At last I have got there and my first compact is the Olympus XZ-1 and most importantly, it’s coupled up with the VF-2 viewfinder. Perhaps in the end it all boiled down to which compact had the best viewfinder for my needs. All my life I have used a camera that I put up to my eye to look throught the viewfinder and it seemed unnatural to hold it out at arms length.

But I needed to try that out having seen half the world’s population using one in this way. So I borrowed one and quickly came across a major problem. The screen wasn’t in focus so I would have to put on my glasses for every shot then take them off again – far too much hassle, so I needed a viewfinder. The viewfinders on the Nikon P7100 and Canon G12 simply aren’t big enough except for the occasional use and the Fujifilm X10 barely any better. I was very tempted by the X10 but blew it out when it appeared the recent firmware update didn’t solve the white orb problem.

The viewfinder adds a fair bit to the price but in my eyes it is worth it and brilliantly solves my problem. It also slightly adds to the size but the XZ-1 is smaller than the Nikon and Canon compacts in the first place. So there it is, a great little camera that will come with me on all the occasions when I don’t feel like carrying my Nikon DSLR along. First major outing will be Vietnam in April!