Olympus Europe Press Release 18/03/04

A gold medal-winning digital SLR camera: Olympus E-1 and Olympus E-System receive DIWA Awards.

Hanover, 18 March 2004 - The Digital Imaging Websites Association (DIWA), a new industry organisation that seeks out the best in imaging products, has awarded a gold medal to the Olympus E-1 in the category ‘Professional System Digital Camera’. DIWA also decided to create a supplementary Innovation Award to recognise the Olympus E-System. The organisation encompasses a growing group of independent web-based specialist publications currently covering several European countries and the USA. It harnesses the collective talent and expertise of its members, resulting in industry awards that command unparalleled confidence, both for consumers and the industry.

The Olympus E-1 digital SLR camera and the groundbreaking Olympus E-System are based on the FourThirds standard, which allows smaller and lighter camera bodies and lenses, without compromising lens speed or optical quality. DIWA’s test manager, Kai Thon, said: “Olympus has laid a solid foundation for further development of a unique standard. Despite its compact and light-weight design, the Olympus E-1 complies with professional requirements [...] It is well equipped to give digital images of professional quality.? Commenting on the Olympus E-System, Thon continued, ?The introduction of the Olympus E-System was a bold move by Olympus, but also an ingenious move. Its advantages make the dreams of many professional photographers come true.”

About DIWA
The Digital Imaging Websites Association (DIWA) is a growing group of independent Web-based specialist publications currently covering The Netherlands, the UK, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Slovenia, Turkey and with the recent addition of the mega-site, www.steves-digicams.com, the USA. DIWA member sites are dedicated to the subject of digital imaging. DIWA harnesses the collective talent and expertise of its members, resulting in industry awards that command unparalleled confidence and value, both for consumers and the industry, alike. DIWA awards come in the form of bronze, silver and gold medals. More details can be found on the DIWA homepage: www.diwa-awards.com.

Unique bullet-proof test scoring procedure
DIWA product test awards are exclusively decided through the analysis of multiple test scores from different DIWA testers, testing different samples of the same product. A very detailed and comprehensive standardised scoring procedure is employed, tailored carefully for each category of product. Multiple testing eliminates the chance of an isolated, unrepresentative product sample or test error, or even hidden bias, from affecting the trustworthiness of the overall result.