Eastman Kodak Company

Kodak Introduces New DIGITAL GEM Professional Plug-In

Free Trial version of the DIGITAL GEM Professional Plug-In now available at www.asf.com

Rochester, N.Y., July 25 -- Eastman Kodak Company today introduced the new DIGITAL GEM Professional Plug-In, which enables users to dramatically reduce both visual noise and film grain in their digital images without excessive softening.  This new, professional plug-in has the same basic features and functionality as the award-winning DIGITAL GEM Plug-In, plus it offers 16 bit support, more control and improved results for automatic noise and grain reduction.In conjunction with the release of the new DIGITAL GEM Professional Plug-In, the original DIGITAL GEM Plug-In price has been reduced from $79.95 to $49.95. The recently released DIGITAL GEM Airbrush Professional Plug-In which automatically smoothes and renews skin surfaces without affecting prominent details like hair, eyes, lashes, etc, rounds out  the family of  DIGITAL GEM products.  

The image correction and enhancement plug-ins provide easy and effective methods for automatically improving digital images in ADOBE PHOTOSHOP Software and compatible image editing applications. Other members of the suite include the DIGITAL SHO Plug-In for revealing hidden details in shadows or dark image areas, and the DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In, which adds more control, functionality, and the ability to reveal hidden detail from highlight areas. The DIGITAL ROC Plug-In restores, corrects, and balances image color, while the DIGITAL ROC Professional Plug-In adds advanced features for brightness and contrast control, as well as 16 bit support. These award-winning software products were developed by Kodak’s Austin Development Center (formerly Applied Science Fiction), which has been a leader in automatic image correction and photo restoration applications since the mid 1990s with its revolutionary DIGITAL ICE Technology for film and flatbed scanners which automatically removes surface defects like dust and scratches from scanned film and prints.

The DIGITAL GEM Professional Plug-In now has two unique and powerful algorithms to reduce digital image noise and film grain in both 8-bit and 16-bit color images.  Each algorithm is customized for different types of image noise and grain, and each has separate controls associated with it. The “Noise Suppression” algorithm is an improved version of the algorithm used within the original DIGITAL GEM Plug-In. This algorithm is very aggressive and works better for extreme noise problems. The “Grain Suppression” algorithm is not as aggressive,

but is specifically tuned to reduce grain problems, while preserving more detail within the image.The DIGITAL GEM Professional Plug-In also offers a new "Noise Preview Screen" which enables users to view just the noise or grain that they want to reduce. Adjustments can be made to define how much noise/grain versus how much image detail they want to affect. Users can then toggle back and forth between the Before screen, the After screen, and the Noise Preview screen as they make adjustments in order to see the how the plug-in will improve their image.

The “Clarity” control is for overall image sharpening or softening and a “Blending” control to mix the plug-in effects with the original image are also incorporated into the new product.

“The DIGITAL GEM Professional Plug-In adds many advanced features to give the user more control in managing noise and grain problems.   It should be your last step in image correction and enhancement before you save the image.” said Dan Sullivan, General Manager, Kodak’s Austin Development Center. “Whether you’re a professional or an enthusiastic home user, this new plug-in provides a quick, easy, effective, and affordable solution to make good pictures even better.”

A FREE trial version is available for download at www.asf.com. This fully functional trial version applies digital watermarks to images. To disable the watermark, users may purchase a software key via a secure, e-commerce site for $99.95. Plug-in product CD-ROMs are also available for purchase at www.asf.com.  A special, limited-time offer will be made available to existing DIGITAL GEM Plug-In owners to purchase the new Professional version for only $49.95 (offer good thru 9/30/04).  See www.asf.com for details.

About Eastman Kodak Company and infoimaging

Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, print and view images – for memories, for information, for entertainment.  The company is a major participant in infoimaging, a $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and flat-panel displays), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images).  With sales of $13.3 billion in 2003, the company comprises several businesses: Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services; Graphic Communications Group, offering on-demand color printing and networking publishing systems consisting of three wholly owned subsidiaries:  Encad, Inc., NexPress Solutions, and Kodak Versamark; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Display & Components, which designs and manufactures state-of-the-art organic light-emitting diode displays as well as other specialty materials, and delivers optics and imaging sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Digital & Film Imaging Systems, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services.
KODAK, DIGITAL GEM, DIGITAL ROC, and DIGITAL SHO are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company. All other trade names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
2004