COMPACT AND STYLISH 2 MEGAPIXEL POINT & SHOOT DIGITAL CAMERA

New Member of Brio Line with Compact Style, Fast Start-Up and Shutter Release Speeds

September 20, 2001, Melville, NY — Olympus America Inc., the world leader in film and filmless photography, today introduced the newest member to its Brio line of stylish point & shoot digital cameras. The new stylish Brio D-230 features a 2.0 Megapixel (effective) image, for realistic photo quality 8” x 10” prints. The Brio D-230 features an Olympus Auto-Focus 5.5mm f 2.8 lens, (equivalent to 36mm in a 35mm film camera) with a digital telephoto up to 5X. Stylish and small, the Brio D-230 also features a super fast shutter release times of 0.3 seconds; start-up times of less than one second; and easy photo transfer via Auto-Connect USB -- all to make the camera one of the easiest to use on the market to date. The Brio D-230 is a compact, simple to use camera that delivers clear, colorful and beautiful photographs for a low price.

Designed for first-time digital camera user seeking an easy to use pocketable digital camera, as well as for the discriminating consumer who wants the highest quality in a small camera, the small 6 ounce Brio D-230 is full of consumer friendly features, all designed to deliver great photographs in a easy to use camera. An Auto-Focus lens is employed for precise sharp focusing, and is not typically included in most other digital cameras at this price point. The flash is automatic, and includes Olympus’ red-eye reduction technology for fast easy family photos. The exposure system, white balance, and color management have all been automated assuring quality photos with no hassles. Unlike many digital cameras today, the Brio D-230 is designed to comfortably fit in a shirt pocket while giving the user easy control of the camera. Its compact design allows users to take high quality digital pictures anyplace, anytime, on a moment’s notice.

Special Effects
The Brio D-230 includes many special capture effects which enhance photographic creativity, such as the new Composite Image Mode for the ability to instantly merge two images into one in the camera without the need of a PC. Other special effects include Sepia and Black & White Image Effect Modes, Rotation, and File Resize mode, which saves a separate smaller copy of the image perfect for e-mail or web use. QuickTime Movie Mode is available for up to 60 seconds of movies at 15 frames per second. The Brio D-230’s Burst Mode shoots 1.3 frames per second, so even novice users can capture spontaneous moments as they happen, without complex set-up procedures.

Simplified Operation
The camera’s features are extremely easy to get to, since all the shooting modes and menu selections are centrally located in one easy-to-use jog dial. Menus have also been reduced and simplified for faster access without searching through endless layers. Everything, from the small design of the camera, simplified controls, fast start up and shooting times, makes the consumer feel as if the Brio D-230 were a regular film camera, not the powerful digital camera that it is.

To make downloading simple, the Brio D-230 features Auto-Connect USB technology. The Olympus Auto-Connect USB feature allows users to plug the camera directly into most any USB- computer and immediately download the image files. No drivers or additional software are required for computers running the latest operating systems, including Windows® 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP and Mac OS™ 8.6 – Mac OS X—these USB computers will mount and recognize the Brio D-230 automatically. For older systems, optional SmartMedia TM card readers are available.

Once captured, images may be viewed, erased or stored on removable SmartMedia™ cards. The Brio D-230 ships with a 16MB SmartMedia card, providing ample capacity to store up to 90 images in Standard Quality mode. Additional SmartMedia cards, available in 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128MB increments, deliver virtually unlimited, reusable image storage capacity without the time and expense associated with film developing.

Users can print photos directly to any of the Olympus family of dye sublimation printers (P-200, P-400, P-330) simply by inserting the SmartMedia card directly into the printer. DPOF settings are also available for adding date/time to images and tagging specific photos for printing to DPOF-compatible printers, such as the Olympus line.

Available in October 2001, the Brio D-230 ships with a 16MB SmartMediaTM card, USB cable, CamediaMaster software, user guide, strap and two AA alkaline batteries.

Camedia Brio D-230 Street Price: $299
Camedia Brio D-230 Suggested Retail Price: $349

For more information, including photos of the Brio D-230, please contact Olympus America, Consumer Products Group, or Thomas Public Relations at (631) 549-7575 http://www.thomas-pr.com.
About Olympus America, Inc.
Olympus America distributes a wide range of products to the consumer, scientific, healthcare, commercial and industrial markets. These include film and filmless cameras, Microcassette™ and digital voice recorders, binoculars, film scanners, personal photo printers, medical and industrial endoscopes, biological and metallurgical microscopes and measuring instruments, clinical analyzers, and other high technology products. Olympus America is responsible for sales in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Olympus is a registered trademark, and Camedia is a trademark of Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. SmartMedia is a trademark of Toshiba America, Inc.
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