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Pinnacle Offers Free Updates To Unified's HDR Suite
17 September 2015
Following its acquisition of Unified Color Technologies, Pinnacle Imaging Systems announced it would offer free updates to the HDR suite. The suite includes the entry-level HDR Express, the pro-level HDR Expose and the Photoshop plug-in 32 Float.
Pinnacle said it would continue to develop the suite and would also begin licensing the proprietary HDR technology "to hardware manufacturers and designers looking to take advantage of the next generation of real-time HDR video capture."
In A Preliminary Test of HDR Expose 3.1, we noted in a comparison with Lightroom that HDR Expose delivered more accurate color. We especially liked working in 32-bit mode on some of our images.
UPDATES
New in the HDR Expose 3.2 and HDR Express 3.1 updates:
- Improved alignment and deghosting algorithms make it easier to process handheld HDR brackets
- New noise reduction technology automatically analyses and reduces noise in source images
- New scratch disk option improves performance by suing non-system volumes for temp files
Improvements unique to HDR Expose 3.2:
- New ability to save manual merge presets, which can be selected and applied to the Batch Merge and Pano Prep Batch Merge
- UI improvements include a simplified merge dialog
Additional updates:
- 32 Float 3.2 offers an updated installer which supports Photoshop CC
- HDR Express 3.1 and 32 Float 3.2 both include new performance optimization with support for OpenCL 2.0
AVAILABILITY
The updates are available at no charge to licensed Unified Color customers of the applications, while others can download a 30 day trial versions and purchase HDR Expose 3 ($119), 32 Float ($89) or HDR Express 3 ($79).
For more information see the news release below.
Pinnacle Imaging Systems Announces Updates to Award-Winning HDR Applications Following Acquisition of Unified Color Technologies
Marking its commitment to the continued customer support, Pinnacle Imaging Systems releases new free updates to HDR Expose, HDR Express and 32 Float
BELMONT, Calif. -- Pinnacle Imaging Systems, a developer of next generation HDR still and video imaging technology, has announced it is releasing new free updates to all of the HDR software products it has acquired from Unified Color Technologies. While the company plans to expand beyond consumer-focused HDR software solutions, Pinnacle Imaging Systems will continue support and development of the award-winning still-image HDR applications, HDR Express, HDR Expose and its Photoshop plug-in 32 Float."
"Over the last several years, photographers who demand the most true to life HDR images have come to trust our still image HDR software and they will be very excited by the improved capabilities that we are rolling out today with the first updates under the new Pinnacle Imaging Systems brand," said Alfred Zee, President & CEO of Pinnacle Imaging Systems. "With today's updates, both existing and new users will appreciate the performance, image quality and ease of use improvements we've implemented."
Free Updates Improve Handheld HDR Capture
With its first HDR software release under its new brand name, Pinnacle Imaging Systems today launched complimentary updates to its pro-trusted HDR Expose 3 (version 3.2) and 32 Float " Photoshop plug-in (version 3.2), as well as the entry-level HDR Express 3 (version 3.1). Leveraging the company's Beyond RGB color technology to eliminate the annoying color shifts that often push HDR images beyond a natural look, the applications are continuing to break new ground for photographers with never-before-seen hand-held alignment accuracy, deghosting and noise reduction capabilities.
"Historically, photographers looking to capture high contrast scenes needed a tripod and a well-planned location shoot without heavy movement such as roaming people, zipping cars or flowing objects," said John Omvik, V.P. Marketing for Pinnacle Imaging Systems. "With its new alignment and deghosting algorithms Pinnacle Imaging Systems now enables photographers to confidently shoot impromptu hand-held exposure brackets at a moment's notice relying on the software to seamlessly merge even the most hectic scenes. Combine this capability with improved noise reduction performance and many of the pain points that often discouraged photographers from shooting in high dynamic range situations are all of a sudden nonfactors."
With these new updates, Pinnacle Imaging Systems has continued to push the technical boundaries of its HDR software. For photographers relying on a Photoshop-centric workflow, Pinnacle's 32 Float plug-in delivers full 32-bit tone mapping and image editing capabilities to their workflow, while HDR Express and HDR Expose are ideal solutions for photographers preferring a standalone or Adobe Lightroom workflow.
New in the HDR Expose 3.2 and HDR Express 3.1 updates:
- Improved alignment and deghosting algorithms make it even easier to process handheld HDR brackets for better results
- New noise reduction technology automatically analyses and reduces noise in source images producing cleaner merged HDR images
- New scratch disk option improves performance by allowing users to select non-system volumes for saving application temp files
Improvements unique to HDR Expose 3.2:
- New ability to save manual merge presets, which can then be selected and applied to the Batch Merge and Pano Prep Batch Merge process
- UI improvements includes a simplified merge dialog
Additional updates:
- 32 Float 3.2 offers an updated installer which supports Photoshop CC
- HDR Express 3.1 and 32 Float 3.2 both include new performance optimization with support for OpenCL 2.0
This latest update is available at no cost to current licensed Unified Color customers of the applications, while new customers interested in purchasing HDR Expose 3 ($119), 32 Float ($89) or HDR Express 3 ($79), can explore more information on each or test out a 30 day trial at: http://www.pinnacleimagingsystems.com/