DIWA today proudly announces the establishment of DIWA Labs, one of the most sophisticated camera testing facilities in the world. This is a fully equipped testing studio with controlled lighting, advanced test targets, experienced testers and the world’s most sophisticated software for unbiased analysis of image quality, DxO Analyzer v. 3.1. The software provides roughly 1 million measurements for each camera, carefully coordinated and summarised by complex mathematical calculations to deliver useful and comparable data of about 20 image quality issues. The lab serves the international DIWA Awards organisation and its extensive lab results are now available on a new website. As a long-standing member of DIWA, PhotographyBLOG will be taking full advantage of what DIWA Labs has to offer.

DIWA Press Release

DIWA Labs Focus On Image Quality Matters

The main purpose of a camera is to shoot images of high quality. At DIWA Labs, this is put to the test in a modern testing facility equipped with DxO Analyzer, the world’s most advanced image quality testing software. The lab serves the international DIWA Awards organisation and its extensive lab results are now available on a new website.

Amsterdam, 3. December, 2007 – DIWA (Digital Imaging Websites Association), a world-wide organisation of collaborating websites within digital imaging, today proudly announces the establishment of DIWA Labs, one of the most sophisticated camera testing facilities in the world.

Testing image quality is a complicated and time consuming task. Artefacts in the optical design, image sensor imperfections and shortcomings in the image processing algorithms are equally important factors in providing high quality images.

Many photo magazines and websites rely solely on the visual judgment made by their technical editor. This is a highly unreliable principle, no matter how experienced and skilled the person is, as the conclusion may involve human error, personal preferences, mental focus and other individual issues.

- Every second of your life is a unique photo opportunity and any occasion is worth capturing, says DIWA Test Manager, Kai Thon. - Shooting digital images is cheap, but the value of priceless memories is often reduced because of poor image quality. Therefore, our mission at DIWA Labs is to focus on image quality, the single most important factor in any camera.

For many years, members of the DIWA Awards organisation have used a sophisticated, unbiased, error-proof and quality-controlled testing procedure for camera quality. This includes a scoreboard where more than 200 camera details are tested and/or evaluated.

To overcome potential variables in image quality test results from individual members, a common test lab was established, the DIWA Labs. It is a fully equipped testing studio with controlled lighting, advanced test targets, experienced testers and the world’s most sophisticated software for unbiased analysis of image quality, DxO Analyzer v. 3.1.

The software provides roughly 1 million measurements for each camera, carefully coordinated and summarised by complex mathematical calculations to deliver useful and comparable data of about 20 image quality issues, depending on camera type. Complete DxO Analyzer image quality test results are available to DIWA members, supporting their evaluation of overall camera performance.

Today, a DIWA Labs website www.diwa-labs.com was officially launched, making the DxO Analyzer test results available also to the public, both as simplified graphs and as complete results in PDF format. Here, you may also find links to the latest reviews made by DIWA members, published in various languages.

About DIWA
The Digital Imaging Websites Association (DIWA) is a fast growing group of independent Web-based specialist publications dedicated to 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 for various product categories.

DIWA 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 standardized scoring procedure is employed, carefully tailored 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.

DIWA Labs
One of the world’s most sophisticated test labs for image quality, equipped with the latest and most modern testing equipment. Professional testers use the latest version of DxO Analyzer, the world’s most advanced software for image quality analysis.

Awards throughout the year
DIWA is also unique in its policy in issuing awards for deserving products throughout the year, culminating in annual best of the year Platinum medal awards in all product categories.

DIWA Awards members
• Czech Republic: www.fotoaparat.cz
• Germany: www.digitalkamera.de
• Hungary: www.fotovilag.hu
• Netherlands: www.letsgodigital.org
• Norway: www.digit.no  
• Poland: www.fotopolis.pl
• Slovenia: www.e-fotografija.com
• Spain: www.nuevafotografia.com
• United Kingdom: www.photographyblog.com

DIWA Awards multi-lingual Web site
At the heart of the DIWA organisation is its multi-lingual Web site, www.diwa-awards.com, where you can find links to the latest reviews published by DIWA member publications. The site also archives DIWA awards and is designed to aid consumers in their choice of imaging products. Unbiased image quality test results provided by DxO Analyzer are available at www.diwa-labs.com.

For further information about DIWA please visit our Web site - http://www.diwa-awards.com - or email us at [email protected]

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