Athentech Technologies Introduces New Lab Version Of Perfectly Clear Image Correction Technology

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Athentech Technologies Introduces New Lab Version Of Perfectly Clear Image Correction Technology

September 26, 2006

Origin Of News Release: Cologne, Germany
Original Release Date: September 26, 2006
Product Category: Commercial Imaging Labs
Model Name: Perfectly Clear Lab v2.0
MSRP: Unknown
Availability: Now

Athentech® Technologies Inc. ("Athentech") today introduced new Perfectly Clear Lab v2.0, a robust hot-folder software application designed for photo labs, digital imaging service bureaus and commercial imagers, at the photokina conference and trade show here. Athentech's new lab version of Perfectly Clear is based on the same ground-breaking imaging algorithms licensed to digital imaging manufacturers and software firms, the company said.

Perfectly Clear Lab v2.0 – available today – undertakes a very broad range of image-correction tasks that become necessary due to less-than-perfect results caused by the camera or the camera user, Athentech President Brad Malcolm said. These tasks are highly effective to satisfy the exacting standards of photo labs, pre-press houses, commercial display fabricators and other professional digital imaging enterprises for both image quality and efficient workflow. The new version features patented capabilities not found in the original version, Malcolm said – specifically, automatic red-eye detection and removal, noise removal, full color spectrum and a special portrait setting.

"Perfectly Clear Lab v2.0 delivers two critical advantages to the photo lab or commercial imager," Malcolm said. "By automatically and very quickly correcting the wide range of digital image files that labs receive from their customers every day, Perfectly Clear dramatically increases productivity, which saves time and money for the user. Second, it produces the highest-quality images that demonstrably raise customer satisfaction and increase sales. In the same way that our licensed version of Perfectly Clear® has revolutionized literally thousands of kiosks and millions of software applications worldwide, our new lab version is having a revolutionary impact on the imaging businesses that employ it."

Powered by imaging technology covered by more than 10 patents and patents pending, Perfectly Clear Lab v2.0, Malcolm said, "is the only technology to achieve Real Color Photography – perfectly preserving the customer's memories." Its "soft" portrait setting smoothes blemishes and creates a more diffused look that is preferred for wedding and portrait images. A vivid color setting provides colors with more "punch."

Perfectly Clear Lab v2.0's full-spectrum color correction differentiates it from all other image-correction technologies. Digital capture devices currently are incapable of reproducing the full spectrum of colors that the eye sees, Malcolm explained. Invented by Tribeca Labs, an algorithm integrated into Perfectly Clear processes the "untrue" colors that are captured and "maps" them back to the real colors defined by the eye.

Other key image-correction functions include:

Perfect Exposure, correcting and optimizing the exposure for every pixel in the image

color vibrancy restoration

abnormal tint removal

skin tone correction

award-winning noise correction technology developed by Imagenomic

red-eye removal, developed by FotoNation and licensed to leading digital camera makers

focus sharpening, which creates crisp, artifact-free images

depth/contrast correction, originally patented for medical applications but highly beneficial for photographic images as well All of these functions are performed automatically and very quickly, Malcolm said, with no interruption or additional system or workflow requirements. Perfectly Clear is available from Athentech as an electronic download. Pricing information can be obtained directly from the company.

Many of the world's largest imaging companies and leading kiosk software and system manufacturers, who provide both private label units and systems for third parties, have consistently reported an increase in prints made at retail when pictures are corrected with Perfectly Clear. A recent retail survey recorded an astounding 300 percent increase in the average number of Perfectly Clear prints made, compared to similar conditions – time of year, location, pricing, etc. – but without using Athentech's correction technology.

"This test demonstrated the competitive advantage that Perfectly Clear provides the retailer," Malcolm said. "That same level of effectiveness and satisfaction – as well as the ability to `save' many more images that otherwise would have been lost or unusable – is now available to all labs and commercial imagers."

About Perfectly Clear

Because light passes through a single aperture in cameras, captured images are not uniformly exposed. Some industry data suggest that almost 80 percent of all images taken are at least partially underexposed, and 15 percent exhibit red-eye problems. Perfectly Clear automatically corrects underexposures, removes abnormal tints, provides depth, clarity, vibrancy and color correction, and integrates a pair of leading proprietary applications: Noiseware for digital noise removal and FotoNation for red-eye removal.

Perfectly Clear, invented for the digital world, is modeled on the physics principles of light. Unlike traditional analogue-based approaches that can actually damage true color, create artifacts and cause clipping, Perfectly Clear is the only solution that operates like the human eye – optimizing and correcting the light in each and every pixel, perfectly preserving the photographer's memory. The result is stunning pictures regardless of how they are viewed – electronically or as prints. In less than one second, Perfectly Clear for photographic applications optimizes the lighting in each pixel while maintaining true color with zero clipping and no artifacts. Perfectly Clear won the 2005 DIMA Award for Innovative Digital Product of the Year.

About Athentech Technologies Inc.

Athentech Technologies Inc. is an entrepreneurial, privately held company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, involved in three different industries and markets: digital imaging, signal processing (for medical applications) and earth sciences. Athentech Imaging, a division of Athentech Technologies Inc, licenses its Perfectly Clear image correction software to companies for inclusion in their still and motion/video cameras, x-ray and medical imaging machines, satellites, telescopes, scanners, editing equipment and image manipulation software. It is now in the process of making Perfectly Clear available to consumers, professional photographers and commercial photo imaging businesses.

For more information, please visit: http://www.athentech.com.