When Did It All Change

For over fifty years I have been a dancer, choreographer and teacher. I don’t feel my age until I talk to many younger dancers. My dance career started after the Great Depression and World War II. Because of my late start as a dancer, I was taking as many dance classes as my money would dictate. Dancers at the time made their love of dance a top priority; they didn’t let other activities deter them from class. When did it all change? Read more

PMA 08: FOTONATION FASTTRACKTM HARDWARE ACCELERATED FACE TRACKING TECHNOLOGY ADOPTED IN NEXT GENERATION FUJITSU MILBEAUTTM CHIPS

Hardware Integration of Face Tracking Enables Broader Adoption for Digital Camera & Camera Phones.

Burlingame, CA, January 24, 2008— FotoNation (www.fotonation.com), a world-leading embedded imaging solutions company for the digital photography industry, announced today that FastTrack, its face tracking hardware accelerated image processing technology, is being integrated into the next generation Milbeaut^™ chips of Fujitsu Limited.   These chips are designed for digital cameras and camera phones to provide manufacturers with advanced image processing solutions, relieving them of the need to develop their own software.

 

FastTrack is an IP-CORE implementation of FotoNation’s FaceTracker technology which identifies and tracks in real time more than ten human faces simultaneously. FastTrack enables automatic adjustment of focus, exposure, and color balance for optimal image results.  The FastTrack  IP-CORE provides a tight integration of FotoNation’s face tracking technology within the hardware imaging chipset to increase detection speeds and improve accuracy while reducing resource requirements from the main camera processor.

 

Currently widely implemented in digital cameras and camera phones, the next version of Fujitsu’s Milbeaut chip will allow digital camera customers of Fujitsu to take advantage of FotoNation’s high performance face tracking capabilities to optimize the camera’s exposure, focus and color balance settings.  Fujitsu’s Milbeaut line of advanced image processing LSI chips combines functions necessary for image processing in digital cameras and camera phones, such as image compression and noise reduction, in a single chip.

 

FotoNation has achieved high industry acclaim for its FaceTracker Technology, including the 2007 DIMA Innovation Award. 

 

A live demonstration of this latest technology is being shown at FotoNation’s Suite at PMA.

 

About FotoNation

 

FotoNation (www.fotonation.com) is a world-leading independent provider of embedded imaging solutions for the digital camera and mobile phone industry providing products and technology to improve image quality and user’s experience in digital photography.  The company’s extensive portfolio of patented innovations include in-camera corrections for red-eye, dust spot removal, chromatic aberration correction, face tracking, smile detection and other face based technologies.  Clients include Canon, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Microsoft, Minton, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sony, among others.  

 

At least two of every three digital cameras sold today contain FotoNation’s embedded Technology.

 

FotoNation® is a registered trademark of FotoNation Inc. FaceTracker and FastTrack are trademarks of FotoNation, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners

 

- Via PressRoom 2.0 [ http://pressroom2.com/ ] [Inbox MM]

PMA 08 Is Almost Here – Are You Ready?
The memories market is changing at an incredible speed, and PMA 08 is where business owners and their teams get ready. Are you ready for the latest innovations, emerging trends and the next chapter of photo imaging?

Loads of announcements and updates are being made at the PMA 08 Blog, but here’s a guide to everything you need to know:

Trade Show
 

■

Read more

PMA 08: Have An “Out of the Box” Experience, Too

Two Chances To Explore The Only Bundled Personalized Training Program.

X-Rite displays its latest commitment to customer service at PMA with the revolutionary i1Defined. This two-tiered approach to personalized color training is unlike anything the industry has experienced before.
View the video: http://cache.xrite.com/Downloads/Video/pct.html.

PMA 08: Nik Software Showcases New Color Efex Pro 3.0

The leading digital photographic filters for Photoshop® adds powerful selective control, film styles and much more in its latest release. Nik Software, Inc. showcases today the latest upgrade to its award-winning Color Efex Pro collection of photographic filters for Adobe® Photoshop® and Photoshop Elements. Read more

PMA 08: Lucidiom EQ Data Shows One-Hour Photo Books Hit a Home Run for Holiday Gift-Giving

Retailers Made More than 80,000 Photo Books through Lucidiom EQ-9800 for the Holidays. Lucidiom announced that consumers have made 80,000 one-hour photo books on the EQ-9800 during November and December 2007 through Lucidiom’s nationwide network of photofinishing retailers, with some of its retail clients calling the photo book the winning product for this past holiday season. Read more

PMA 08: Do Inside the Imaging Industry with I3A at PMA on Feb. 1

The International Imaging Industry Association (I3A; http://www.i3a.org), the leading global association for the imaging industry, is offering attendees at this year’s PMA conference (January 31-February 2 in Las Vegas) several paths to the inside of the imaging industry. Read more

PMA 08: fotocommunity Worldwide Online Photo Meeting Place Unveils LinkedIn Like Features as US Expansion Kicks Off at PMA

Europe’s Leading & Largest Photography Community Site Showcases Deepened US Commitment With Enhanced Innovative LinkedIn Like Social Networking Technology.

Read more

FOTONATION ANNOUNCES “CHROMAFIX”

New Solution for Digital Cameras & Camera Phones to be Demonstrated at PMA 2008. FotoNation (www.fotonation.com), a leading provider of embedded imaging solutions for the imaging industry, announced today “ChromaFixTM” new one-step chromatic aberration correction technology. ChromaFix brings advanced image processing technology normally found in much higher-priced cameras to low-cost low-power devices, including consumer digital cameras and camera phones. ChromaFix is offered in several configurations: a software-only solution or coupled with FotoNation’s IP-Core hardware acceleration technology to achieve maximum performance. Higher-end digital cameras often include sophisticated glass lenses that minimize aberrations. Low-cost consumer-level cameras and camera phones have different price/performance dynamics, resulting in lower quality optics through the use of plastic lenses. With ChromaFix, consumers can get high-quality results at a low cost. An example of chromatic aberrations is the occurrence of purple fringes around high contrast edges in a photo, which is the result of a misalignment of the red, green and blue wave-lengths of light during focusing. The prevalence of purple fringing is dependent on the design of the optical system in the camera, including: optical light path, lens materials, aperture of the exposure and the design of the image processing system executed during image capture. The purple color results from the fact that most lens designs are optimized to focus based on the green wave lengths of light. The blue and red wavelengths of light fall out of focus and overlap, producing a purple color due to the additive properties of color perception (blue and red result in purple). “We see tremendous potential in using digital technologies to correct optical aberrations that are currently present in consumer-level digital capture devices. FotoNation’s ChromaFix technology has been designed to leverage our expertise in bringing advanced image processing to low-power consumer devices,” said Eran Steinberg, CEO of FotoNation, Inc. A demonstration is available at PMA. For more information, see www.fotonation.com.

About FotoNation

FotoNation (www.fotonation.com) is a world-leading independent provider of embedded imaging solutions for the digital camera and mobile phone industry providing products and technology to improve image quality and user’s experience in digital photography. The company’s extensive portfolio of patented innovations include in-camera corrections for red-eye, dust spot removal, chromatic aberration correction, face tracking, smile detection and other face based technologies. Clients include Canon, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Microsoft, Minton, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sony, among others. At least two of every three digital cameras sold today contain FotoNation’s embedded Technology.

FotoNation® is a registered trademark of FotoNation Inc. ChromaFix is a trademarks of FotoNation, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

 

 

VistaQuest to Market AgfaPhoto Brand to North America

AgfaPhoto digital cameras and digital video products will be added to the VistaQuest (Booth C210) product line presented at the 2008 PMA in Las Vegas, January 31-February 2, 2008. The distribution contract between VistaQuest and AgfaPhoto’s digital still and video manufacturer and license holder, plawa-feinwerktechnik GmbH & Co. KG of Germany, permits distribution in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Read more