Olympus America is launching a new line of point and shoot digital cameras. The first member of the family is the Camedia Brio D-100, which will go on sale in May at a suggested retail price of US$349.
The Brio D-100 will come with an 8MB SmartMedia card (which can store up to 122 images in SQ mode), 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.
Interestingly, the Brio D-100 features USB AutoConnect technology, which will let users plug the camera directly into any USB-configured computer. If you’re running Mac OS 8.6 or higher, you’ll need no drivers or additional software; your Mac will mount and recognize the Brio D-100 automatically.
The camera sports a 5.5mm f2.8 -f11 Auto Focus Olympus lens with digital 2X Telephoto (providing a 36mm to 72mm zoom equivalent in 35mm photography) and a shutter release time of 0.3 seconds. It also packs a 1.3-megapixel interlaced RGB CCD and a maximum resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels. It’s targeted to first-time digital camera users seeking high quality images and simple operation, according to John Knaur, manager of the Digital Product Division of Olympus’ Consumer Products Group.
The Brio D-100 weighs just six ounces and is about the size of a cellular phone and just as portable. It offers a start-up time of less than one second, and is as easy to use as a conventional 35mm camera, Knaur said.
The camera’s Burst Mode shoots two frames per second. 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, facilitating 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 a jog dial, with choices displayed and selected via the LCD panel.
“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,” Knaur said in a press announcement. “Because the D-100 doesn’t discard or ignore image data, it delivers higher quality images with finer details and brilliant color.”
Users can print images directly to any of the Olympus family of P Series dye sublimation printers simply by inserting the camera’s 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.