From the groundbreaking original Infinity, which helped make point-and-shoot cameras respectable, to the Stylus, which helped make them cool, Olympus has often produced cameras that manage to playfully skew mainstream sensibilities without sliding off into the fringe.

The cameras are also sometimes outright engineering showcases, like the new Infinity Stylus Epic. This looks like a modest upgrade (and downsizing) of the original Stylus, the camera that might be called the Presley of point-and-shoots (i.e., after years of topping the charts, it's sighted everywhere to this day).

But the Epic is more than a tweak. There are several servings of high-tech derring-do in this new design:

Front and center: Lurking behind teeny windows and ports are the meter (A), remote-release receptor (B), self-timer lamp (C), AF sensors (D), and viewfinder (E).

Backstage: One button controls exposure modes (A), the other, the self-timer and remote-release receptor (B). Press 'em both together (a little tricky) and you get spotmeter/spot AF. Midroll rewind button is at (C).

Baby clamshell? Diminutive Olympus Stylus Epic can perch pretty securely on a film box.

The lens: Instead of the Stylus's simple three-element V3.5, the Epic's new optic gains two-thirds of a stop to f/2.8, using a four-element design with a molded aspheric surface. The Epic thus becomes one of the few popular-price point-and-shoots with an f/2.8 lens. Why is this such a big deal? To put it in perspective, that's like switching from an ISO 400 fihn to ISO 640. Or, if you're shooting in dim available light with your f/3.5 lens wide open at a shaky 1/40 sec, an extra two-thirds of a stop will give you a steadier 1/60 sec.

The drivetrain: Standard P/S winding gear is made up of a series of gears, usually all plastic or mostly plastic. The Epic is so small it doesn't have room for a conventional geartrain plus a full-size 123A lithium battery, so Olympus engineers instead designed a set of tiny stainless-steel winding shafts to replace some half-dozen gear wheels. Some lowering of mechanical efficiency results, but Olympus felt the size and parts reduction was worth the tradeoff.

As the worm turns: Geartrain in the original and still-current Stylus, top, uses lotsa gears. New Epic version, below, transmits motor torque via stainless-steel shafts and worm gears to save space.