic Filters add value; Needs fewer features but better execution

The VG-170 certainly looks the part, and it's keenly priced too. When put to the test though, the necessary compromises in a 14-megapixel camera that costs just £80 sadly came to the fore.

Inexpensive; 3D shooting mode

Disappointing picture quality in shadows; Below-par video performance

When writing reviews it is not always easy to come up with a long list of reasons to buy a camera. That is true of the Olympus VG-170. It does a lot of things well without standing out from the competition. It takes sharp looking photos and you should find this camera very easy to use.

Small size; USB charging; good sized LCD screen at this price point

Photos can took a bit dull

I was in the market for buying a camera so the 1st place I went to was Amazon.co.uk,after reading the reviews the camera that I decided to buy was the Olympus VG-170. It does every thing I want and more,I am still learning to use this camera to its full potential.

For £79.99 this is a great buy - can't agree with your review at all. If you want top quality images ay higher sensitivity settings, go buy an DSLR - this is designed for the point and shoot user who doesn't have the time, know how or inclination to adjust aperture/shutter/ISO settings etc.

Size; flash; internal battery charging; 3D option and price

Nothing at this price

Olympus VG-170 is a new and a feature rich camera that too within a budget. It features a 14 megapixel CCD sensor, 5x optical zoom and a 3 inch LCD screen. The main add-on to the VG-170 is the massive flash that is placed on the top left corner above the lens.

Wide screen; easy to use features; and economic price tag