Olympus introduced a variety of new digital cameras to attendees of this week’s Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2004 trade show. The new models run the gamut from point-and-shoot pocket cameras to an 8.0 megapixel model equipped with a wide-angle zoom lens. All the new cameras feature USB support and write to xD-Picture Card flash media.
The Stylus 410 Digital carries an estimated street price of US$379, and features a splash-proof all weather design equipped with seals and gaskets to help protect the camera’s circuitry from water damage. It’s not submersible, though Olympus said it’s good for a rainy day. The 410 features a 3x optical zoom, 4.0 megapixel sensor, 10 shooting modes, QuickTime movie capture support and an all-weather microphone, as well as Olympus’ “TruePic Turbo” image processor. It’ll be in stores this month, and comes with a 32MB xD-Picture card.
The D-540 Zoom is a 3.2-megapixel camera that costs US$199. Aimed at first-time digital camera buyers looking for a simple point-and-shoot camera, the D-540 features a new camera design for Olympus’ line, and sports a 3x optical zoom, 7 shooting modes, PictBridge support for convenient printing, QuickTime support and more. It’s coming in March.
The D-580 Zoom is a $299 point-and-shoot camera that sports a 1.8 LCD display and 4.0-megapixel sensor. It features a built-in microphone to record images with audio, and sports a polycarbonate body design and a clamshell lens barrier. the camera also sports seven built-in shooting modes using a “Virtual Dial” that’s viewable through the LCD. It includes a 16x xD-Picture card.
The C-770 Ultra Zoom and C-765 Ultra Zoom round out Olympus’ new 4.0-megapixel offerings. Both cameras sport 10x optical zoom lenses and are the smallest and lightest members of Olympus’ Ultra Zoom line – 4.3 x 3 x 3 inches and about 10 ounces sans batteries. Like the other new cameras, these two models get the TruePic Turbo image engine. The features of the cameras are largely the same — 1.8-inch LCD viewfinders, 12 selectable shooting modes, advanced controls for aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual operation — the difference is that the C-770 model is equipped with a metal body and hot-shoe so it can be used with an external flash. The C-770 and the C-765 will go on sale in April for $599 and $499 respectively.
The C-8080 Wide Zoom is $999. It’s an 8-megapixel camera equipped with an f2.4 wide angle glass lens with 3 aspherical extra-dispersion (ED) elements. The 4x optical zoom camera shares the TruePic Turbo image processor found in all of Olympus’ new cameras, which provides faster start-up and shot-to-shot recycling, according to the company. The camera measures 4.9 x 3.3 x 3.9 inches and weights 23.3 ounces empty. The camera accepts both xD-Picture Card or Compact Flash Type I and Type II media, including Microdrives. The 1.8-inch 240,000 pixel LCD swivels to give photographers a better view of what they’re shooting if they’re taking shots overhead or from the hip. The camera uses USB 2.0 to transfer data to Macs or PCs. It’s coming this month.