First in a New Family of Point & Shoot Digital Cameras

Fast Start-Up and Shutter Release Speeds Rival Film Cameras

Ultra-compact, Stylish Design, and Ease of Use
Delivers a New Standard for Point & Shoot Digital Cameras

Melville, NY, March 6, 2001 — Olympus America Inc., the world leader in film and filmless photography, today introduced the first member in its new family of point & shoot digital cameras, the Camedia Brio D-100. Featuring a high quality 5.5mm f2.8 –f11 Auto Focus Olympus lens with digital 2X Telephoto, a super fast shutter release time of 0.3 seconds and easy data transfer via a standard USB connection, the Brio D-100 is an excellent choice for first-time digital camera users seeking high quality images and simple operation.

Compact and stylish, the Brio D-100’s easy to use design was developed by the same team that created the popular Olympus lines of Stylus and Epic film cameras. Weighing just six ounces, the camera is about the size of a cellular phone and just as portable. The Brio D-100 offers a fast start-up time of less than one second, and is as easy to use as a conventional 35mm camera. Its pocketable design allows users to take high quality digital pictures anyplace, anytime, literally on a moment’s notice. The Brio D-100’s Burst Mode—a feature usually found on larger, more expensive cameras—shoots two frames per second, so even novice users can capture spontaneous moments as they happen, without executing complex set-up procedures.

“The Brio D-100 represents next-generation digital camera technology,” states John Knaur, Digital Product Manager, Olympus America, Consumer Products Group. “It is designed to be the highest quality, most technically advanced of the point-and-shoot class of digital cameras. New technologies and capabilities built into the D-100 make the camera smaller, faster and easier to use. ‘Brio’ is a term meaning ‘high energy,’ ‘excitement’ and ‘enthusiasm.’ We believe the D-100 embodies those qualities.”

To make downloading simple, the Brio D-100 features USB AutoConnect technology. The Olympus USB AutoConnect feature allows users to plug the camera directly into any USB-configured computer. No drivers or additional software are required for PCs running the latest operating systems including Windows® 2000, Windows Me and Mac OS™ 8.6 and higher—these computers will mount and recognize the Brio D-100 automatically. This eliminates the need to restart the system, so image viewing, downloading and printing can be performed immediately upon connection (card readers are also available for non-USB equipped PCs). Additionally, users may print images directly to any of the Olympus family of P Series dye sublimation printers to produce photo-realistic output simply by inserting the SmartMedia card into the printer’s card slot. The Brio D-100 supports the Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) standard for adding data to images and tagging specific photographs to print to DPOF-compatible printers.

A 1.5-inch color LCD monitor serves as both a high-resolution viewfinder, (an optical viewfinder is also provided), as well as the camera’s menu control panel. All mode settings and image viewing functions have been condensed into this single display that acts as a centralized point of access for all information and operation, and contributes to the Brio D-100’s small size. Standard icons representing multiple flash modes, image resolution settings, exposure adjustments and playback/viewing modes are accessed through one-touch buttons and an easy to use jog dial, with choices displayed and selected via the LCD panel.

The Brio D-100 is small in size, but big on image quality. In addition to its Digital 2X Telephoto Auto Focus lens, (providing a 36mm to 72mm zoom equivalent in 35mm photography), the Brio D-100 features a 1.3-megapixel interlaced RGB CCD. Offering a maximum resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels, users enjoy photo-realistic image quality for prints up to 5” x 7”.

“The Brio D-100 utilizes Olympus’ TruePic™ technology, so it uses all the captured pixel information to create the image no matter the size or resolution setting,” furthers Knaur. “Because the D-100 doesn’t discard or ignore image data, it delivers higher quality images with finer details and brilliant color. Even at lower resolution settings the D-100 provides picture quality that is truly superior to any other camera in its class.”

Once captured, images may be viewed, erased or stored on removable SmartMedia™ cards. The Brio D-100 ships with an 8MB card standard, providing ample capacity to store up to 122 images in SQ mode. Additional SmartMedia cards, available in 16, 32, 64 and 128MB increments, deliver virtually unlimited, reusable image storage capacity without the time and expense associated with film developing.

Available in May 2001, the Brio D-100 ships with an 8MB SmartMediaTM card, USB cable, video output cable, Olympus Camedia Master software, user guide, strap, and CR-V3 Lithium battery pack. The camera can also be powered by two AA alkaline or Ni-MH batteries.

Camedia Brio D-100 Average Street Price: $299.00
Camedia Brio D-100 Suggested Retail Price: $349.00

For more information, including photos of the Brio D-100, please contact the Olympus America, Consumer Products Group, or Thomas Public Relations at (631) 549-7575.

Specifications subject to change without notice.

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.
# # #