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Two major projects are released in this version. Memory management has been drastically improved, lowering total memory requirements and dramatically improving stability. This will be most obviously seen by Windows users who saw frequent 'out of memory' errors, but also provides advantages for folks on Linux and Mac's who did not encounter this trouble. The other major project is an improved image processing engine which not only fixes many persistent issues present in earlier previews (like straightening causing artifacts in output images or Lens Correction and Noise Ninja not working well together) but also adds flexibility and opens new possibilities for features in future versions of Bibble 5. The new processing engine also enables Noise Ninja to work selectively in Layers & Regions. 

Metadata importing, reading, viewing, and editing has also undergone a major overhaul. This release allows you to view and edit Metadata from IPTC, EXIF, GPS, and select Maker Notes. Choose what metadata is shown on the EXIF popup (hotkey 'E') and also choose what metadata is shown in the Metadata Editing tool. Metadata added to your images in Bibble 5 can also be saved to Presets - making it simple to add your copyright or contact information to all you images at output time with the 'Additional Settings' option in the Output Batches. 

This improved Metadata import capability and handing does mean that Catalogs created in earlier versions of Bibble 5 will not have all the new metadata improvements. (Alternately, write out Bibble XMP files for all images in your Catalogs, and create new Catalogs in PV3). 

We nearly doubled the number of cameras supported in this release, adding Panasonic, Leica, Minolta, and Kodak for the first time, and adding additional camera models from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Sony - including the Canon 7D, G11 and S90, Nikon D3s and D300s , and Sony a850. 

Printing support has been added, including background printing to any locally attached printer or printing to a PDF file. The background printing feature allows you to pre-define a print layout, including paper size, paper type, images per page, as well as many other options. Once the layout is created, just drag-and-drop thumbnails on the Print Batch to send those images directly to the printer. 

Watched Folders is also a new addition: select one or more folder in the Preferences panel, and pair each with an Print or Output Batch. This, paired with the background printing framework, can enable a fully-automated event printing solution. 

This Preview Version is not feature complete (most notably, Perfectly Clear, Heal & Clone, and Web Gallery outputs are not yet implemented), but represents a huge step forward not only in features but also in stability. 

Thanks to all of you that have tried out the previous Preview Versions. Get your PV3 below and as always, please let us know what you find - good or bad. 

http://bibblelabs.com/pub/PV3/Bibble5