Olympus Camedia Brio D-230

The Brio D-230 features a 2.0 Megapixel (effective) image, for realistic photo quality 8" x 10" prints. The camera 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. The Brio D-230 also features a fast shutter release time of 0.3 seconds; start-up times of less than one second; and easy photo transfer via Auto-Connect USB. 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 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. The exposure system, white balance, and color management have all been automated assuring quality photos with no hassles. The Brio D-230 is designed to comfortably fit in a shirt pocket. Its compact design allows users to take high quality digital pictures anyplace, anytime, on a moment's notice.

The Brio D-230 includes many special capture effects 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.

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.

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 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.

The Brio D-230 ships with a 16MB SmartMedia card, USB cable, CamediaMaster software, user guide, strap and two AA alkaline batteries. $349. www.olympus.com