binuscan presents the Add-On Library
for Kodak DCS 420 and 460 digital cameras
"Like Viagra for the older Kodak chips!" — MacUser
UK, November 1998.
binuscan products gained their reputation by doing miracles for scanners
with the ReCo™ Technology, but hand-held digital cameras are different
in the way that they use a single sensor for all three colors, meaning
that every element of the camera "sees" either Red, Green or
Blue. The missing information has to be interpolated or reinvented. With
a twist: while a document may be scanned again in case of a problem, Press
photographers (and others) have to capture the best possible image in
an instant. Moreover, there is little control over lighing, especially
when compared to a scanner.
To handle this "twist", binuscan engineers applied their years
of experience with CCD scanners to digital cameras and developed OSBLC™
technology (Optimized Statistical Balance of Luminance and Chromaticity).
OSBLC™ analyzes, samples and rebuilds the image based on a global,
statistical analysis. This technology even helps recover lost information
and rebalances poorly exposed shots.
The Add-on Libraries for Kodak DCS 420/460 cameras are a new functionality
of binuscan IPM version 5.0.
How it works:
binuscan's Add-On Library substitutes the color correction function in
the Kodak Acquire plug-in. The users selects the images to be processed
and clicks Copy To Folder (binuscan IPM's TO DO folder). No Balance or
other settings must be applied to the images. The images can also be transfered
directly from the camera's hard disk using a PC card drive or a laptop
computer.
These images are the camera's raw, internal files, i.e. the purest signal
that can be obtained from the camera's sensor.When read by the IPM, these
files will be recognized as raw files from a Kodak digital camera and
a special process will be applied by the Add-On Library, in addition to
the operations performed by the IPM.
The camera's type and serial number are contained in the raw file's header:
this information is used by the Library for pre-processing and regenerating
the missing information that is usually lost by standard conversion methods.
Once the image has been pre-processed by the Library, the IPM handles
it as a regular raw file with the appropriate binuscan module.
Sample images
The binuscan Add-On Library for Kodak cameras shows, quoting MacUser
UK, "extraordinary improvements in the quality of the acquired
images — in particular, the purity of information recovered in the
blue channel. binuscan is also remarkable for rebuilding burnt-out areas
of images while eliminating the noise in the blue channel and minimizing
the color sparkle artefacts in highlights".
Judge for yourself with the images below: they come from the same DCS
420 shot. The image on the left side was acquired using the Kodak Acquire
plug-in (with a "Balance Click" only), while the image on the
right was Copied to Folder and processed by the binuscan Library.
In both images the engineer's face was altered to preserve anonymity —
no other editing or retouching was performed on any of the images.
|
Left: Regular image, opened with conventional software |
Right: Image processed by binuscan Library
|
Sample files available for download:
|
- Blue channel only, regular image
Mac format: regular_blue.sit.bin
(256KB)
PC format: reg_blue.zip
(256KB)
- Shirt detail in regular image
Mac format: regular_shirt.sit.bin
(112KB)
PC format: reg_shirt.zip
(104KB)
|
- Blue channel only, binuscan image
Mac format: binuscan_blue.sit.bin
(320KB)
PC format: binu_blue.zip
(320KB)
- Shirt detail in binuscan image
Mac format: binuscan_shirt.sit.bin
(244KB)
PC format: binu_shirt.zip
(236KB)
|
Demo version:
A little demo is worth a thousand words so, digital photographers:
judge for yourselves! On Tuesday, December 1st, binuscan released
binuscan ColorPro 5.0 and the Kodak Add-on Library. We decided to build
a demo around the Library to allow for unlimited processing of DCS 420
and DCS 460 images. Output samples will be processed with random gray
stripes that are, of course, not visible on the commercial version.
This demo version will work even if you don't have a ColorPro license...
Download it now!
|
