If you have a smartphone or stand-alone digital camera, odds are that DXOMARK had a role in creating it.
DXOMARK works with all the world’s top smartphone and camera makers to optimize the software, and often the hardware, that goes into each camera. During the past 10 years, our scientists and engineers, using our Analyzer testing suite, have played a key role in the rapid improvement of quality in digital imaging across the industry. Today, more than 150 camera labs worldwide use Analyzer.
The company also works with companies that produce digital imaging for drones, surveillance, automotive, and computer vision applications, all using the same rigorous scientific approach.
DXOMARK is continually expanding its capacity. In October 2019, the company added an audio lab with a dedicated team of engineers and scientists to help manufacturers reach peak performance with their devices. We are currently putting together a new display team and developing a lab with its own testing equipment and protocols that will help manufacturers optimize the performance of screens for smartphones, tablets, and computers, as well as displays in cars, trucks, and other products.
A tradition of innovation
DXOMARK started out as the Image Quality Evaluation Team at DxO Labs, a company that had a broad mission: participate in the digital revolution of the camera by finding a way to correct lens and sensor flaws through digital processing and co-optimization. DXOMARK split off from DxO Labs in 2017, and is now a rapidly growing independent company focused on the testing and optimization of digital imaging devices in conjunction with industry leaders. More than 1 billion cameras and smartphones shipped have benefited from DXOMARK’s expertise.
Our chief executive officer, Frédéric Guichard, a recipient of the prestigious Grand Prix Académie des Sciences (2006), co-founded the company 17 years ago.
Frédéric Guichard
CEO & CTO
“In order to be able to create something and improve it, you have to be able to measure its performance,” Guichard said. Because the challenges of mobile photography have made camera systems incredibly complex, performance-evaluation tools and methodology are key assets in measuring the success of these systems.
“Everything digital touches, it transforms,” observed Guichard about how the digital revolution completely upended the world of photography. In those early days, as he began working with the first cameras in smartphones, he realized that “the complexity of the camera hardware (lens, sensor) and its miniaturization challenges could be transferred to the processing.” Innovative algorithms embedded or in post-processing could compensate for many of the lens and sensor flaws. “This became our focus, making every camera the best it can be.”
The pursuit of excellence
DXOMARK’s headquarters are in Boulogne-Billancourt, a Paris suburb. There, a growing staff of more than 100 engineers, scientists, and technicians from more than a dozen different countries work in a large office complex with 13 labs. Some employees are testing and tuning new smartphone and stand-alone cameras in coordination with camera and smartphone makers. The audio engineering team and lab focus on testing and optimizing the performance of audio components in smartphones and other devices. A new Display team is currently developing a lab and testing protocols for smartphone and tablet screens as well as screens and readouts in vehicles of all kinds.
Others work on Analyzer, the company’s complete system for testing digital imaging devices. Analyzer consists of hardware — equipment custom built by DXOMARK to measure and test aspects of image quality and performance — and the software needed to process the results. The Analyzer team is constantly updating its testing protocols and equipment as technology and consumer habits change.
Etienne Knauer
SVP Sales & Marketing
“Everything we do is based on precise measurements,” said Etienne Knauer, SVP of DXOMARK and one of its senior scientists. “We measure, highlight problems and suggest solutions, always with the perception of the end-user in mind.” Through it all, the company has stayed rooted in the scientific method and maintained its dedication to scientific integrity.
This ethos extends to dxomark.com, where the company shares the results of its testing. The website, which gets several million page views each month, does not accept advertising of any kind, and it offers its in-depth reviews free to consumers and the media. Dxomark.com’s reviews must be scrupulously accurate and objective as scores that devices receive have tangible market consequences. Its scoring has become a field of intense competition among industry leaders.
DXOMARK’s reputation for fairness and its relentless pursuit of excellence have earned it a growing and loyal group of customers. “The more we work with clients, the more they want to work with us,” Knauer said. “We really deliver value to them.”
