Imatest LLC is a company that produces image quality testing software, equipment and test charts. Imatest was founded by
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs.
Duties and types of photograp ...
/
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
Norman Koren in
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
in 2004 to develop software for testing digital camera image quality.
Using Imatest software, a variety of image quality factors can be analyzed including
Acutance
In photography, acutance describes a subjective perception of visual acuity that is related to the edge contrast of an image. Acutance is related to the magnitude of the gradient of brightness. Due to the nature of the human visual system, an ...
(image sharpness), color response,
image noise
Image noise is random variation of brightness or color information in images. It can originate in film grain and in the unavoidable shot noise of an ideal photon detector. In digital photography is usually an aspect of electronic noise, produ ...
,
dynamic range
Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' " power") or dynamic may refer to:
Physics and engineering
* Dynamics (mechanics), the study of forces and their effect on motion
Brands and ent ...
, tonal response, lens flare, lens
distortion
In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...
,
lens vignetting, texture response, and
color moiré.
Imatest software products include Imatest Master: for R&D engineers, Imatest IT: for test automation, and Imatest Studio: for photographers.
Imatest test charts include SFRplus, eSFR ISO, SFRreg, Spilled Coins, and 36-patch Dynamic Range targets.
Imatest has been adopted by a wide range of industries that employ embedded digital imaging systems, including mobile imaging (camera phones), automotive, medical imaging, aerospace and
machine vision
Machine vision is the technology and methods used to provide image, imaging-based automation, automatic inspection and analysis for such applications as automatic inspection, process control, and robot guidance, usually in industry. Machine vision ...
, as well as publications/reviews, and academic, cultural, and research institutions. Imatest software is referenced in research, art, and industry.
Imatest is a member of the
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.
M ...
and
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines.
The IEEE has a corporate office ...
contributing and implementing standardized methods of image quality analysis.
Among many other applications, Imatest has been used to adjust images with different amounts of sharpening to a ''standard'' amount of sharpening, and to compare resolution in of those adjusted images.
Imatest also tests
color
Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...
accuracy, tone-scale linearity,
image distortion
In geometric optics, distortion is a deviation from rectilinear projection; a projection in which straight lines in a scene remain straight in an image. It is a form of optical aberration that may be distinguished from other aberrations such a ...
,
light falloff, and printing
gamut
In color reproduction and colorimetry, a gamut, or color gamut , is a convex set containing the colors that can be accurately represented, i.e. reproduced by an output device (e.g. printer or display) or measured by an input device (e.g. cam ...
.
References
{{reflist
External links
Imatest LLCofficial site
Norman Koren Photographyofficial site
Imatest