Good things can sneak up on you when you're not looking. Take the Casio Z 750, for example. It looks like any other pocket-size snapper but its release wasn't announced with dancing girls or Champagne fountains. In fact, it doesn't even profess to do anything particularly unusual.

It's so low-key we hardly noticed it. However, after a few of weeks of putting it through its paces, we love it. We'd go as far as saying it's as good as any pocket camera under £300. But keep it quiet... or everyone will want one.

What we have here is a neat little camera t hat looks all-but-identical to the 5-megapixel cameras we were swooning over a couple of y ears ago. Now, in 2006, they come with 7 -megapixels under the bonnet. The Casio Z 750 is basically the replacement for the Z50 and it's not just the pixel count that's been improved. What we are looking at here is a technological marvel.

Only a couple of years a go it would have been ridiculous to imagine packing so many pixels in such a small body. And to stress the point, this is genuinely pocket size - its longest dimension is only 8 9mm, or 3.5 inches, if you prefer. Casio promises A3 prints from such a modest box and it's not an exaggeration.

So why doesn't everyone own a Casio? The m ain problem is that Casio cameras have an i mage problem. Nothing to do with the quality of pictures they take, it's just that w hen you say to someone that you've got a Casio, they'll assume you're talking about a calculator. It's an unfair tag because the Japanese manufacturer has been pressing all the right buttons when it comes to pocketsized cameras for a few years now.

Off the blocks

The Casio starts as it means to go on. Turn it on and it snaps into life as though it's just been booted up the rear end. Press the shutter button and you've created yet another masterpiece in the blink of an eye. If that's not enough you can make the camera work even q uicker if you turn on the 'infinity focus' mode. T his little Casio is very eager to please.