Olympus Imaging Corporation (President: Masaharu Okubo) is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the new Mju 9000 digital compact camera. The latest addition to the Mju range, the Mju 9000 incorporates a 10x optical zoom lens with a wide-angle focal length of 28mm2 and 2.7-inch high-brightness, wide viewing-angle HyperCrystal III LCD panel in the world's slimmest, smallest camera body1. Available in champagne and black, this sleek and stylish take-anywhere-camera is scheduled for release in Australia on March 2, 2009. Pricing is yet to be announced.

The Mju 9000 is the flagship model of the Mju series lineup. It Incorporates a wide zoom lens with 10x optical zoom building on the technology used in the previous 38mm2 7x optical zoom lens, as well as the newly developed 2.7-inch HyperCrystal III LCD monitor, powerful Dual Shakeproof CCD-shift image stabiliser to four shutter speed steps. A Beauty mode function is also included to enhance the appearance of the human face. The Mju 9000 is designed to help any avid traveller capture the ultimate photographic memories. Boasting the world’s slimmest, smallest body, the Mju 9000 fits easily into your pocket, allowing users to carry it everywhere with ease. The Mju 9000’s high 10x zoom ratio provides versatile shooting capabilities without increasing the amount or bulk of luggage, making it possible to capture stunning, high-quality images of magnificent landscapes or historical architecture. .High quality images are assured with the Mju 9000 by using the high-definition 12-megapixel CCD3 and proprietary Olympus TruePic III image processing engine.

The newly incorporated Beauty mode4 provides subjects with an "instant makeover", using the face recognition function to detect human faces in images during shooting or playback and enhancing their appearance by brightening the face tone, highlighting the eyes, and smoothing the skin. World's slimmest, smallest camera5 incorporating a 10x optical zoom lens to capture subjects at great distances Compact and slim enough to travel anywhere with ease, the Mju 9000 is the perfect travelling companion, providing outstanding performance at home or on the road.

The product of stateof-the-art proprietary Olympus lens technology, the world's slimmest, smallest5 10X optical zoom lens boasts a zoom range that extends from wide-angle 28mm6 to telephoto 280mm6, making it ideal for shooting any type of scene – from a magnificent landscape to a close-up portrait. Picture blur due to camera shake and subject motion that tends to occur in telephoto shooting is prevented by the CCD-shift image stabilisation function and the high-sensitivity image capturing.

Superb image quality is assured with Olympus’ uniquely designed and manufactured Dual Super Aspherical (DSA) lens element. One DSA element can do the work of several conventional elements, making it possible to create extremely compact yet powerful zoom lenses. Historically DSA lens elements are extremely thin in the centre, making them difficult to manufacture, however cutting edge Olympus technology has overcome these challenges, minimising the number of lens elements required to achieve greater zoom, thereby resulting in images with higher contrast and greater clarity from centre to edge.

In addition, the Mju 9000’s high-definition 12-megapixel CCD7 image sensor works together with Olympus’ proprietary TruePic III image processing engine to reproduce even pale colours accurately, assuring natural, true-to-life images that appear just as the original scene looks to the naked eye.

2.7-inch HyperCrystal III LCD monitor with maximum brightness of 1000 cd/m2 and a wide 160-degree viewing angle. Using only the very best in LCD panels, the Mju 9000’s HyperCrystal III LCD monitor has a viewing angle of over 160 degrees to ensure accurate framing even when the camera is positioned at an extremely low or high angle. The wide
viewing angle also makes it possible for more than one person to comfortably view playback pictures in the camera. In addition, the high contrast and wide chroma range of the HyperCrystal III LCD monitor beautifully reproduces both blacks and vivid colours. The LCD has twice 8 the brightness of conventional LCD monitor with up to1000 cd/m2 making for easy framing and enjoyable photo viewing, even in outdoor conditions.

A Dual Shakeproof CCD-shift image stabilisation mechanism with digital SLR heritage. To prevent picture blur due to camera shake and subject motion that tends to occur in telephoto shooting, the Mju 9000 features a Dual Shakeproof solution. Utilising digital SLR quality image stabilisation algorithms developed originally for the state-of-the-art E series, the Mju 9000 is equipped with a CCD-shift image stabilisation mechanism delivering a correction effect of up to four shutter speed steps, coupled with high-sensitivity image capturing capability. As a result, travelling photographers are free to take crystal clear images of architecture, or subjects from a distance, in daylight or low light, without the need to carry a cumbersome tripod.

Beauty mode*9 to enhance the appearance of the human face. The Mju 9000 offers a new Beauty mode which brightens human skin by one tone and provides a softer, smoother texture to create a more attractive, impressive appearance. It can be applied in either image capture mode or playback mode. When Beauty mode is used
in picture playback, it makes the reproduced faces more vivid by featuring the eyes more prominently and enhancing the light entering the pupils as if an eye catch-light was used. Beauty mode is based on the face detection function and does not alter the brightness of the background.

Other features
• Intelligent Auto mode
• In-camera panorama image composition,with on-screen guide for camera movement
• Convenient, easy to use, sophisticated 3D GUI
• Face Detect to 16 faces and Olympus Shadow Adjust technology
• Colour Universal Design authentication for easy visibility for the sight impaired
• Micro SD memory card recording and playback supported via MASD-1 Micro SD adapter (included