DxO HDR plug-in includes automatic alignment to merge images effortlessly and efficient ghost removal technology; leverages unsurpassed DxO Optics Pro RAW conversion and automatic optical faults corrections

October 20, 2010 – DxO Labs today announced that a DxO HDR plug-in for DxO Optics Pro 6.5 will be released in November. The new DxO HDR plug-in will enable photographers to merge several RAW shots effortlessly to either capture a greater dynamic range in the scene or to reduce noise beyond the camera's sensor capability.

High quality HDR to capture a greater dynamic range from multiple RAW shots
Even with high-end digital cameras, the sensor dynamic range limits make the capture of extremely contrasted scenes difficult for photographers who wish to keep both highlight details and opened shadows in their pictures. With the new DxO HDR plug-in for DxO Optics Pro, photographers can overcome this limitation by merging bracketed RAW images into a single image file capable of handling a wider dynamic range than a regular RAW image. Specially designed multi-shot HDR Presets will let photographers render this new image effortlessly with a broad range of intents from the most natural looking image to extreme creative styles.

DxO Optics Pro's best of breed RAW conversion and optics correction, ensures optimal image quality.
"The DxO HDR plug-in also provides automatic image alignment, needed to compensate for camera motion when shooting hand-held, and ghost removal, needed to account for moving objects within the scene." said Cyrille de La Chesnais, Director Sales & Marketing for DxO Labs' Photography business. "Photographers can even decide which instance of the moving object they want to keep in the final image."

Noise reduction beyond sensor capability, from multiple RAW shots
In situations such as handheld telephoto or low light where low shutter speed is not an option, taking a burst of RAW images at the same exposure and merging them together with the DxO HDR plug-in proves to be an extremely powerful way to reduce noise beyond the sensor's intrinsic capability.

"DxO Optics Pro's best of breed noise removal applied on a merged photo, whose noise has already been significantly reduced by the virtue of merging photos, produces an image of outstanding quality," said La Chesnais.

Availability and pricing
DxO HDR plug-in for DxO Optics Pro 6.5 for Windows and Mac is scheduled for release late November 2010 from DxO Labs' e-store. Final pricing is not available.

System Requirements

• 2 GB RAM minimum

• 400 MB available disk space

• To process RAW images larger than 20 MPixels, a 64-bit operating system with 4 GB RAM is strongly recommended

Windows:

• Intel Pentium 4 processor or AMD equivalent (Pentium Dual Core or higher or equivalent recommended)

• Microsoft Windows XP 32 or 64 bits, Windows Vista 32 or 64 bits, Windows 7 32 or 64 bits

Macintosh:

• Intel-Mac

• Mac OS X.5 or X.6

About DxO Optics Pro
DxO Optics Pro is an award-winning automatic image enhancement software for enthusiastic amateur and professional photographers shooting in JPEG or RAW format. World renowned for its unique automated optical corrections (distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberrations, lens softness), and its state-of-the-art RAW conversion, it addresses the entire spectrum of image quality issues, including noise removal, exposure optimization, keystoning correction, color control and dust removal. Its fully-customizable and easy-to-use interface makes it an unrivalled productivity tool, able to process hundreds of images in just a few clicks of a mouse.

For more information, visit DxO Labs' website at www.dxo.com.

About DxO Labs
DxO Labs offers products and solutions that provide excellence in digital imaging. In addition to its DxO Optics Pro and DxO FilmPack products for Mac and Windows, aimed at serious and demanding photographers, the company also licenses patented intellectual property serving the entire digital imaging chain:

• Embedded software and silicon architectures for real-time still and video image processing, for consumer electronics OEM/ODM (such as digital camera and camera phone vendors);

• Image quality evaluation and measurement tools, for imaging component suppliers (camera module manufacturers, sensor vendors, and processor vendors) as well as photography journalists and imaging experts.

For more information, visit DxO Labs' website at www.dxo.com.

DxO is a registered trademark of DxO Labs. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. DxO Labs disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own