| FOVEON ENHANCES DIGITAL IMAGES WITH 'X3 FILL LIGHT' New technology easily corrects lighting problems in digital photos Santa
Clara, CA (October 27, 2003) – Foveon, Inc., a technology leader in
high-quality digital image capture, today announced the release of X3
Fill Light, a powerful new technology that dramatically improves the
quality of digital images affected by difficult lighting conditions. The
technology is incorporated as a new software feature in the Sigma Photo
Pro 2.0 application for the Sigma SD10 digital Single-Lens Reflex (SLR)
camera. The X3 Fill Light feature simulates the photographic
method of “dodging and burning” adding extra light to shadow regions,
while preserving highlight detail. It is a powerful method for
simultaneously adjusting overexposed and underexposed areas of a digital
image with a single simple control. The feature is bundled exclusively
with the new Sigma SD10 digital SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) camera, which
uses a Foveon X3 direct image sensor. X3 Fill Light is designed
for images taken under lighting conditions such as indoor-outdoor
scenes, backlit portraits, or scenes with mixed lighting. Use of the X3
Fill Light feature creates natural-looking images that can be faithfully
reproduced in a print. “Challenging lighting conditions, such as
backlighting from a window or subjects in front of snow, can result in
disappointing images. The X3 Fill Light technology allows photographers
to make excellent prints from poorly exposed images which otherwise
would have been discarded due to poor lighting and exposure.” said Eric
Zarakov, Foveon’s vice president of marketing. X3 Fill Light is
implemented as a simple slider interface that allows the user to control
the amount of correction. By increasing the amount of X3 Fill Light,
the brightness and contrast of the shadow regions are increased to add
visibility into areas that have been underexposed. Simultaneously, the
contrast in highlight regions is automatically increased and the
brightness is adjusted to avoid saturation. The Sigma Photo Pro
2.0 software, incorporating Foveon’s X3 Fill Light, is shipping with the
Sigma SD10 digital Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) camera from Sigma
Corporation (www.sigma-photo.co.jp). About Foveon Since its
establishment in 1997, Foveon has focused on developing image-capture
technologies and products for digital cameras. The most recent
innovation by Foveon is the Foveon X3® direct image sensor, the world’s
first direct image sensor that captures red, green and blue light at
every pixel location. Foveon is a privately held company.
Investors include: National Semiconductor Inc., Synaptics Inc., New
Enterprise Associates, and Franklin Templeton Investments. # # # | 
