Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D

This lenticular screen is where the magic happens - the screen shows the two slightly different images from different angles, so one of your eyes sees one and the other eye sees the second image, creating the illusion of depth. It's the same principle as those holograms you got free with packs of cereal.

What that means is that you can take a photo and almost immediately see the 3D result on the LCD. The first time you see it, you won't believe your eyes. In fact, it can take time to get used to focusing on the image, and you'll notice some oddities with duplicated details in the background, but that won't spoil your enjoyment of what is something truly special.

And it's not just limited to stills - you can take 3D video, albeit only in VGA quality.

Enough about the 3D, how about the rest of the camera? It's big, but it's housing two full-size (1/2.3in) CCD sensors and two lenses. And if you're prepared to carry an SLR to give yourself more creative options, you certainly won't mind the trade-off for 3D shooting.

Round the back, the controls are a slightly mixed bag. Everything is there and clearly marked, with dedicated buttons for 2D/3D and parallax control (getting the best overlap of images for optimum 3D effect). There's also the usual Fujifilm 'f' button to access essential settings such as ISO, white balance and image size.

The downside is some slightly strange logic applied to button use - for instance, to get video playing you press the down button on the D-pad.

More thought could also have been given to the macro function. If you press the macro button while in Auto 3D mode, it simply does nothing - it would have been far more helpful if it gave you the option to switch to one of the manual 3D modes where you can use macro.

Overall, though, this is a stunning first effort. It's a little big and pricey, but you've got a whole new creative dimension to play with - and playing around to get the most eye-popping results is utterly addictive.