Epson PERFECTION 4870 PRODUCT SUPPORT BULLETIN

EPSON

RODUCT SUPPORT BULLETIN

P

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This bulletin provides additional information for the Perfection 4870 Series scanner and Epson’s
implementation of DIGITAL ICE Technology. It provides such information as: how DIGITAL ICE works, why it
takes longer to scan with DIGITAL ICE, and the functional limitations of DIGITAL ICE and the Epson Scan
software. You will also find inform at ion for the LaserSoft® Imaging Inc. SilverFast® Ai 6 scanner
driver with DIGITAL ICE Technology at the end of this document.

09/01/2004
PSB.2004.09.001
N/A
Perfection 4870 Series Scanner
DIGITAL ICE Technology

Originator:

Authorization:

Total Pages:

TC
6

Description of DIGITAL ICE from Kodak's Austin Development Center, formerly Applied
Science Fiction (For more information on DIGITAL ICE visit their web site at: www.asf.com)

The award-winning DIGITAL ICE Technology automatically removes surface defects, such as dust and
scratches, from a scanned image. DIGITAL ICE technology 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, the patented DIGITAL ICE technology works from within the scanner, during the scanning process, to
provide users with a clear, authentic base image that improves the original image.

Description of DIGITAL ICE Technology (taken from the Perfection 4870 Quick Guide)

The Perfection 4870 scanner includes DIGITAL ICE Technology for both photo prints and film. The DIGITAL
ICE Technology is built into the hardware of the Perfection 4870 Series scanner and works with the DIGITAL
ICE software built into the Epson Scan driver. T he com b inat ion of hardware and software lets you scan,
correct, and restore your photos in one easy step, without any compromise to im age quality. Note:

ICE Hardware and Software are both required for the DIGITAL ICE Technology to function.

DIGITAL

The DIGITAL ICE function can be divided into two types according to what you are scanning. DIGITAL ICE for
Photo Prints is used for photographs, and DIGITAL ICE for Film is used for positive films, color negative films
and monochrome negative films.

With DIGITAL ICE for Photo Prints, your scanner examines your photo for defects on the surface, such as
scratches, tears, cracks, and debr is. It does this by shining a second light source on your photo and storing
information about the shadows these defect s cr eate in a separate data space. It then uses this inf or m ation to
remove the defects from your scanned im age so you don’t have to remove them yourself.

DIGITAL ICE for Film uses a different method to automatically remove scratches, dust, and fingerprints from
your scanned image. During the typical scanning process, information is gathered using r ed, green, and blue
channels. With DIGITAL ICE for Film, an additional infrared channel collects the defect information for
correction. The results are truly amazing. Though it takes a bit longer to scan with DIGITAL ICE Technology,
the results will save you time. The majority of the painsta king work of removing scanned defect s is done for
you. Final touch-ups can still be done in your image-editing software such as Adobe® Photoshop® Elements

2.0 bundled with the scanner.

DIGITAL ICE for Photo Prints function outline

This scanner has two visible lamps for reflection. The lamps are placed symmetrically to provide the same
image when a scan is made twice. One of the propert ies of visible light is that it reflects ir regularly when it
radiates a flaw or debris. For this reason, t he im ages obtained with lamps A and B will have an inconsistent
area if there is a flaw or debris. This function determines the inconsistent area as a flaw or debris and then
automatically removes the unwanted defect.

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PSB.2004.09.001

DIGITAL ICE for Photo Prints function sequence

1. Scanner lights up lamp A and scans the imag e.

2. Scanner lights up lamp B and scans the imag e.

3. Software superimposes the images obt ained from each scan and determines the inconsistent area as a flaw
or debris.

4. Software then removes or fixes the inconsistent area(s) detected in step 3 and produces an image with
minimal defects.

DIGITAL ICE for Film function outline

DIGITAL ICE for Film uses infrared light for its process. Longer in wavelength than visible light, infrared light
has, as one of its properties, t he ability to scan film media transparently. Hence, when a f ilm im age with dust
and/or flaws is scanned using an infrared light, the infrared light is blocked at those points where dust and/or
flaws appear, thereby providing an image with only highly visible dust and/or the f laws. By superimposing the
images scanned with infrared light and visible light , it detects the dust and/or flaws on the document and
automatically removes them using the interpolat ed and corrected image data near the dust and/or flaws in the
image.

DIGITAL ICE for Film function sequence

1. Scanner scans a visible-light image.

2. Scanner scans an infrared-lig ht im age.

3. Software superimposes the images obtained from each light and detects t he flaws and/or the foreign
matter.

4. Software then removes or fixes the flaws and/or foreign matter detect ed in st ep 3 and pr oduces an image
with minimal defects.

DIGITAL ICE processing speed

Scanner processing speeds with DIGITAL ICE are highly variable and depend upon a number of factors such
as:

Host processing system configuration

­USB 1.1/2.0 or FireWire)

Photo or Film type scan settings

-

Number of detected defects

­Here are some examples of scan times with and without DIGITAL ICE technology over a FireWire ® IEEE -

1394 connection.

noted above.

Original photo Resolution

4” x 6” photo 300 10 seconds 1 minute, 40 seconds
35mm slide 2400 1 minute 8 minutes, 22 seconds
35mm negative 2400 1 minute, 30 seconds 10 minutes, 20 seconds

Your scan times may vary, depending on your computer system and connection as

(Color or Grayscale, resolution, 16/8 bit s per pixel, im age size)

(amount of damage or debris on the photo/film)

Scan time
DIGITAL ICE
Technology

(CPU speed, amount of RAM, free HDD space, connect ion t ype

Without

Scan time
ICE Technology

With

DIGITAL

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PSB.2004.09.001

The chart below shows typical scan times for a 4" x 5" positive film im age on an older PC.

High resolution scanning with or without DIGITAL ICE

Scanning high resolution images with or without DIGITAL ICE requires large amounts of hard disk space and
system memory. EPSON Scan will check your scan settings and compare t hem to your HDD space and
system memory before scanning.
following warning messages may appear if your PC does not have enough resour ces for your scan settings or
if you are trying to scan film above 4800 dpi with the DIGITAL ICE feature:

The maximum scan resolution for DIGITAL ICE for Film is 4800 dpi.

The

If you receive either of these messages while trying to scan high resolution images, try the r em edies that the
messages suggest: reduce t he scanning resolution/scale setting or decrease the selected area.

Epson highly
recommends that scans with or wi thout DIGITAL ICE should not exceed the industry standard of
30,000 X 30,000 maximum pixels or approximately 6.25” x 6.25” at 4800 dpi.

With a scan size setting of

6.25” x 6.25” at 4800dpi, (30,000 X 30,000 pixels) and the Image Type set to 48-bit Color (DIGITAL ICE on or
off), the Per fection 4870 Series scanner will generate a 5.02GB file (

Note:

this setting is not supported on any
Mac Operating System). At 24-bit Color a 2.51GB file will be generated; at 16-bit G rayscale a 1.67GB file will
be produced and at 8-bit an 858.3MB file will be created (

Note:

TIFF Image file format must be used for lar ge

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PSB.2004.09.001