[Digikam-devel] digikam 0.9.0-beta1 and digikamimageplugins 0.9.0-beta1 released

[Marcel Wiesweg]

The digiKam team is proud to announce the first beta release of 
digiKam 0.9.0 and digiKamimageplugins 0.9.0.

The 0.9 series has been under heavy development since November and this beta 
release offers you the opportunity to test and enjoy a variety of new 
features, additions and improvements.

The source for digikam and digikamimageplugins 0.9.0-beta1 is available from:

    http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=42641


A choice from the list of new features
======================================
* the sidebar is now used to display image file properties, metadata, 
comments, tags and color information
* full support for 16bit images in the image editor, all image plugins have 
been ported to make use of the new 16 bit infrastructure
* full support for color management, reading and storing color profiles
* greatly improved support for image metadata such as EXIF and IPTC (based on 
libexiv2)
* the main view provides a fast preview mode most useful for RAW images
* more than 100 bug fixes

A comprehensive list of new features and fixed bugs can be found in the NEWS 
file:

http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/extragear/graphics/digikam/NEWS?rev=564673&view=markup

If you are interested in some of our plans for the future and in what is still 
missing for the final 0.9 release, have a look at the TODO file:

http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/extragear/graphics/digikam/TODO?rev=564483&view=markup

Digikam Movie Tour
==================

There are four demonstration videos (Flash format) available highlighting some 
of the new features.

How to import a RAW file in 16 bits color depth into digiKam image editor 
using Color Management:
http://www.digikam.org/?q=node/124

On the usage of the camera interface and how to add IPTC information to an 
image file:
http://www.digikam.org/?q=node/125

On the new fast RAW file preview mode, the use of color profiles, image 
plugins supporting 16 bit and user interface improvements for all image 
plugins:
http://www.digikam.org/?q=node/126

How to use the black and white converter and the add border image plugin, 
again demonstrating user interface improvements and full 16 bit support:
http://www.digikam.org/?q=node/127

How to help us
==============

This release is a beta release, which means that we ask users to test this 
version of digiKam and report bugs.
If you have found a bug, please report it to the bug tracking system at 
bugs.kde.org. In a first step, confirm that there is not already a bug report 
for your problem. A list of open bug reports for digikam can be found at
 
http://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?product=digikam&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED

and for digikamimageplugins at

http://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?product=digikamimageplugins&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED

General information on digikam and digikamimageplugins
=========================================================

digiKam is a digital photo management application for KDE,
focussed on importing, organizing and editing digital photos,
aimed at all types of users.

digiKam imageplugins enhance digiKam's image editor with
more than 2 dozen plugins that make correcting your photos easier.

WWW:  www.digikam.org
IRC:  irc.freenode.net - #digikam
MAIL: digikam-users at kde.org digikam-devel at kde.org


The digiKam team