KODAK I.LAB System Evolution

The KODAK I.LAB digital photofinishing system allows the production of silver halide prints from images originating from both film and digital still cameras. This flexibility allows not only the leveraging of complex and highly optimized wholesale photofinishing workflows to produce high-quality digital prints at low cost but provides a bridge for wholesale laboratories as customers transition from film to digital capture. This paper describes the image processing technologies used in the KODAK I.LAB system and demonstrates the aggregate effect upon delivered image quality. The digital pathway allows consumer preferences and system limitations to be addressed in a way unrealizable in conventional optical systems. Algorithms have been designed and optimized to provide improvements to color, tone, grain (or noise), sharpness, exposure, as well as the detection and removal of redeye.