Digital ICE Technology In UMAX’s PowerLook 270 Plus Film Scanner

February 24, 2002 – Applied Science Fiction, Inc. (ASF), the creator of the award-winning Digital ICE and Digital ICE³ technologies, the leader of automatic photo restoration applications and the inventor of the cutting-edge digital dry film processing system, Digital PIC, announced today at PMA 2002 it has entered into an agreement with UMAX Technologies, Inc., to integrate ASF’s Digital ICE technology into the new UMAX PowerLook 270 Plus film scanner. “We are delighted that UMAX has chosen to incorporate our Digital ICE technology into its PowerLook 270 Plus scanner,” said Dan Sullivan, ASF’s president and CEO. “By adding innovative and highly differentiated applications to their scanner line, UMAX continues to enhance their portfolio of digital imaging products. In addition, more of today’s film scanner users will be able to access our acclaimed technology.”

“We perceive the value of Digital ICE to be high and to provide a critical component to our strongly positioned PowerLook 270 Plus scanner” said Ernst Thürnau, product manager UMAX Systems GmbH. “We anticipate that a significant opportunity will materialize from our relationship with ASF.”

Digital ICE
Applied Science Fiction’s Digital ICE technology automatically removes surface defects such as dust and scratches from a scanned image. The award-winning Digital ICE differentiates itself from software-only solutions because it does not soften, blur or otherwise alter any underlying details or composition of the original image. Instead, ASF's patented Digital ICE technology works from within the scanner during the scanning process to provide the user with a clear, authentic base image. The user does not need to learn or install any additional software to operate Digital ICE.

ASF’s Digital ICE technology is also available in scanners manufactured by Nikon, Minolta, Durst, Kodak, and Benq (formerly Acer). Digital ICE has also rapidly become the de facto standard in digital minilabs, and can be found in several models from Noritsu and Gretag.

About UMAX Technologies, Inc.
UMAX Technologies, Inc. is a technology leader in the design and distribution of a full line of imaging products. The company maintains its leadership position in the imaging market with a broad line of desktop scanners and digital cameras. UMAX is located at 3561 Gateway Boulevard, Fremont, California, 94538, and is on the Web at www.umax.com.

About Applied Science Fiction
Applied Science Fiction develops proprietary technologies for the imaging industry that link traditional photography with the digital age. ASF licenses its branded technologies through Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that provide products for the professional and consumer imaging markets. Additionally, ASF directly distributes Adobe Photoshop compatible plug-ins for automatic image enhancement and correction.

ASF’s product portfolio consists of the Digital ICE³ film scanner suite, Digital ICE, Digital ROC and Digital GEM, the individual components of the suite, Digital ICE and Digital ROC for flatbed scanners, and Digital ROC plug-in for color restoration and Digital SHO plug-in for revealing details of dark image-areas. ASF is also the innovator in digital dry film processing, with its environmentally friendly Digital PIC technology. Digital PIC develops exposed film directly into a high-resolution RGB digital format file in minutes. Digital PIC produces an Extended Range Digital Negative (XRDN) on a CD from which photographic quality images can be easily printed. More information can be found on ASF’s Web site at www.asf.com.

SOURCE Applied Science Fiction, Inc