Olympus Announces First 2 Megapixel Point & Shoot Digital Zoom Camera For Under $500

August 1, 2000, Melville, NY -- Olympus, the world leader in film and filmless photography, today announced the D-490 ZOOM to its line of award winning digital cameras. Housed in a stylish champagne gold metallic compact point & shoot body, the Olympus D-490 ZOOM now offers a 2.11 megapixel resolution CCD and 3X optical zoom lens with QuickTime movie ability for an outstanding value.

Based on the Olympus D-460 ZOOM, one of the fastest growing digital cameras in the market, the D-490 ZOOM has improved menus and function buttons for easier access to the camera?s full line of features; new Olympus branded long life Lithium batteries; a wider choice of compression modes with a new Standard Quality mode for better pictures for the web; DPOF support for setting the camera to print specific images and quantities with DPOF printers; and the ability to display file names on the LCD.

The D-490 ZOOM?s standard features include: 3X optical zoom; 2.5X digital telephoto at any focal length; 5 mode pop-up intelligent flash; 100, 200, and 400 selectable ISO; easy-viewing from all angles LCD; 1.3 frames per second burst mode; through- the-lens auto focus; auto white balance with 4-step manual override; center weighted and spot metering systems for auto exposure with +/- 2 step exposure compensation control in 1/2 step increments; video out for viewing on televisions or recording to a VCR; and direct printing to the P-330/P-400 Instant Dye Sublimation Photo Printers. Designed for speed, the D-490 ZOOM offers one of the fastest start-ups in the industry coupled with fast shot-to-shot performance capabilities.

The D-490 ZOOM offers a fast shot-to-shot performance. With the internal high- speed D-RAM enhancement, shots can be held in the memory buffer while another shot is being taken. This means less waiting between shots. The D-RAM also allows for burst mode shooting. This mode enables users to shoot and capture up to 5 images in HQ mode, and up to 45 images in SQ mode at frame rates as fast as 1.3 shots/second. Similar to that of advanced film cameras, activation is easy. Once burst mode is selected, simply hold the shutter button down and the camera does all the work. The images are held in the D-RAM (internal memory) and saved to the removable SmartMedia card for later review.

The D-490 ZOOM comes standard with: 2 new long-lasting Olympus CR-V3 Lithium batteries, a 8MB Olympus SmartMedia card, strap, serial cable for Mac and PC, video connection cable for TV or VCR, Olympus Camedia Master Utility Software for downloading images from the camera, and instruction manuals. The D-490 ZOOM will be available August 15, 2000 with an expected street price of . The software supports both Windows and Macintosh environments.

Camedia D-490 Zoom Specifications