Steve's Digicams - Breaking News - Kodak 09/27/2004 Press Release

Kodak Delivers Software, Firmware Upgrades for its Digital SLR Cameras that Enhance Performance, Workflow, Via Faster Processes

Pro Photographers Will Get Upgraded Software in October; New Firmware Available Now

COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 27 — Eastman Kodak Company announced significant refinements to the software and firmware for its KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro SLR cameras that will enhance performance and workflow through faster processes, among other new features.

The upgraded versions of DCS Photo Desk software v4.3 and DCS Camera Manager software as well as a new version of the ERI File Format Module will be posted to Kodak’s website in October. New DCS Camera firmware already is available online. The cameras’ processing architecture enables substantial updates and new feature enhancements without replacing hardware. This pleases photographers who aren’t always eager to trade in their current cameras and relearn on new ones.

New KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Photo Desk Software version 4.3

The new software adds a variety of enrichments to the DCS Pro SLR cameras that make processes faster to improve performance and workflow. The new enhancements include:

• Up to 8 times faster RAW file contact sheet population, which improves workflow significantly by reducing the time to view images on the contact sheet.

• Newly developed algorithms that allow much faster thumbnail view in contact sheet mode. A folder with 100 full resolution RAW files (nearly 1,5GB of data) is now displayed within 10 seconds to 15 seconds on typical computers – and even faster on high-end computers, as shown in an early test of the PC beta version.

• A resizing function for exported images in Tiff or JPEG format that can change width and height in percent, pixels, inches or centimeters. This enables users to interpolate data in a range of 10% to 400% of the original image size. This interpolation feature works on both cropped and full-resolution images and in both single image and batch export modes.

• Korean user interface that increases the number of languages in DCS Photo Desk to 10, which include English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Japanese, simplified and traditional Chinese and Korean – the same set of languages available in DCS Firmware.

New KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Camera Manager Software

Version 4.2 of the manager software also includes enhancements that speed processes substantially. They include:

• Improvements to the image-rendering code, speeding the process measurably.

• Improved IEEE 1394 data handling when using DCS Camera Manager v.4.2 and MAC OS 10.3.5. This provides improved stability and robustness and enables the highest possible transfer speeds with the DCS system.

• Korean user interface that increases to 10 the number of languages in DCS Camera Manager software.

New ERI File Format Module

Version 2.0 offers (PHOTOSHOP plug-in):

New batch-processing support for DCS ERI-JPEG images sent to ADOBE PHOTOSHOP. Multiple images now can be batch processed, improving the workflow significantly. The ERI File Format Module (ERI-FFM) now supports all KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Custom Looks Software loaded on the system.

DCS Firmware Versions

The firmware – version 5.1.5 available since August 13 and version 5.2.1 available since Sept. 20 – provide the following enhancements:

Version 5.1.5:

• Two new in-camera looks – Portrait Greyscale and Product Greyscale were added, increasing the number of pre-selectable in-camera looks to six.

• Improved LED illumination, POCKET WIZARD support (U.S. only), and Longer Exposure processing.

• Weak noise reduction added as an additional choice for both in-camera noise processing and default host processing.

• Addition of Traditional Chinese as the 10th language to the user interface.

New Version 5.2.1:

• Improvements in image-capture reliability in burst mode for the DCS Pro 14n, DCS Pro 14nx, DCS Pro SLR/n and SLR/c models.

• Improved overall performance of the SLR/n, 14nx and 14n with NIKON VR lenses. Through its unique system architecture, the new firmware not only updates the digital parts of the DCS Pro SLR/n, 14n and 14nx system, it also updates the NIKON SLR sub-system with new SLR body firmware that greatly improves the communication between the NIKON VR lens and the NIKON F mount/ NIKON SLR sub-system. This update fixes the issues that some customers reported when shooting VR lenses in the anti-vibration mode.

Kodak said new SDK releases for third-party developers also are being completed to provide bug fixes and performance improvements. The new firmware and software updates are available free and can be downloaded easily from the Kodak Web site. Please visit www.kodak.com/go/DCSsoftware for access to DCS Firmware and DCS host software and visit www.kodak.com/go/kpdp for access to SDK releases.

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 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 .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; Commercial Printing, offering on-demand color printing and networking publishing systems; 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 is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company.