Like most modern gadgetry, digital cameras started out hideously expensive, but now they are far more affordable.

With the arrival in the shops of a little device called L'espion, there is finally a camera you could put in the impulse purchase category.

It costs just £40, can be bought from the supermarket, makes a very good job of taking pictures - and it's tiny.

L'espion - French for spy - is about the size of a matchbox and when you hold it in your hand it is tempting to imagine you are James Bond.

As it is so small, the L'espion has to sacrifice some of the features found on most other digital cameras - so there's no screen to preview your pictures and the lens is very limited.

Neither is there any flash, nor can you expand on the built-in two megabytes of memory and it will only take pictures if there's enough light - in dark conditions it simply won't work.

Carry it around in your pocket, taking pictures wherever and whenever you like, and only use the pick of the crop.

For anyone with a colour printer, it would be a great way to produce home-made greetings cards.

And if you have a web-site, it's a very cheap and simple way to create your own illustrations for it.

You can take a look at one of these cameras at the Digital Dream Company web site (www.digitaldreamco.com).