OLYMPUS BRINGS CREATIVE FREEDOM TO THE E-450 DSLR

New Entry-Level Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera Debuts Mother’sDay Weekend

CENTER VALLEY, Pa., March 31, 2009 – Olympus announcesits new entry-level digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, which is smallin size and powerful in creativity. The new E-450 continues the E-400 series’ heritageof a small and portable design, powerful features, and ease of use for anyskill level, including first time digital camera users. Thanks to Art Filterspioneered with the E-30 and E-620, the E-450 provides consumers with the creativefreedom to capture their images in new fun and exciting ways.

The three Art Filters – Pop Art, Pin Hole and Soft Focus – bringgreater creativity and freestyle experimentation to the new E-450. The creativefilters were first introduced in Olympus’ E-30 prosumer DSLR earlierthis year, and now enable consumers to express themselves and capture it all – limitedonly by their imagination. The E-450 offers the 10-megapixel imager and otherfeatures from the E-420.

The new camera also provides heavyweight technologies, including a bigger,more viewable 2.7-inch LCD and fast consumer-friendly On-Screen Autofocus,Face Detection, Shadow Adjustment Technology and Perfect Shot Preview to getthe most out of the Live View experience. Additionally, when it comes to LiveView, not all LCDs are created equal. At 2.7-inches, the portable E-450 LCDis large enough for users to compose and review images without squinting. Thesmall camera’s LCD is part of a camera with technologies intelligentenough to take advantage of the Live View photography experience. These innovativetechnologies include:

• On-Screen Autofocus works as seamlessly as a point-and-shoot to display subjects in focus on the LCD the instant the shutter is pressed half way;
• Face Detection Technology targets and locks on up to eight faces to ensure they are in focus and crystal clear for amazing portraits;
• New and Improved HyperCrystal II™ Technology delivers twice the contrast and better viewing in extreme lighting conditions, a broader range of color detail, and a wider Angle of view on the LCD so you and your friends can see it up to 176 degrees off-center;
• Shadow Adjustment Technology captures detail in the bright areas of a frame and opens up detail in the shadows that other cameras would render too dark or underexposed; and
• Perfect Shot Preview enables you to view and select your favorite effect right on the LCD, and see how the image will look before you even capture it, so you know that what you see is what you get.

Olympus is scheduled to launch the E-450 DSLR on leading multimedia retailerQVC® Saturday, May 9.

“We are thrilled to debut the much-anticipated Olympus E-450,” saidRob Ellerstein, director of electronics merchandising for QVC. “Thanksto our strong relationship with Olympus, we are not only offering the mostinnovative new products but we are also giving our customers the opportunityto order them before they hit stores.”

The product will be widely available in the U.S. and Canada in July.

Make Your Vision Come to Life with Art Filters

• If you’re hoping to get more out of your camera than simply capturing and documenting a scene, and enjoy enhancing or customizing an image to make it your own, then you will value the camera’s Art Filters. The filters, which are built into the camera, provide incredible individual artistic control over an image, and remove the need to spend time altering images on the computer with editing software.

This camera was made for free-style shooting, experimenting and engaging withevents and subjects.  Enjoy the freedom of Autofocus LiveView and dramatic effects to transform your day-to-day shots into compositionsthat you can be proud of with the following in-camera Art Filters:

• Pop Art:  Enhances colors, making them more saturated and vivid, creating high-impact pictures that express the joyful, lighthearted feeling of the Pop Art style of the 1960s;
• Soft Focus:  Creates an ethereal, otherworldly atmosphere that renders subjects in a heavenly light without obscuring details; and
• Pin Hole:  Reduces the peripheral Brightness of an image as though it were shot through a pin hole, connecting the viewer intimately with the subject at the center of the picture.

Art Filters are easily activated with the mode dial on the right side of thecamera body. The effects are viewable right on the new camera’s 100 percentaccurate 2.7-inch Live View LCD when using the E-450 in Live View mode or whenreviewing the captured image.

The Live View Experience
Olympus was the first to bring Live View to a consumer DSLR (the E-330 in 2006),and Live View has revolutionized DSLR photography. Anyone who has photographedyoung children knows that you get the best reactions when you hold the cameraaway from your face and maintain eye contact and an engaging smile. If youhave tried to take photos high above the heads in a crowd or low near theground, you will appreciate that it is easier to use the LCD screen thanto climb a ladder or lie on the ground.

The E-450 solves these problems with its Live View LCD, which enables photographersto easily and comfortably hold the camera at angles that could not be reachedby using the optical viewfinder alone. The E-450’s Live View autofocusfunctionality now simplifies the process by working just like a point and shoot.By simply pressing the shutter button halfway, your subjects come into focuson the LCD, so when the perfect moment occurs it is easy to capture sharp images.

Always Find a Face in the Crowd
A camera this consumer-friendly is perfect for taking portraits of friendsand family while out and about. The E-450’s Face Detection featuredistinguishes between people’s faces and the background. It tracksup to eight faces within the image area and automatically focuses and optimizesexposure for sharp, brilliant portrait pictures. Even if your subjects aremoving, the camera continuously tracks their faces.

Bright Day or Deep Shadow, Never Miss a Detail
Shooting scenes with shadows can be tricky because of the extreme contrastbetween dark and bright areas. The E-450 addresses this challenge with ShadowAdjustment Technology that compensates for extreme contrast when shadow areasare underexposed and lack visible detail. Now users can preview and captureimages with the same fine contrast they see with their own eyes.

Preview All the Possibilities
With 18 pre-set scene-select modes for every imaginable shooting scenario andfull manual controls, the E-450 offers a world of possibilities to photographers.Additionally, Perfect Shot Preview enables users to preview and select variousphotographic effects on a live, multi-window screen on the LCD before snappingthe shot. This feature shows photographers what their images will look likebeforehand under various settings, ensuring that they capture exactly whatthey want. It is an ideal way for novice users to learn about the effectsof different photography techniques, such as exposure compensation, whitebalance and metering.

Enlarge Your Photos
Capturing, enlarging and displaying amazing images on your wall is a snap thanksto the E-450’s 10 million pixels for high-Resolution photos. The 10-megapixelsensor gives users the flexibility to enlarge prints to the sizes supportedby many of today’s printers, or crop the image to print only a partof the image that is important to them. The high-performance Live MOS imagesensor in the E-450 delivers excellent dynamic range for accurate color fidelityand a state-of-the-art image processor dramatically reduces noise and capturesfine image details in the highlight and shadow areas.

Improved Auto White Balance
Many digital SLR users want to focus their attention on things other than whitebalance while they are on the move. As a result, the E-450 features an improvedautomatic white balance performance with a new algorithm for more accuratecolor.

TruePic III+ for Image Clarity & Speed
Olympus’ TruePic III+ Image Processor produces crystal clear photos usingall the pixel information for each image to provide the best digital imagespossible for every photo with accurate color, true-to-life flesh tones, brilliantblue skies and precise tonal representation in between. TruePic III+ also lowersimage noise by one step to reduce graininess in images shot at higher ISO settings,enabling great results in low-light situations.

Worried about missing the winning goal at the soccer game? The imageprocessor on the E-450 enables it to shoot up to 3.5 frames per second in sequentialshooting mode, which means that photographers will be able to capture fast-pacedaction as it happens.

Dust Reduction System for Spot-Free Images
Life moves too fast to spend time worrying about dust ruining your images.Olympus’ proven Dust Reduction System produces spot-free photos withthe exclusive Supersonic Wave Filter™. The patented ultrasonic technologyvibrates to remove dust and other particles from the front of the image sensorand captures it on a special adhesive membrane every time the camera is turnedon. This results in beautiful images free from dust spots, which could ruinor be distracting on an image.

Media Versatility
Accepting both CompactFlash Type I & II, Microdrives, and xD-Picture Cards,the E-450 provides a choice of data storage options for enhanced flexibility,and it is possible to transfer image files from one card to the other rightinside the camera.

Wireless Flash Capability
If you decide to venture into the arena of advanced lighting, the E-450 isready to meet the challenge. The E-450 is compatible with the Olympus FL-50Rand FL-36R wireless electronic flashes that are designed exclusively fordigital photography. When these flashes are used in combination with theE-450, wireless multi-flash photography is possible. The E-450 can controlup to three wireless flash groups independently, with several flash unitsper group.

Availability
The Olympus E-450 DSLR will be available in July 2009. It includes E-450 Body,ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens, ED 40-150mm f4.0/5.6 Zuiko DigitalZoom Lens, USB Cable, Video Cable, Li-Ion Battery pack (BLS-1), Li-Ion BatteryCharger (BCS-1), Shoulder Strap, OLYMPUS Master 2 Software CD-ROM, Manualsand Warranty Card.

U.S. Pricing
E-450 Two-Lens Kit Estimated Street Price: 9.99