Leading Digital Camera Manufacturers Endorse New Imaging Standard To Bring Consumers True Photographic Output

Bangkok--May 25--Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Leading Digital Camera Manufacturers Endorse New Imaging Standard To Bring Consumers True Photographic Output Breakthrough PRINT Image Matching technology ensures enabled digital cameras and photo printers work together to produce consistent photographic prints from capture to output. Leading digital still camera manufacturers - Sony Corporation, Casio Computer Co Ltd, Seiko EPSON Corporation, Kyocera Corporation, Konica Corporation, Minolta Co Ltd, Olympus Optical Co Ltd, Ricoh Company Ltd, Toshiba Corporation, Asahi Optical Co Ltd, Sanyo Electric Co Ltd, and Nikon Corporation - have announced a joint initiative to establish a new image matching technology as a standard feature in their future digital camera offerings. The new standard, PRINT Image Matching, will offer digital photographers a complete image matching technology from image capture to digital print. In addition, EPSON will include PRINT Image Matching in all future digital photo printers. PRINT Image Matching: Tomorrow's Standard in Digital Photography Various estimates from manufacturers and analysts place the global sales growth of digital cameras at between 60-70% in 2001. Decreasing prices and increasing Internet usage will drive this growth. With a growing number of people using their home printers to reproduce their digital camera images, there is a great demand for an easy way to optimise digital camera prints. Until now, it has been difficult to accurately reproduce digital camera images which are faithful to the original intentions of the digital camera user. Though digital cameras can capture a wider range of colours, printers have not been able to access the data because the images were optimised for the limited sRGB colour space of the typical computer monitor. In addition, other critical image specific parameters such as gamma settings, contrast, sharpness, brightness, saturation, shadow point, highlight point and colour balance applied to the image via the digital camera were lost in this process and could not be reflected in the final printout. "PRINT Image Matching Technology removes the final hurdle for the average user who is hesitant in making the transition to digital photography," said Mr Kazunori Aoki, Assistant Director of IT Regional Business Division, EPSON Singapore Pte Ltd. "With this breakthrough, consumers can now snap and print images directly to their PRINT Image Matching-enabled photo printers and be assured of consistent image characteristics with the original stored on their digital still cameras. PRINT Image Matching is the imaging breakthrough the digital photography industry has been waiting for to finally legitimise its use as a true alternative to conventional photography." PRINT Image Matching technology effectively puts the digital photographer in control of their printer, bypassing the computer's inherent limitations to optimise their digital photographic prints as described by the critical image specific parameters set on their digital cameras when the image was captured. These parameters are stored in the digital cameras as print commands in an EXIF header-a JPEG header that can contain camera-related information. Even the individual digital camera subject programmes such as macro and portrait settings can be stored in this header and be reproduced accurately without further image manipulation, retouching or user intervention. The print commands for photos taken in macro mode may emphasize sharpness and clarity, for example, while those taken in portrait mode could highlight soft focusing and subtle flesh tones. With PRINT Image Matching technology, digital camera manufacturers can integrate more specific print-relevant commands and data in the EXIF header to ensure optimal output every time, anytime. "PRINT Image Matching technology provides a printing solution between digital cameras and printers, providing customers with optimum image output results," said Michelle Lampmann, market research analyst, InfoTrends Research Group, Boston, Mass. "InfoTrends' digital camera user studies show that image quality and print quality are the two most important digital camera features. With the photographers intentions being captured correctly in the printed image, Epson's PRINT Image Matching technology will contribute to meeting customers' expectations for quality digital photo printing." About EPSON EPSON is the world's leader in digital imaging solutions as well as printer manufacturer. EPSON Singapore Pte Ltd is the South Asia sales and marketing headquarters for Seiko Epson Corporation. The company markets and supports EPSON printers, scanners, LCD multimedia projectors, digital cameras and other high-technology products in more than 10 countries in South Asia and the Indian subcontinent Editorial Contact: EPSON SINGAPORE PTE LTD Mr. Siew Jin Kiat Manager, Product Marketing - Consumer (65) 337 7911 [email protected] End. -AN-

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