EPSON announces color digital camera for the Macintosh; Mac version of the hottest digital camera available debuts at the Gutenberg Festival

Business Wire, May 6, 1996

TORRANCE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 1996--Having pioneered the price/performance segment of the digital camera market with the introduction of the award-winning PhotoPC in February, EPSON is now announcing the PhotoPC for Mac, available this summer.

Designed for ease of use, flexibility and superior image quality, the PhotoPC is the perfect tool for getting images quickly and easily into a computer.

For Work or Play

PhotoPC is targeted at business and home computer users who desire a quicker and easier way to bring pictures into their Macintoshes. PhotoPC images can be used to communicate more effectively in correspondence, proposals, newsletters and presentations, and add a creative touch to personal letters, greeting cards, flyers and school projects.

The PhotoPC also saves time when developing comps for graphic design projects such as brochures, storyboarding or packaging.

Internet Applications

Unlike other digital cameras that use proprietary compression technology, EPSON's PhotoPC images are automatically stored as JPEG files. This industry standard allows one to put images into documents or Web pages instantly, instead of wasting time on file format conversion.

``The EPSON PhotoPC for Mac is an effective business tool that happens to be a great deal of fun to use,'' said Anna Jen, product manager, EPSON. ``By going directly from the PhotoPC to the computer, users eliminate the time and expense of photographing, developing film and scanning images.

``The speed and cost-effectiveness is a huge advantage, whether for business or personal creative purposes.''

PhotoPC Features

The point-and-shoot EPSON PhotoPC has the look and feel of a standard 35mm film camera, weighing less than one pound and measuring 6.6 x 3.5 x 1.9 inches (WxHxD). It provides 24-bit color in 16.7 million colors and a choice of high- and standard-resolution settings, 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 pixels, respectively.

EPSON's ColorTrue in-camera processing system provides pictures with accurate and brilliant colors. It is this technology that sets the EPSON PhotoPC image quality above all others in the category. ColorTrue ensures that each picture has excellent color accuracy, saturation, balance and contrast, making EPSON's image quality visibly superior to other, more expensive digital cameras.

The PhotoPC base unit has one megabyte of flash memory that stores up to 16 high-resolution images and a minimum of 32 standard images. Optional expandable PhotoSpan memory modules increase total storage capacity to five megabytes of RAM for up to 160 images in standard mode.

For added flexibility, the EPSON PhotoPC accepts any 37mm video camcorder lens or filter, allowing the options of close-up and wide- angle lenses, among others. Two flash modes, auto and forced, provide flash ranges from 3 to 10 feet as well.

Ease of Use

For ease of use, the EPSON PhotoPC comes with everything users need to get pictures into their computers -- digital camera, serial communications cable and EasyPhoto Mac software by Storm Software Inc. Among its many features, EasyPhoto retrieves images from the camera and provides intuitive image management and enhancement capabilities.

A PhotoPC Plug-In is also provided to allow users to retrieve images directly from the PhotoPC in Adobe Photoshop.

For convenience, an LCD display indicates the number of images taken, number remaining, image quality resolution, flash setting and battery level. To avoid wasted shots, such as a person with his/her eyes closed, the EasyTouch control panel provides ``erase last image'' and also has a ``self-timer'' capability.

``With PhotoPC, we are making it possible for business and home Macintosh users to express themselves with color pictures as easily as they do with text today,'' said Jeff Mandell, director of image capture product management, EPSON.

``PhotoPC marks our continued efforts to bring a range of popular image capture products to the Mac market that leverage the `Photo Quality' power of EPSON Stylus Color printers.''

The EPSON PhotoPC carries a one-year limited warranty and has an MSRP of $599; expected street price of $499. For more information on EPSON and its products, call 800/GO-EPSON, ext. 3000, or stop by its corporate Web site on the Internet at http://www.epson.com, and download a few PhotoPC images from its Digital Photo Gallery.

About EPSON

EPSON offers an extensive array of image capture, image output and portable storage products. For the OEM market, a variety of component and electronic devices is available.

Founded in 1975, Epson America Inc. is an affiliate of Seiko Epson Corp., a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. Epson America has headquarters in Torrance. -0-

NOTE: Brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: EPSON

Nancy Napurski, 310/782-4380

310/782-5179 (fax)

or

Walt & Co.