DxO Labs Press Release

DxO Labs New image Processing Technology breaks traditional optics limitations of cameraphones

NEW IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY BREAKS TRADITIONAL OPTICS LIMITATIONS OF CAMERAPHONES

DxO Aperture™ allows cameraphones to collect up to 4 times more light, extending shooting latitude to dim light environments and higher motion scenes

Paris, France, January 25, 2005 - DxO Labs, a software editor focused on image processing research, announces DxO Aperture, a new technology that breaks the limitations of traditional optics design. DxO Aperture delivers ultimate image quality for cameraphones and dramatically extends their shooting latitude.

“Consumers want to take pictures in low light conditions and shoot moving subjects, which cameraphones have been unable to handle due to limited light collection capabilities,” explains Jerome Meniere, CEO of DxO Labs. “By breaking these limits, we believe that DxO Aperture’s revolutionary new approach will dramatically boost cameraphone usage.”

DxO Aperture is based on the award-winning technology of DxO Optics Pro, already adopted worldwide by pros and serious photographers. This technology mathematically reconstructs the convergence of light rays effectively entering the camera module lense. By removing major optical convergence constraints, DxO Aperture allows the design of a new type of camera module optics with much wider light collection: typically from an aperture2 of f/2.8 up to an amazing f/1.4, i.e. physically 4 times more light entering the cameraphone.

This technological breakthrough is the result of a successful scientific collaboration between DxO Labs and leading optics specialists. DxO Lab’s ambition is to explore how digital imaging redefines the laws of optics design for a variety of consumer and professional imaging applications.

“If opening up the aperture to collect more light seems a sensible solution, then image processing becomes absolutely critical to compensate for all the additional optical defects,” explains Frederic Guichard, Chief Scientist at DxO Labs. “DxO Aperture achieves the tough goal of digitally processing the light rays that are being improperly focused by the optics at full aperture, thus effectively collecting up to 4 times more light per pixel on the sensor plane.”

DxO Aperture is one of the 3 components of the DxO Mobile Embedded Edition to be showcased at 3GSM World Congress in Cannes (France). Other DxO Mobile Embedded Edition components are: - DxO Mobile Raw Converter for smarter image generation; and,- DxO Light Engine for correction of all lighting conditions.

DxO Mobile Embedded Edition requires a small memory footprint (below 50kB) and processing time compatible with cameraphone usages.
2 Aperture refers to the size of the opening of the lense that determines the amount of light falling onto the film or sensor: the smaller the f/number, the larger the opening; the larger the f/number, the smaller the opening.

About DxO Labs and its DxO Technology
DxO Labs is a software editor developing image processing technologies and image quality enhancement solutions. We provide reliable, off-the-shelf imaging solutions for companies in the imaging business such as digital camera or cameraphone manufacturers, mobile operators, and printing or photofinishing professionals as well as serious amateurs and professional photographers, and photography journalists and experts.
DxO Labs offers customers highly advanced image processing technologies The company’s patented DxO technology, the DxO Foundations, is the result of state-of-the-art academic mathematical research. The DxO Foundations comprise a set of software components to correct major imaging device defects: Color, Contrast, Blur, various Optics faults, JPEG artifacts, etc.