JP2003087580A - Method and device for forming image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an easy method capable of obtaining high quality digital image data that have corrected image quality deterioration originating from silver halide and developed silver even from a photosensitive material that has finished processing in a state having the silver halide and the developed silver, and an image forming device used for the method. SOLUTION: In an image forming method for reading color separation image information from a silver halide color photographic sensitive material in an state in which desilverizing has not been performed through an image inputting medium and obtaining digital image information, subtraction is performed, which subtracts at least one piece of different color separation image information other than at least one piece of particular color separation image information from at least the one piece of particular color separation image information with a prescribed rate, and smoothing is applied to at least the one piece of different color separation image information, which is the subtraction from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming method for obtaining high-quality digital image data from a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material in an undesilvered state, and an image forming apparatus used therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Photographic light-sensitive materials using silver halide (hereinafter also referred to as light-sensitive materials or light-sensitive materials) have been developed more and more in recent years, and now it is possible to easily obtain high-quality color images. Has become. For example, in a system usually called a color photograph, a color negative film is used for photographing, and image information recorded on the developed color negative film is optically printed on a color photographic paper to obtain a color print. In recent years this process is highly developed,
With the popularization of the color lab, which is a large-scale centralized base that produces a large amount of color prints with high efficiency, or the so-called minilab, which is a small and simple printer processor installed in stores, anyone can easily enjoy color photographs. Has become.

The currently popular color photography principle employs color reproduction by a subtractive color method. In a general color negative, a light-sensitive layer using a silver halide emulsion, which is a light-sensitive element having photosensitivity in the blue, green, and red regions, is provided on a transmissive support. It contains a combination of so-called color couplers which form dyes of yellow, magenta and cyan which are complementary colors.

The color negative film which has been imagewise exposed by photographing is developed in a color developing solution containing an aromatic primary amine developing agent. At this time, the exposed silver halide grains are developed, that is, reduced by the developing agent, and each dye is formed by the coupling reaction between the oxidized product of the developing agent and the above-mentioned color coupler which are simultaneously produced. Metallic silver produced by subsequent development (hereinafter referred to as "developed silver")
And unreacted silver halide (hereinafter, simply “silver halide”
, Also referred to as), are removed by bleaching and fixing processes, respectively, to obtain a dye image.

Color photographic paper, which is a color light-sensitive material in which a light-sensitive layer having a similar combination of light-sensitive wavelength region and color hue is coated on a reflective support, is optically exposed through a color negative film after development, In this case as well, the same color development, bleaching, and fixing processes are performed to obtain a color print including a dye image that reproduces the original scene.

Although these systems are widely used at present, demands for increasing their simplicity are increasing. First, it is necessary to precisely control the composition and temperature of the processing bath for performing the above-mentioned color development, bleaching and fixing processing, and it requires specialized knowledge and skilled operation. Second, these processing solutions contain substances that require environmental emission restrictions, such as color developing agents and iron chelate compounds that are bleaching agents, and special equipment is required to install developing equipment. Is often required. Thirdly, although it has been shortened by the recent technological development, these development processes require time, and it cannot be said that it is still insufficient for the demand for rapidly reproducing recorded images.

From such a background, there is a demand for reducing the environmental load and improving simplicity by constructing a system which does not use a color developing agent or a bleaching agent used in the present color image forming system. Is growing more and more.

On the other hand, an image formed on a color negative film is optically read by using a scanner or the like, converted into an electric signal, and then subjected to image processing to once create digital image data, which is then used for another image. A method of transferring image information to a recording material is known. In this case, the finished print can be obtained through various non-silver salt printers such as an inkjet printer, a sublimation printer, or an electrophotographic system, as well as a digital printer that scans and exposes a photosensitive material such as color paper to obtain a finished color print. It is possible.

The inventors of the present invention have disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-199947.
No., read the visible image information and the invisible (infrared) image information from the color negative film in which unreacted silver halide and metallic silver (developed silver) remain, and from the visible image information, the invisible (infrared) image information It describes an image forming method for reducing image noise by subtracting.

Image noise includes dust, scratches, and mold on the surface of the photographic film due to factors such as electrical noise at the time of reading the scanner, physical contact during the developing process and the reading process of the scanner, or the environment in which the photographic film is left unattended. However, here, unreacted silver halide and developed silver that cause deterioration of image quality graininess and color reproducibility are mentioned.

The effect of developed silver appears as a decrease in the color purity (chroma) of visible image information, and the degree thereof has a substantially constant correlation with the amount of developed silver. Therefore, a relational expression between the amount of developed silver and the amount of color correction is determined in advance, and color correction processing is performed on the visible image information based on the relational expression so that the color purity (saturation) is comparable to that of the image. Can be restored. The details of the mechanism of the decrease in color purity (saturation) will be described below.

A blue component image will be described as an example. The developed silver image in the blue component image read by the image input medium is a blue color-sensitive layer of a color negative film composed of three laminated color-sensitive layers of blue, green, and red.
In the developed silver image component of its own layer which is imagewise formed with the color development of the yellow dye, in the green color sensitive layer, the developed silver image component which is imagewise generated with the color development of the magenta dye and in the red color sensitive layer. , The developed silver image components generated imagewise together with the color development of the cyan dye are added. The entire developed silver image acts as if there is a yellow dye in a place where the yellow dye should not be originally formed when only the image of the yellow dye, which is the record information of the blue component of the subject, is extracted. The same phenomenon occurs in each of the magenta and cyan dye images, and as a result, the color purity (chroma) of the entire visible image information is lowered.
That is, the decrease in color purity (chroma) due to developed silver is a complementary color reproduced by mixing the dyes of a plurality of color-sensitive layers (for example,
Subject colors such as yellow, magenta, and cyan) and intermediate colors (flesh tones and orange) are larger.

As the color correction processing, there is a method of subtracting the blue component from the blue component and the red component of the visible image information, the blue component from the green component, the blue component from the red component, and the blue component from the green component at a fixed ratio. The determinant is shown below.

[0014]

[Equation 1]

In Equation 1, R, G, B are visible image information (original information), and R ', G', B'are visible image information after color correction processing. A, e, and i in the matrix are coefficients respectively relating to R, G, and B of the visible image information (original information), and R ′ = a × R, G ′ = e × G, B ′ = i × B. Becomes Normally, 1 is used. b is a coefficient that determines the ratio of the G component subtracted from the R component, and similarly, c is a coefficient that determines the ratio of the B component subtracted from the R component. Therefore, determining the correlation (relational expression) between the estimated amount of developed silver and the amount of color correction processing is equivalent to calculating the negative coefficients of b, c, d, f, g, and h in the above equation 1. .

Although the saturation is restored by performing the calculation according to the above equation 1, the other image quality factors such as graininess and sharpness are not improved. In addition to that, it was found as a result of the study that the following image quality deterioration occurs.

1. Due to the difference in the granular component in each of the B, G, and R images, the granular pattern of other color separation image information becomes apparent during the subtraction processing, and the granularity deteriorates.

2. When the frequency components of the image are biased, the band having a large bias is weakened and the band having a small bias is emphasized.
For example, when an image with many low frequency bands (blurring components) is used, the resulting image is emphasized in the medium to high frequency bands, and sharpness is improved, but at the same time, graininess is deteriorated. This is granular

3. When the negative coefficients of b, c, d, f, g, and h are increased, that is, the ratio of subtraction is set high, the problems of 1 and 2 become more serious.

[0020]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and even from a light-sensitive material which has been processed in the state of containing silver halide and developed silver, silver halide, and It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple method for obtaining high-quality digital image data in which image quality deterioration derived from developed silver is corrected, and an image forming apparatus used therefor.

[0021]

The above-mentioned objects of the present invention can be achieved by the following constitutions.

1. In an image forming method for reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium to obtain digital image information, for at least one specific color-separated image information,
Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than that at a predetermined ratio, and subtracting from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing;
An image forming method, wherein smoothing processing is performed on two other color-separated image information.

2. In an image forming method for reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium to obtain digital image information, for at least one specific color-separated image information,
Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than that at a predetermined ratio, and subtracting from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing;
An image forming method, wherein sharpening processing is performed on three other color-separated image information.

3. In an image forming method for reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium to obtain digital image information, for at least one specific color-separated image information,
Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than that at a predetermined ratio, and subtracting from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing;
An image forming method, wherein frequency processing is performed on three other color-separated image information.

4. 4. The image forming method according to the above 3, wherein the frequency processing is extraction or enhancement of a specific frequency band.

5. 5. The image forming method as described in 4 above, wherein the specific frequency band is a medium frequency band.

6. In an image forming apparatus for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium, the image forming apparatus is provided with at least one specific color. Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than the separation image information at a predetermined ratio, and at least one other color separation subtracted from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing. An image forming apparatus comprising means for performing a smoothing process on image information.

7. An image forming apparatus for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information through an image input medium from a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material that has undergone only color development processing in an undesilvered state. Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than the specific at least one color separation image information at a predetermined ratio, and subtracting from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing, An image forming apparatus comprising means for performing a sharpening process on at least one other color-separated image information.

8. In an image forming apparatus for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium, the image forming apparatus is provided with at least one specific color. Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than the separation image information at a predetermined ratio, and at least one other color separation subtracted from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing. An image forming apparatus comprising means for performing frequency processing on image information.

9. 9. The image forming apparatus as described in 8 above, wherein the frequency processing is extraction or enhancement of a specific frequency band.

10. 10. The image forming apparatus as described in 9 above, wherein the specific frequency band is an intermediate frequency band.

[0032]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The details of the present invention will be described below.

In the description of the present invention, "finishing the processing in an undesilvered state" means that bleaching and fixing processing are not completely carried out in the developing processing step of the color negative film imagewise exposed by photographing. It means a state in which the process is completed in an incomplete state or only the erasing process is performed. That is, when developing in a color developer containing an aromatic primary amine developing agent, the exposed silver halide grains are
Metal halide (developed silver) generated by development and unreacted silver halide after each dye is formed by a coupling reaction between an oxidized product of a developing agent and a color coupler, which is developed or reduced by the developing agent and is produced at the same time. Is to end the development processing step.

In the description of the present invention, a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material (hereinafter referred to as negative film, photographic film,
Examples of the film, the light-sensitive material, and the light-sensitive material) include a conventional color negative film (for example, Centuria series manufactured by Konica Corporation). Further, in the present invention, even a color negative film designed to be more suitable for reading by a film scanner, which is not premised on a work for producing a photographic print by projection exposure on a printing paper using an analog printer, like the conventional photographic film good. As such a color negative film, for example, as described in JP-A-2000-310840, it has a photosensitive layer for recording brightness information in order to extract brightness information and color information of a digital image, and preferably further Aspects having an independent photosensitive layer for recording color information, Japanese Patent Application 20
As described in No. 00-033492, an aspect having spectral sensitivity or sensitivity balance imitating the visual characteristics of human eyes can be mentioned.

In the description of the present invention, the image input medium is an aggregate (for example, CCD) of image pickup elements (pixels) having a photoelectric conversion function, and a line-shaped one-dimensional array and a two-dimensional array. There are some area type. When the CCD on the line is used, a negative film transport (scanning) mechanism is required, and in order to shorten the time required for reading, it is desirable to use the area CCD in the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, reading color-separated image information through an image input medium is generated in correspondence with the three primary color components of blue, green and red, which are color (image) information of the object. The amount of each dye of yellow, magenta and cyan (“dye image information”) of the color negative film is referred to as “image input medium”, “light source” and “color separation filter”.
Means the process of replacing with electrical signal information. The electrical signal information obtained in this way is referred to as "digital image information". Further, such a process is referred to as an image forming method. Further, such a process is referred to as an image forming method. An apparatus for processing such a process is called an image forming apparatus.

Regarding the subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information at a predetermined ratio from at least one color separation image information according to the present invention,
Details will be described below.

The mechanism of the influence (decreased saturation) of the developed silver is considered as follows. The amount of developed silver produced together with the dye in the film during the color development processing has a substantially constant correlation with the amount of the produced dye. Therefore, the developed silver amount is estimated from the visible image information (dye + developed silver), or the developed silver amount in the visible image information (dye + developed silver) is estimated from the infrared image information (developed silver only). You can

The effect of developed silver appears as a decrease in color purity (saturation) of visible image information, and the degree thereof has a substantially constant correlation with the amount of developed silver. Therefore, a relational expression between the amount of developed silver and the amount of color correction is determined in advance, and color correction processing is performed on the visible image information based on the relational expression so that the color purity (saturation) is comparable to that of the image. Can be restored. The details are as described in the prior art.

[0040]

[Equation 2]

In the description of the present invention, at least one color-separated image information means any one of R, G and B in the above formula 1. Further, at least one other color separation image information refers to either G or B, or both, when the at least one color separation image information is R, for example.

Furthermore, the predetermined ratio means b,
It is the amount indicated by the negative coefficient of c, d, f, g, and h.

Therefore, performing the subtraction processing for subtracting at a predetermined ratio is to perform the operation of the above-mentioned expression 1.

Performing smoothing processing on at least one other color-separated image information subtracted from the color-separated image information described in claims 1 and 6 means that at least one color-separated image information is R, for example. Then, the image processing corresponding to the smoothing is performed on the other G or B, or both of them, before the calculation according to the above expression 1.

It is desirable to change the degree of smoothing processing for each of R, G, and B colors. Further, it is desirable to adjust the application amount of the smoothing processing according to the photographing exposure conditions (so-called under, normal, over), that is, the density of the film. Furthermore, it is desirable to adjust the amount of smoothing applied for each sensitive material.

Details of the smoothing process will be described below. It is generally known that image quality such as sharpness and graininess can be improved by digital image processing. A Laplacian filter is known as a means of sharpening processing by filtering performed in a spatial domain, and a smoothing filter such as a moving average method or a median filter is known as a means of smoothing. Regarding such digital filter processing, the Television Image Information Engineering Handbook (Television Society of Japan, Ohmsha), an introduction to digital image processing (Sachiichi Sakai, Corona Publishing) and practical image processing learned in C language (Yagi Nobuyuki, Other authors, Ohmsha) and the like.

The median filter, which is one of the smoothing processes, is expressed by the following equation. † Kij = median (Knm) (n, m) εN (Kij)

The median filter is a non-linear filter that outputs the median (median value) of density values in the local area. When the pixel neighborhood of the 3 × 3 matrix is assumed as the local area, the fifth density value when the pixels are arranged in order from the largest pixel is output.

The above image processing function (spatial filter)
As a commercially available software provided with, a Photoshop filter function (unsharp mask and noise & scratch) manufactured by Adobe, and noise removal software such as Photoshop plug-in software (Konica) are known.

[0050] The sharpening process for at least one other color-separated image information subtracted from the color-separated image information according to claims 2 and 7 means that at least one color-separated image information is R, for example. In this case, the image processing corresponding to the sharpening is performed on either or both of the other G and B, or both of them before the calculation according to the above equation 1.

It is desirable to change the degree of sharpening treatment applied to each of R, G, and B colors. Further, it is desirable to adjust the application amount of the sharpening process according to the photographing exposure conditions (so-called under, normal, over), that is, the density of the film. Furthermore, it is desirable to adjust the amount of sharpening treatment applied for each sensitive material.

The details of the sharpening process will be described below. Unsharp masking, which is one of the sharpness enhancement processes, is expressed by the following equation. Hij = Kij + C (Kij- † Kij) † Kij is a local average value in the pixel Kij, and is a blurred image (image composed of low frequency components). Kij- †
Kij means extracting a high frequency component by subtracting a blurred image from the original image. C is a coefficient that adjusts the degree to which a high frequency component is added. By adding this high frequency component to the original image, an image in which the high frequency region is emphasized can be obtained.

Performing frequency processing on at least one other color-separated image information subtracted from the color-separated image information according to claims 3 and 8 means that at least one color-separated image information is R, for example. At some time, the calculation corresponding to the frequency processing is performed on the other G or B, or both of them, before the calculation according to the above expression 1.

As described in claims 4 and 9, the frequency processing is extraction or enhancement of a specific frequency band, and as described in claims 5 and 10, the specific frequency band is a film. It is desirable to be in the middle frequency band where many of the granular patterns are present.

It is desirable to change the degree of frequency processing applied to each of R, G, and B colors. Further, it is desirable to adjust the application amount of the frequency processing according to the photographing exposure conditions (so-called under, normal, over), that is, the density of the film. Furthermore, it is desirable to adjust the applied amount of frequency processing for each sensitive material.

The details of the frequency processing will be described below. To perform image processing on a specific frequency domain of digital image data, there are a method of once converting into a frequency domain signal by Fourier transform and a method of using a spatial filter without conversion. A method using a spatial filter is, for example, smoothing or sharpening processing using the 3 × 3 matrix, but an operator (coefficient) in the matrix is adjusted or subtraction from the original digital image data is performed. Various frequencies can be handled by combining processing and the like.

For example, a blurred low frequency component can be extracted by performing a calculation using a spatial filter called Gaussian or median on the digital image data. When the blurred low frequency component is subtracted from the original digital image data, the high and medium frequency component is extracted.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic configuration diagrams showing another embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

The image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

White light from the halogen lamp light source (5a) is emitted from the diffuser plate (6a) and the filter turret (14).
It is irradiated onto the color negative film (1a) after the development processing through a) and the condenser lens (7a). The transmitted light from the color negative film (1a) is collected by the condenser lens (8
It is projected onto the CCD (9a) plane via a). CCD
The signal information of each of R, G, and B projected on the (9a) plane is amplified by an amplifier (10a) and then converted into digital image data by an A / D conversion circuit (11a).
After the image processing process (12a) for performing the gradation correction process, the image is temporarily stored in the memory (13a).

The digital image data stored in the memory (13a) is sent to the color correction processing process (16a). In the color correction process (16a), each of R, G, and B is color-corrected, and then the digital image information is stored in the external memory (17a). The smoothing process (15a) pre-processes the digital image data used in the color correction process (16a) to create smoothed digital image data, and the color correction process (16a)
Pass to.

The image forming apparatus according to the seventh aspect of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

White light from the halogen lamp light source (5b) is emitted from the diffuser plate (6b) and the filter turret (14b).
It is irradiated onto the color negative film (1b) after the development processing through b) and the condenser lens (7b). The transmitted light from the color negative film (1b) is collected by the condenser lens (8
It is projected on the CCD (9b) plane via b). CCD
The signal information of each of R, G, and B projected on the (9b) plane is amplified by an amplifier (10b) and then converted into digital image data by an A / D conversion circuit (11b).
After the image processing process (12b) for performing the gradation correction process, the image is temporarily stored in the memory (13b).

The digital image data stored in the memory (13b) is sent to the color correction processing process (16b). In the color correction process (16b), each of R, G, and B is color-corrected, and then the digital image information is stored in the external memory (17b). The sharpening processing process (15b) pre-processes the digital image data used in the color correction processing process (16b) to create sharpened digital image data, and the color correction processing process (16b).
Pass to.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

White light from the halogen lamp light source (5c) is emitted from the diffuser plate (6c) and the filter turret (14c).
It is irradiated onto the color negative film (1c) after the development processing through the c) and the condenser lens (7c). The transmitted light from the color negative film (1c) is collected by the condenser lens (8
It is projected on the CCD (9c) plane via c). CCD
The signal information of each of R, G, and B projected on the (9c) plane is amplified by an amplifier (10c) and then converted into digital image data by an A / D conversion circuit (11c).
After the image processing process (12c) for performing the gradation correction process, the image is once stored and saved in the memory (13c).

The digital image data stored in the memory (13c) is sent to the color correction processing process (16c). In the color correction processing process (16c), each of R, G, and B is subjected to color correction processing, and then the digital image information is stored in the external memory (17c). The frequency processing process (15c) pre-processes the digital image data used in the color correction processing process (16c) to create frequency-processed digital image data, and the color correction processing process (16c).
Pass to.

[0068]

EXAMPLES The effects of the present invention will be described below with reference to examples, but the embodiments are not limited thereto.

Example 1 (Photograph) A Centuria 400 color negative film manufactured by Konica was loaded into a single lens reflex camera (F4) manufactured by Nikon,
A Macbeth color chart, a gray standard reflector having a surface reflectance of 18%, and a person were placed in the same screen, and images were taken under appropriate exposure conditions.

(Development) For the negative film photographed, C
Only -41 color development processing was performed.

(Reading) Metal halide light source device manufactured by Hayashi Clock Co., infrared light cut filter (HA-3 manufactured by Kenko Co., Ltd.)
0, C-500S each), a condenser lens, a filter turret, and a light source unit consisting of an acrylic resin plate for diffusion (Sumipex made by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.), an X-axis microstage for focus adjustment, and a lens made by Nikon (F2. 8
A negative film that has undergone only color development is placed between a 1024 × 972 pixel monochrome CCD camera (manufactured by Electrim) equipped with a focal length of 60 mm), and while switching the order of the filter turret and adjusting the focus. The red, green, and blue color separation image information of the film was read.

(Image Processing) After the logarithmic conversion and the standardization of the values of the read color-separated image information of red, green, and blue, the calculation of equation 1 was performed under the conditions of Table 1.

In the image processing of the present invention, smoothing, sharpening, and frequency processing are performed using b, c, d, and
It is applied to R, G and B only when multiplying the coefficients of f, g and h. No preprocessing is performed on R, G, and B that are multiplied by the coefficients of a, e, and i.

[0074]

[Equation 3]

After performing the calculation processing of the equation 1, histogram correction was performed to create digital images 101 to 106.

A noise removal filter in a soft PC dark room manufactured by Konica Corporation was used for the smoothing process. The numerical values in Table 1 are the threshold and the radius from the left.

(Printing) Each digital image data is output to a Konica color paper type QAA7 with a resolution of 300 dpi by using a digital minilab system QD-21 manufactured by Konica to produce 2L size digital prints (101 to 106). did.

(Sensory Evaluation) Digital prints (10 prints) prepared by randomly selecting 10 people were used as evaluation panelists.
1 to 106), in particular, color reproducibility from Macbeth color chart and sharpness from person to sensory evaluation.

The evaluation was carried out on a scale of 5 for each item, with 5 being very good and 1 being very poor, and an average of 10 persons was given.

[0080]

[Table 1]

(Results) From the sensory evaluation results in Table 1, Comparative 1
In 01 to 103, the subtraction processing ratios (b, c, d, f,
It can be seen that although the color reproducibility is improved as g, h) is increased, there is almost no change in sharpness.

In 104 to 106 of the present invention, both color reproducibility and sharpness were achieved, and the effect of the present invention according to claim 1 was confirmed.

Example 2 After the logarithmic conversion and the standardization of the values for each of the red, green, and blue color-separated image information read in Example 1, the calculation of Equation 1 is performed under the conditions of Table 2. did.

After performing the calculation processing of the equation 1, histogram correction was performed to create digital images 204 to 206.

For the sharpening treatment, P made by Adobe
The unsharp mask function of photoshop was used.
The numerical values in Table 2 are applied amount (%) and radius (Pixe) from the left.
ls).

(Printing) Each digital image data is output to a Konica color paper type QAA7 with a resolution of 300 dpi by using a digital minilab system QD-21 manufactured by Konica to produce 2L size digital prints (204 to 206). did.

(Sensory Evaluation) The color reproducibility, the Macbeth color chart, and the 18% gray of the Macbeth color chart of the digital prints (204 to 206) prepared by using 10 persons who performed the sensory evaluation in Example 1 as evaluation panelists. From the chart, sensory evaluation was performed for each graininess.

The evaluation was carried out by a five-point method in which each item was evaluated as being very good at 5 points and very inferior at 1 point, and was set as an average score of 10 persons.

For the comparisons (201 to 203), the digital prints (101 to 103) prepared in Example 1 were used, and only the sensory evaluation of graininess was carried out. Values were used.

[0090]

[Table 2]

(Results) From the sensory evaluation results of Table 2, comparison 2
In 01 to 203, the subtraction processing ratios (b, c, d, f,
It can be seen that although the color reproducibility is improved as g, h) is increased, the graininess is deteriorated.

In Nos. 204 to 206 of the present invention, both the color reproducibility and the graininess were excellent, and the effect of the present invention described in claim 2 could be confirmed.

Example 3 After the logarithmic conversion and the standardization of the values of the red, green, and blue color-separated image information read in Example 1, the calculation of Equation 1 is performed under the conditions of Table 3. did.

After performing the calculation processing of the equation 1, histogram correction was performed to create digital images 304 to 306.

The frequency calculation will be described in detail. The following algorithm program was created and frequency calculation was performed. (1) Convert R, G, B digital images to YIQ. ↓ (2) Create a low frequency band component of Y from the Y (luminance) signal using a Gaussian filter. ↓ (3) The Y blurry image created in (2) above is subtracted from the Y signal to extract the middle and high frequency band components of Y. ↓ (4) From the middle and high frequency components of Y extracted in (3) above, a middle frequency band component of Y is extracted with a Gaussian filter. (5) The middle frequency band component of Y extracted in (4) above is subtracted from the middle and high frequency band components of Y extracted in (3) to extract the high frequency band component of Y. ↓ (6) Y is created by multiplying the high frequency band component of (5) in the low of (2) and (4) of the above by each coefficient. ↓ (7) Convert Y, IQ created in (6) above to digital image data of R, G, B. The coefficient of the above (6) is set so that only the medium frequency band is emphasized.

(Printing) Each digital image data is output to a Konica color paper type QAA7 with a resolution of 300 dpi by using a digital minilab system QD-21 manufactured by Konica to produce 2L size digital prints (304 to 306). did.

(Sensory Evaluation) The color reproducibility, the Macbeth color chart, and the 18% gray of the Macbeth color chart of the digital prints (304 to 306) prepared by using 10 persons who were sensory-evaluated in Example 1 as evaluation panelists. Sensory evaluations were performed for the graininess from the chart and the sharpness from the person.

The evaluation was carried out by a five-level method, with 5 points being very good and 1 point being very poor for each item.

For the comparisons (301 to 303), the digital prints (101 to 103) prepared in Example 1 were used, and the results of color reproducibility and sharpness were the values of Example 1 and the results of graininess. Used the value of Example 2.

[0100]

[Table 3]

(Results) From the sensory evaluation results of Table 3, Comparative 3
In 01 to 303, the subtraction processing ratios (b, c, d, f,
It is understood that although the color reproducibility is improved as g, h) is increased, the graininess is deteriorated and the sharpness is hardly changed.

In 304 to 306 of the present invention, color reproducibility,
High sensory evaluation values were obtained in all evaluation items of graininess and sharpness, and the effect of the present invention according to claim 3 could be confirmed.

[0103]

According to the present invention, even from a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material which has been processed in the state of containing silver halide and developed silver, deterioration of image quality due to silver halide and developed silver It is possible to provide a simple method for obtaining corrected high-quality digital image data, and an apparatus used therefor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a-1c film 2a-2c Perforation 3a-3c shooting frames 4a to 4c subject information area 5a-5c light source 6a to 6c Diffusion plate 7a to 7c Condensing lens 8a-8c condenser lens 9a-9c CCD 10a-10c amplifier 11a-11c A / D converter 12a-12c image processing process 13a to 13c memory 14a-14c filter turret 15a to 15c Smoothing process 16a to 16c color correction processing process 17a to 17c External memory 18a-18c motor 19a to 19c sensors 20a-20c Scanner setting (monitor) 21a-21c CPU 22a-22c Synchronous signal generation circuit 23a-23c drive circuit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 1/46 H04N 1/40 101C 1/46 Z (72) Inventor Yoshihiko Suda 1 Sakura-cho, Hino-shi, Tokyo Address Konica Stock Company F-term (Reference) 2H108 AA14 CA07 CB01 JA00 5B057 AA20 CA01 CA08 CA12 CA16 CB01 CB08 CB12 CB16 CC01 CE02 CE03 CE05 CE06 CE17 CH07 CH09 5C077 LL18 LL19 MP02 MP08 NN02 NP01 PP22 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP02 PP03 PP32 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 PP03 PP02 HB01 LA14 LA15 LB04 MA01 NA03 NA11 PA08

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An image forming method for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium to obtain at least one specific color separation. Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than the image information at a predetermined ratio, and at least one other color separation image subtracted from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing An image forming method characterized by performing a smoothing process on information. 2. An image forming method for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium to obtain at least one specific color separation. Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than the image information at a predetermined ratio, and at least one other color separation image subtracted from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing An image forming method, characterized in that sharpening processing is applied to information. 3. An image forming method for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium to obtain at least one specific color separation. Performing subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than the image information at a predetermined ratio, and at least one other color separation image subtracted from the color separation image information in the subtraction processing An image forming method characterized by subjecting information to frequency processing. 4. The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein the frequency processing is extraction or enhancement of a specific frequency band. 5. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein the specific frequency band is an intermediate frequency band. 6. An image forming apparatus for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium, wherein the image forming apparatus specifies The subtraction process for subtracting at least one other color-separated image information other than the color-separated image information from the color-separated image information, and subtracting from the color-separated image information in the subtraction process. An image forming apparatus comprising means for performing smoothing processing on three other color-separated image information. 7. An image forming apparatus for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material which has undergone only color development processing in an undesilvered state, through an image input medium, The image forming apparatus performs subtraction processing for subtracting at least one other color separation image information other than the specific at least one color separation image information at a predetermined ratio, and the color separation is performed in the subtraction processing. An image forming apparatus comprising: means for performing a sharpening process on at least one other color-separated image information subtracted from the image information. 8. An image forming apparatus for obtaining digital image information by reading color-separated image information from an undesilvered silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material through an image input medium. At least one other color separation image information is subtracted from the other color separation image information at a predetermined ratio, and in the subtraction processing, at least one An image forming apparatus comprising means for performing frequency processing on three other color-separated image information. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the frequency processing is extraction or enhancement of a specific frequency band. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the specific frequency band is a medium frequency band.