Coming next week will be our annual Christmas shopping list.

But, in the meantime, I want to mention a camera I don't own but seem to reach for a lot. Sometime, not too long ago, Amie purchased an Olympus Epl-1. It is a camera that is just as cute as a button.

What makes it even better is that you can buy cool little add-ons for it (like a lego set). You can add a viewfinder. You can even buy a third party leather case in the style of an old rangefinder. Now, in Japan, Olympus has an even cooler little leather half-case in all their ads. But, it turns out that it isn't a real product.

Thankfully a bit of poking around turned up an acceptable alternative.

But, it wouldn't matter how cool it looked if it wasn't a good camera. For years Amie and I have been disappointed by the quality of point and shoot images. Until now. This is a bit bigger than a point and shoot. It isn't fast. It has funky button controls and many features are buried in menus just like an point and shoot. But, when you click that shutter button... bang... beautiful images.

It's not for everyone. But, if you are a DSLR shooter looking for a travel camera that actually competes with a DSLR.... well... it's worth a look.