Camera Bits Announces Photo Mechanic Version 4.4 with Caption Safe™ Technology

PORTLAND, OR, October 24th, 2005 – Camera Bits, Inc., innovators in digital photography since 1996, today announced version 4.4 of its benchmark Photo Mechanic™ photo browser and workflow software for professional photographers. Compatible with both Macintosh OS X and Windows XP/2000, Photo Mechanic is the premier cross-platform solution for digital photographers who need to manage large quantities of photos under tight deadlines.

Some of the significant new features in Photo Mechanic 4.4 include:

• Complete control over the handling of IPTC and XMP metadata makes Photo Mechanic the foremost software for mastering metadata:


• Photo Mechanic now has full support for embedding and updating IPTC and/or XMP metadata within JPEG, TIFF, and several popular RAW photo formats.* The IPTC-related fields stored within XMP follow the IPTC.org IPTC4XMP guidelines for maximum compatibility with past and future photo archival solutions.


• Photo Mechanic can now create and update XMP sidecar files for all its supported RAW formats. The XMP sidecar files are kept with the associated photo throughout various operations such as renaming, copying, deleting, and even FTP transmission.


• Sophisticated IPTC/XMP updating preferences give the user complete control over the reading and writing of IPTC and/or XMP data in order to accommodate a wide variety of workflows with mixtures of RAW and JPEG photos, while also maintaining compatibility with the large body of IPTC-only applications crucial to the ongoing operations of the publishing industry.


• Since many RAW formats are proprietary and various RAW processing software may be sensitive to modifications in RAW files, Camera Bits’ unique Caption Safe™ technology can undo its captioning edits made to certain RAW photo formats* in order to restore the RAW photos to their original state.


• Photo Mechanic now includes additional IPTC/XMP tools for updating existing archives of IPTC-captioned photos. For example, IPTC metadata can be transferred from JPEG to RAW photos (or vice-versa), from XMP sidecar files into embedded IPTC, or from Macintosh IPTC-NAA resources into embedded IPTC/XMP for cross-platform compatibility.


• For users of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), Photo Mechanic adds integrated Spotlight searching of photos. Unlike the basic Spotlight search in Mac OS X 10.4, the results of the search are displayed in a familiar contact sheet window so that Photo Mechanic's many useful commands can be immediately applied to the photos that are found. Photo Mechanic also supports advanced search queries unavailable in a basic search interface for isolating search results to the smallest set of photos that are relevant.


• For Mac users, Photo Mechanic can now burn photos to CD or DVD without having to first rearrange photos in folders to fit under the capacity limit for CD and DVD discs, thereby decreasing the overall time and resources needed to backup photos to CD or DVD. Photo Mechanic will automatically split the source photos across multiple CDs / DVDs as needed according to the capacity of the recording media and the number of photos selected for burning.


• The settings in most Photo Mechanic command dialogs can now be instantly saved and recalled via the handy Snapshot menu icon. This feature allows sophisticated workflows to be saved and shared for later recall with a simple Snapshot menu selection.


• Photo Mechanic's already flexible Variables Technology now includes custom User/Client settings for each “job.” By using these Job Name and User/Client variables in various Photo Mechanic commands, advanced workflow solutions can be configured in a single dialog.


• In addition to the existing extensive control over ingesting (copying, captioning, renaming) all photos from memory cards, Photo Mechanic can now ingest from a folder hierarchy on a larger disk such as a portable hard drive. Also, certain Photo Mechanic variables such as capture date, job name, photographer, etc can be used as part of the destination ingest path in order to sort photos into folders of the user's design.


• With Photo Mechanic's new Adjust Capture Times tool, users can fix erroneous camera capture dates and times due to changes in longitude, and multiple cameras can be synchronized by locking into a fixed moment such as a photograph of a clock.


• With the new Color Class view filter, users can display only their top-rated photos, or they can display only photos belonging to certain user-defined classes.


• Photo Mechanic now includes a more convenient keywords editor for working with a large number of keywords.

There are dozens of other new features and improvements in Photo Mechanic 4.4 based upon user feedback and suggestions. Camera Bits listens to its users and strives to meet their needs. A recent poll in the professional photographer website SportShooter.com shows that more of its members use Photo Mechanic than all other photo browsers combined.

www.sportsshooter.com/poll.html?results=1&pid=57

Due to the significant changes in workflow made possible by Photo Mechanic 4.4, an initial beta release will be offered to existing customers by November 1st. Final release will follow by November 15th. Photo Mechanic 4.4 requires Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4, or Windows XP/2000.

Visit www.camerabits.com for contact and product information.

* Photo Mechanic can embed IPTC and/or XMP data in TIFF-based RAW formats, including Nikon NEF, Canon CR2 and 1D-TIFF, Olympus ORF, Epson ERF, and Adobe DNG.