Applied Science Fiction Inc., a scanning
technology company founded in 1995, has introduced photo restoration solutions
in the print industry that have earned them accolades as hot technology products
from various organizations. The company’s Digital ICE3 technology
received a Cool2 award for Best Imaging Software of 2001 from PEI Magazine. ASF’s
Digital PIC technology was voted the Top New Technology for 2001 by the readers
of Photographic Processing Magazine. In addition, the Nikon Super Coolscan 4000
ED, which incorporates ASF’s Digital ICE3 technology, was also
selected as the best in the Film Scanner category by Photographic Processing
Magazine. KPMG L.L.P. also honored ASF with the Industry Leadership award at
their sixth annual High Tech Awards ceremony last October.
The company researches, develops, markets and
licenses their line of products to original equipment manufacturers in the image
scanning, photo-quality printing and film processing industries such as Acer,
Minolta and Nikon.
Dust and scratches are removed with
Digital ICE3. This process would normally
have taken hours to restore using powerful software.
Photo courtesy of Applied Science
Fiction
Photographic prints are susceptible to image
defects caused by routine handling and there are many factors that contribute to
the deterioration of film. Ambient storage conditions also impact the state of a
print, while light, humidity and temperature affect the unstable dye layers,
which are susceptible to leakage. The capture of the image on the photographic
film can result in overexposed or underexposed prints. Upon scanning, defects
like scratches, dust, over and under exposure, and color fading are all captured
in digital form.
There are other digital image correction tools
available in addition to ASF’s software to repair such defects, however, these
applications often require significant training and can be very labor-intensive.
A team of photographers, scientists and engineers
at Applied Science Fiction developed technology to automatically and
economically restore dirty, damaged or faded images without the need for
specialized training or additional hardware. This technology is incorporated
into flatbed scanners to work automatically and transparently during the
scanning process.
Digital ICE removes surface defects automatically
without altering the underlying image by obtaining information about the nature
and location of surface and near surface defects.
When a photo is scanned, Digital ICE accurately
identifies surface defects on scanned film or photographs and automatically
removes them, producing a clean digitized image.
Digital ROC is an application that is adjusted to
the characteristics of a specific scanner. The software automatically and
accurately rebuilds lost color values in film or photographs, recreating instant
color-corrected digitized images.
Digital ROC identifies clues in the original
imaging medium to correct the color. Using a complex set of proprietary
algorithms, Digital ROC reconstructs the actual colors from the original color
data and presents a restored or enhanced image.
Digital GEM is based on complex proprietary
algorithms used during the data collection portion of the scanning process. It
reads the grain details in the film and extracts all the vital data related to
image quality, color and sharpness similar to the way Digital ICE corrects
surface defects. The result is a sharp, clear image without a grainy appearance.
Film grain results from the silver halide
crystals that compose the photographic emulsion and is the byproduct of film’s
light-sensitive emulsion. The graininess of film refers to a subjective measure
of the visible clumping of the grains in the emulsion. Film grain is similar to
the resolution of a computer monitor — the lower the resolution, the larger
the pixels and the less image detail is provided.
The new Digital SHO plug-in, introduced at
Seybold Seminars conference in New York City this past February, automatically
reveals details hidden in shadows commonly caused by exposure problems such as
backlit subjects, uneven flash illumination and partial shade. The Digital SHO
plug-in proprietary algorithms analyze and adjust the gradations of darker image
areas to optimally reveal hidden details.
Digital ICE and Digital ROC are available for
flatbed and film scanners, while Digital GEM is only available for film
scanners. Digital SHO works on any image digitized by a flatbed or film scanner,
taken by a digital camera or stored on CDs.
ASF incorporates all three film restoration
technologies into a suite called Digital ICE3. Film scanners
integrated with this trio provide professionals with simple and automatic image
restoration. Users can perform image restoration in the time it takes to scan
the photo. The latest implementation is featured in Minolta Corp.’s new Dimage
Scan Multi Pro film scanner.
Minolta’s new multi-format, high-speed, dual-
interface compact film scanner features high-resolution 4,800-dot per inch scans
with 16-bit analog-to-digital conversion and a 4.8 dynamic range transmis-sive
bit depth, along with precision auto-focus and color matching systems, that
preserve subtle tones and details.
ASF’s Digital ICE3 technology
eliminates scratches on photographic film or slides, restores faded colors and
improves a photograph’s overall appearance by minimizing grain, quickly and
automatically, during the scanning process, saving hours of manual work.
The Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro is designed to
scan 35 mm and medium-format (120/220) films, while an optional multi-format
setting enables scanning of transparent electronic microscope film, microfilm in
aperture cards, 16 mm film, Minox, and 24-by-65 mm panoramic format.
The scanner’s driver software controls
professional scanning with its graphical user interface. It allows a variety of
flexible image corrections, while keeping the quality of the scanned images
high.
“Minolta is putting the power of film scanning
in everyone’s hands,” said Jon Sienkiewicz, vice president, digital imaging
products at Minolta Corp.’s consumer products group.
