Minolta Introduces Revolutionary New DiMAGE X Digital Camera

Minolta Corporation takes another revolutionary step in the evolution of the digital camera with the introduction of the DiMAGE X. With Minolta’s exclusive optical system that places the 3x optical zoom lens inside the flat camera body without ever requiring the lens to extend externally, the camera is the thinnest, smallest and lightest 3x optical zoom digital camera with built-in flash on the market today. “Building on the company’s renowned strength in optics and expertise in miniaturization, Minolta’s designers and engineers have developed a unique digital camera with a distinctive edge – one with capabilities that have never been seen before,” said Jon Sienkiewicz, vice president, digital imaging products, Minolta Corporation’s Consumer Products Group. “Smaller than a floppy disk and lighter than you can imagine, it can easily slip into a shirt pocket, small purse or jacket, and go anywhere. Its unique, sleek, compact design truly makes the DiMAGE X a fashion statement. But Minolta didn’t just stop at trying to make the DiMAGE X a breakthrough camera only in size and style. We designed a camera that’s easy to use and allows anyone to take great pictures, too.”

The Minolta DiMAGE X is approximately ¾ of an inch thick. Making a camera this thin would be impossible with conventional zoom lens technology. However, the unique design of the 3x optical zoom lens allows it to move, or “zoom,” vertically within the camera body. That means that when the lens moves from wide angle to telephoto, it always remains inside the camera body. The 3x optical zoom lens is equivalent to a 37mm - 111mm on a 35mm camera, and with the incorporation of the DiMAGE X’s 2x digital zoom, the camera has up to a 6x seamless zooming capability.

The incredibly compact body of the DiMAGE X has a striking modern design with a rich stainless steel and aluminum finish. Inside the dual-metal exterior of this digital camera is a CCD with 2.0 million effective pixels and it’s powered by a fast new RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Central Processing Unit (CPU). This CPU enables the camera to have the world’s fastest start-up time of 1.8 seconds.

Images captured with the high-quality lens of the DiMAGE X are enhanced by Minolta’s CxProcess image processing technology, which helps control sharpness, color reproduction, tonal gradation and noise. This same technology is used in the top-of-the-line Minolta DiMAGE 7 SLR-type digital camera. The combination of the new high-powered RISC CPU and Minolta’s image processing technology results in crisp and detailed images that satisfy the most discriminating photographer.

A versatile multimedia tool, users can also make movie clips and add audio to their still images with the DiMAGE X.

The DiMAGE X is powered by a responsive, proprietary, super-thin rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Ready to go when the user is ready to start shooting, this battery has the ability of taking shots for hours before recharging with the included charger.

An 8 MB SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card is included for image storage. About the size of a postage stamp, it is the smallest, high-capacity memory card currently on the market.

For more information, visit Minolta’s Web site located at www.minoltausa.com

SOURCE Minolta