'Hot folder' application delivers new features, including processing pdf-embedded images

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (31 January, 2008) - Athentech Technologies Inc., developer of the Perfectly Clear® automatic image-correction technology, is previewing its new Perfectly Clear® Lab v3.0 - a powerful, Vista-compliant "hot folder" application for labs, pre-press houses and other producers of photo books and other increasingly popular consumer photo keepsakes - at the PMA trade show in Las Vegas.

Visitors to PMA, 31 Jan. - 2 Feb. at the Las Vegas Convention Center, can find out more about what is quickly becoming the industry standard for automatic image correction in the Athentech Technology Suite - X141. Information also is available online at: www.athentech.com. (A complete set of Athentech's PMA '08 press materials is available on PMA's Virtual Press Office web site.)

Perfectly Clear® Lab v3.0 is a "hot folder" software application that enables fully automatic, remarkably fast, dramatically robust image correction that meets the exacting demands of today's photo labs, pre-press houses, commercial display fabricators and other commercial imagers who need to respond to the dramatic growth digital image-based photo products. Perfectly Clear® Lab v3.0 delivers several new, highly sought-after capabilities, including:

* the ability to access and process images embedded in pdf documents (a real asset for correcting photo books and similar consumer photo keepsakes)
* added support for TIFF files
* batch resizing of photos - either pre-process or post-process
* automatic logging and tracking of images
* simpler user configuration that locates all folders in a single folder on the desktop
* full operability with Microsoft's new Vista OS

"With this new iteration, we've made our multi-patented Perfectly Clear® solution for the lab more versatile and more valuable, with the ability to process more images in more types of formats for improved workflow and much greater efficiency," Athentech President Brad Malcolm said. "Perfectly Clear® is the fastest, most efficient and effective automatic image-correction application for visually pleasing, error-free, color-accurate pictures - and now it's an even more useful tool for producing all the new consumer photo keepsakes, such as photo books and calendars, which helps to increase customer satisfaction and reduce operational challenges."

Many professional users of Perfectly Clear® image-correction technology have been paying Athentech high compliments:
"We've been using Perfectly Clear® for many of our nationwide ScanMyPhotos.com orders and at our retail photo centers with great success," said Mitch Goldstone, President and CEO of ScanMyPhotos.com. "The quality of Perfectly Clear® is outstanding. Since we're preserving our customers' memories by scanning their photos, it's important that the correction we use is realistic and accurate. Perfectly Clear® achieves this. Best of all, it all happens automatically and at very high speeds."

"The first time we tested Perfectly Clear® for our lab I was absolutely amazed," said Ric Schaaf, owner of Cashman Photo in Las Vegas. "What would normally would take 35 man-hours, Perfectly Clear® for Labs accomplished in two hours - automatically. Time savings like this translate into big dollar savings for my bottom line."

In addition to its integration into a variety of imaging software products, online fulfillment sites, photo labs and editing systems, at last count Perfectly Clear® was installed in more than 45,000 retail photo kiosks and several thousand minilabs in more than 30 countries, according to Athentech.

How Perfectly Clear® Works
Because cameras have a single aperture, images captured are commonly improperly exposed. Some industry data suggest that almost 80 percent of images captured are underexposed, and 15 percent exhibit red-eye problems. Perfectly Clear® automatically corrects underexposures, removes abnormal tints, and provides depth (contrast), clarity (sharpening), color vibrancy and skin tone correction. It integrates three leading proprietary third-party technologies: Full Spectrum RGB by Tribeca Imaging, Noiseware for noise removal by Imagenomic, and FotoNation for red-eye removal.

Perfectly Clear®, invented for the digital world, is modeled on the physics principles of light. Unlike traditional analogue-based approaches that can actually damage true color, create artifacts and cause clipping, Perfectly Clear® is the only solution that operates like the human eye - optimizing and correcting the light in each and every pixel, perfectly preserving the photographer's memory. The result is stunning pictures regardless of how they are viewed - electronically or as prints. In less than one second, Perfectly Clear® for photographic applications optimizes the lighting in each pixel while maintaining true color with zero clipping and no artifacts. Perfectly Clear® won the 2005 DIMA Award for Innovative Digital Product of the Year.

Perfectly Clear®'s Real Color correction differentiates it from all other image-correction technologies, according to the company. It is the only correction technology that accurately corrects photos to perfectly preserve the customer's memories, Malcolm said. Digital capture devices, he continued, currently are incapable of reproducing the full spectrum of colors that the eye sees. "Perfectly Clear® optimizes the exposure for every pixel in the image, abiding by the physics principles of light, ensuring that customers' precious photo memories are accurately corrected and perfectly preserved forever," he said.

About Athentech® Technologies Inc.
Athentech® Technologies Inc. is an entrepreneurial, privately held company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, involved in three different industries and markets: digital imaging, signal processing (for medical applications) and earth sciences. For more information, please visit: www.athentech.com.