ABSTRACT

Color digital cameras are used by a growing number of consumers and professional photographers. These cameras use one or more charge-coupled-device or CMOS image sensors to capture color records of the scene, and they digitally process the color records to produce color image files. The professional cameras store unrendered image data, which later will be processed using proprietary software running on a separate host computer to complete the camera image processing. The capabilities and performance of a digital camera depend on both the camera’s hardware architecture and its image processing algorithms, often provided by firmware. Depending on the camera design, the camera image processing may be performed almost entirely in the camera application-specific integrated circuit or, alternatively, by a microprocessor incorporating a digital signal processor designed to provide rapid image processing. The tone scale/color reproduction process also must account for the fact that the dynamic range of a rendered image usually is substantially less than that of an original scene.