Hi all,

I'm going to buy my first external flash for my 400D (long overdue, but I haven't really realized the possibilities of a good flash until now).

The choices are either the speedlite 430EX or the 580EX. I know all the differences from reading reviews, i.e., mainly the 580 is more powerful and can act as a master while the 430 is smaller, lighter and cheaper.

Among "traditional" flash uses I want to use the flash for macro photography with my Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro using a flash diffusor. I don't want to invest into a specialized macro flash, i.e., ring flash or twin lite yet.

I wonder if the the 580EX has that small (but essential) advantage with regards to macro photography. Other than the 430EX, the 580EX can tilt down by 7 degrees (the 430EX can't tilt down). Does that give a significant advantage for macro photography with the 100mm Canon or is the tilt irrelevant because the objects are far enough away?

I would love to get your inputs w.r.t. the question above and generally about macro photography with the 100mm Canon and one of the both speedlite flashes mentioned above.

Many thanks and all the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I'm in the market for some medium to advanced Canon EOS equipment (flashes, lenses). Buying this stuff directly in Europe is out of the question, since you often pay more than the same price which you would pay in Dollars, but just in Euro (1/3 to 1/4 more expensive than in the USA).

Last time I bought something I was lucky, since I've been on a trip in the USA and could buy my equipment there.

Mail order from the USA (e.g., B&H) is quite risky because of potential taxes to be paid.

I heard of some Asian / Hong Kong online stores which are supposed to be even more reasonably priced than buying from the USA.

So all you european buyers: Where do you get your advanced Canon equipment? It would be great if you could share your insights / experiences. If you would like to contact me directly with your advices, please simply e-mail me at: [email protected]

Many thanks and all the best,
Michael

Hi all,

what's your experience with true macro (i.e., life size and above) photography in stock? Is microstock the right place for it and if yes, which objects (insects, ...) are selling well?

I'd love to get your experience with true macro photography and stock.

Thanks and all the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I'm using (and immensly enjoying) a 400D (XTI) with a Sigma 18-50 mm f2.8 lens (excellent piece, also focus down to 20 cm giving it a maginification factor of 1:3) and a Canon 70-300 IS (again, very nice to work with although not as sharp as my Sigma). I'm also owning a good tripod.

I'm now pondering what I should put on my wishlist for my birthday and I really need your help on this. The Sigma already gives me some Macro abilities, but I think I would enjoy really getting into the microscopic world ... so maybe a good macro lens? I think that on the wide end the Sigma is already quite good with 18 mm, so I guess I don't really need a dedicated wide angel lens.

What do you think? What other lenses or photo gadgets would you recomment? I really enjoy all sorts of photography, animals with my 70-300, portraits with my Sigma, but also product and "almost" macro shots with my Sigma.

Some (very few) of my photos are on my website:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=My_Photos

Most of the others are online at the diverse microstock agencies which I work with (more on this on my website).

Please give me your input. I'm desperate to get a nice new gadget for my camera hobby :-)

Thanks and all the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I'm doing all of the "Big 6" agencies, which already takes some time to upload, review and submit. I'm also with many of the "Up and Coming" agencies. I'm now considering to discontinue doing all the "Up and Coming" ones except those which have a "upload and forget mechanism" such as Lucky Oliver (there are other reasons why I will stay with them) and 123RF.  These smaller agencies which do not have a _very_ streamlined process eat up as much time as the big agencies but don't get me much cash. I'm not sure if they are worth the time.

What do you think? What is your feeling? What did you do?

All the best,
Michael

Hi all!

I'm very happy to announce that Microstock Monitor now has a dedicated domain name. From now on you can access the website not only through http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com but also


(Depending on your location it might not be available until tomorrow or so - but it's working already for me :-))!

I'm very happy about this and I do hope that this helps to further increase the popularity of Microstock Monitor. Remember, Microstock Monitor is and will always stay free software and all I get for implementing and maintaining it is a little something from referals. If you like Microstock Monitor and want me to be able to spend additional time enhancing it, please consider telling your photographer friends about it, write a blog message or put a link on your web site. The more popular Microstock Monitor becomes, the more time I will be able to spend enhancing it for you!

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

there is a new release of Microstock Monitor available at:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Downloads

I'm quite happy to report that I could strike a deal with the new Geckostock (http://www.geckostock.co.uk/?ID=333&name=daneel) agency. In exchange for a link from their website, I included them into Microstock Monitor.

I think this is a win-win situation:
1) More users for Microstock Monitor which will ensure that I keep extending and maintaining it and
2) Easy monitoring of Geckostock stats (in addition to your other stock agencies) which might cause more users to sign up with Geckostock.

Are you representing a microstock agency which you would like to get listed in Microstock Monitor? Or are you representing an agency for which you would like to have enhanced support in Microstock Monitor? No problem, pass me an e-mail at [email protected] and we will talk about it!

For all other users of Microstock Monitor, if you have a website or blog, it would be awesome if you could write a few words about Microstock Monitor. The more users there are, the more time I will be able to spend for maintaining and enhancing Microstock Monitor.

Please also remember that Microstock Monitor is completely free software. If you like it, please consider to sign up with new agencies through the links provided on the website or in Microstock Monitor. This might give me a small compensation for my work through referal earnings.

I'm looking forward to your feedback.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

there is a new release of Microstock Monitor available at:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Downloads

It contains fixes for StockXpert and Fotolia stats which stopped working after their website updates.

Many thanks for everyone who uses Microstock Monitor. If you like it, please spread the word - I hope to see many new users in the future. If you have a website for example, then I'd heavenly appreciate a link. If you have a blog, it would be awesome if you could write a few words about Microstock Monitor. If you have a website, please consider linking to Microstock Monitor. Many thanks in advance!

Please also remember that Microstock Monitor is completely free software. If you like it, please consider to sign up with new agencies through the links provided on the website or in Microstock Monitor. This might give me a small compensation for my work through referal earnings.

I'm looking forward to your feedback.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

there is a new release of Microstock Monitor available at:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Downloads

It contains a fix for StockXpert stats which stopped working after the change of the month (March to April). I've also added a dedicated section to the website where I plan to showcase some of my photos which I like.

For a future release I'm currently investigating a mechanism to make Microstock Monitor work on all platforms (OS X, Linux and Windows).

Many thanks for everyone who uses Microstock Monitor. If you like it, please spread the word - I hope to see many new users in the future. If you have a website for example, then I'd heavenly appreciate a link. If you have a blog, it would be awesome if you could write a few words about Microstock Monitor - many thanks in advance!

Please also remember that Microstock Monitor is completely free software. If you like it, please consider to sign up with new agencies through the links provided on the website or in Microstock Monitor. This might give me a small compensation for my work through referal earnings.

I'm looking forward to your feedback.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

123RF has an interesting policy on isolations of electronic gadgets such as mobile phones. They won't accept those, even if you carefully remove all brand names / logos. All other agencies (the big 6 and the up and coming ones) follow another policy on this (my own experience, as I uploaded some of these isolations).

So save your bandwidth and don't try uploading these to 123RF.

The full thread is here:
http://forum.123rf.com/viewtopic.php?t=405

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

there is a new release of Microstock Monitor available at:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Downloads

It contains a fix for Fotolia stats and I've added several new columns, so that you can see what I plan to implement in the future. Please take a look and comment.

I've also added a new section to the website, which attempts to give a primer on microstock photography.

Many thanks for everyone who uses Microstock Monitor. If you like it, please spread the word - I hope to see many new users in the future.

Please also remember that Microstock Monitor is completely free software. If you like it, please consider to sign up with new agencies through the links provided on the website or in Microstock Monitor. This might give me a small compensation for my work through referal earnings.

I'm looking forward to your feedback.

All the best,
Michael

Dear friends,

I'm very very happy to announce that Microstock Monitor is available again.

After what happened with the old version (see here: http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=1314.0) I was first very reluctant to ever distribute it again. However, in the days following this incident, I have exchanged quite some e-mails with Jon from SS (CEO/Founder) and he took some of his (probably very valuable) time to explain the situation to me. Basically they are going after any program which asks their user's passwords, because such programs are a security risk to them. He told me that if I manage to rewrite my program to not ask user's passwords, then it would be fine with them.

I spend considerable time to think about a solution and today I'm happy to announce it. I've totally rewritten Microstock Monitor and it is now an extension of the popular Firefox browser. That means that you no longer need to provide any user information to Microstock Monitor, as it re-uses the session information of the Firefox browser. Microstock Monitor will no longer get (and no longer needs) any of your user information, which makes it much safer to be used.

Finally thanks to all of you guys who stayed in contact with me even after I had to stop distributing the old Microstock Monitor.

But now, let's get going! Please head over to


read the documentation and install the software to test it!

As you can imagine, I've spent quite some time to rewrite this and I would love to hear about your experiences with the software here. If you enjoy it, please consider signing up with some agencies through the links which I provide in Microstock Monitor and at the website, which might get me a little compensation for the work I did (through referal earnings).

Finally, please spread the word!

Many thanks for all of your support! If you want to get in touch with me, I'm available through:
icq: 71772353 | skype: daneel1409 | msn: [email protected]

I'm looking forward to your feedback.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I've been in contact with SS and there might be "light at the end of the tunnel".

Stay tuned...

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

which lossless compression method do you use to archive your photos? Adobe Raw?

Thanks,
Michael

Hi!

I'm looking for a generic model release which gets accepted at all of the big 6. Both for minors and adults. What do you use?

Many thanks,
Michael

Hi all!

Do you use the lens hood for isolations? Is it useful to enhance the contrast / correct exposure of the object while still keeping your background white?

Thanks,
Michael

Hi all,


which metering mode do you use for photographing isolations (objects or persons on a white background with appropriate lighting)?

For my first shots I've been using the evaluative metering. However, from reading the manual of my EOS 400D it seems to make much more sense to use "center-weighted average" or even partial metering.

Which one do you use for isolations?

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I'm using a few of these 500W construction lights for my "just for fun" studio lighting:


I would like to diffuse the light by taping a bedsheet directly in front of the lamp. Will it get too hot, i.e., will the bedsheet burn or is it ok?

Please no speculation - I'd like to hear your experience.

Many thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

Which of the big 6 is currently your worst performer?

Please only vote if you submit the same photos to all of these agencies, in order to keep it fair.

Thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

good news: I've ordered my DSLR (Canon EOS 400D).

I've never shot raw before. I do own Adobe Photoshop CS2. I'd like to know - in preperation - how your raw workflow looks like, in particular of those who use Adobe Photoshop CS2.

Many thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

I'll be in San Jose for one week in April. I'll have a rental car and I have yet to decide if my return flight will also go from San Jose or from another city (I'm a bit flexible on this).

I've already been to the west coast once (including Las Vegas and National Parks) but then I had only a point and shoot with me.

I'd love to get some good trip advise / recommendations from you. Where should I go for great photos? Which kind of trip would you suggest?

Many thanks and all the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I just went through 40 of the more troublesome minutes in my life (actually the worst, except when I did the exams for my master).

First my account at one of the big 6 was suspended. 5 minutes later I got an e-mail from the founder of this agency telling me that he did not want his agency to appear in Microstock Monitor (because of trademark issues) and that I will hear from his lawyers soon.

I took immediate action by removing the Microstock Monitor website, apologized through e-mail and begged for my account to be re-opened. Fortunately he was very understanding after my swift reaction and my account is re-activated. He also pointed out that I may continue to re-distribute the software, if I remove their agency from it.

However, I decided to not take this risk. Another agency might not be as understanding as this one and I might get into big trouble ... and it's definitely not worth that.

I'm very sorry for this, but I decided that I won't continue distributing Microstock Monitor.

I do hope that you understand.

All the best,
Michael (...who is still quite unsettled about this - so excuse any typos)

Hi all!

Many thanks for your help so far. I feel that I'm progressing well towards chosing the best lens for me. As you know, I'm switching to DSLR (XTi) and I'm currently on my quest to find the perfect lens within my budget, which is around 500 Euros / 600 USD.

From my side, there are two main requirements:

1) This lens should be a very good walkaround lens for landscape, nature, people, buildings, ... just anything which I might encounter on my travels (except for wildlife, where I would need a telezoom).

2) I do a lot of product photography (isolations with a light tent). The products consist of all kind of gadgets (mobile phones, mp3 players) but also food and so on. Nothing too small, but still the lens should have a very good minimum focus distance and also a very good magnification factor.

I put considerable research into finding a lens which fullfills both 1) and 2) and finally came up with the "Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO". This is a revised version of the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC and has the following characteristics which impress me:

a) Minimum focus distance of 0,2m and
b) Magnification factor of 1:3

With the XTi sensor size (22.2 x 14.8 mm) this means that objects as small as 66,6 x 44,4 mm will fill my photo: Well enough for my work.
I've now several questions to you and would be very happy to get any inputs:

1) Does anyone of you have a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO and can provide his experiences / opinion about the lense?

2) Are there any reviews available? I only find reviews of the older "Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC"?

3) The Sigma has a good price. I'd happily spend more (within my budget of 500 Euros / 600 USD) for a higher quality lens with compareable zoom and in particular similiar characteristics w.r.t. minimum focus distance and magnification factor. Is there such a beast out there? Maybe from Canon? I couldn't find one :-(

Any other inputs are very welcome as well!

Many thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

featurepics just stopped working in Microstock Monitor for me. It seems that they slightly changed the structure of their website. I've adjusted Microstock Monitor and a new release is available here:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Downloads

Can you confirm that Featurepics stopped working in 1.3 and that 1.31 fixes that problem?

Many thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

given that the sensor size of the XTi is 22.2 x 14.8 mm, a lens with a 1:2 magnification would allow me to fill the photo with a object of the size 32 x 22 mm, right? With a 1:3 magnification the object would need to be about 39 x 24 mm to fill the photo, or?

If that is about right then I think I won't need a macro for my work right away (see my other threads) but could do my isolations also with a very good standard zoom, which would also be the much better walkaround lens.

Many thanks,
Michael

Hi!

The canon EF-S lenses only work on the smaller sensor cameras. The EF lenses work on any canon camera. Is there any advantage of using a EF-S lens on a smaller censor camera vs. an EF lens?

EF lenses are definitely more future-proof if one ever wants to switch the body...

What do you think?

Michael

Hi all,

a new release of Microstock Monitor is available from:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Downloads

It fixes a bug which caused newly subscribed Dreamstime users to not see their stats. Thanks go to Daniel for reporting this bug!

If you like the free Microstock Monitor, please consider signing up with additional agencies either through the links in the software or through:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Links

If you have a website, I'd be very happy about a link to the Microstock Monitor website :-)

Many thanks!

All the best,
Michael

Hi!

Do you shoot RAW, JPEG or both for Microstock?

Please vote! You can also reply to this if you have something additional to say.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I stumbled over two more questions during my internet research :-).

1) The Rebel DSLRs have a crop factor of 1,6. With a full size (35 mm) sensor, a 35 mm lens would mean a 1x magnification factor, right? With the rebel a 35 mm lens would mean a 1,6x magnification factor, or? Therefore a 75 mm lens would mean a 3,something magnification factor on the rebel, right?

2) I stumbled over this lens: EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. Why does such a fast lens need image stabilisation?

Thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

I'm weeding through the amount of canon lenses available in order to figure out which one to go with if (when?) I buy my canon DSLR.

I like to do isolations, such as these:

and


Additionally I take "regular" portrait / landscape photos.

I hoped to meet my needs with a single lense for the beginning, and found the following ones to be within my budget:
Canon EF 24-85mm 3.5-4.5 USM
Canon EF 28-105mm 3.5-4.5 II USM
Sigma AF 18-50mm 2.8 EX DC Macro
Sigma AF 24-70mm 2.8 EX DG Asp Macro
Tamron SP AF 17-50mm 2.8 Di II LD Asp IF
Tamron SP AF 28-75mm 2.8 XR Di LD Asp IF Macro

I really like the last lens, the very fast Tamron. Anyone got experience with that? I'd love to hear your opinions.

Many thanks,
Michael

"Your application as contributing videographer has been APPROVED."

:-)

Hi all,

I'm getting a lot of internal server errors and the reachability of submit.shutterstock.com is generally quite bad today.

Anyone else got this problem?

Thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

which US-shops can you suggest for buying DSLRs and Cameras? Possibly on the west coast (LA, San Diego, San Jose)...? I'm going to San Jose in two months and might buy a DSLR and 1 or 2 lenses there...the prices there are real great.

thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

I've recently (~3 weeks ago) joined stockXpert and uploaded my complete portfolio. My illustrations were mostly accepted. Out of my photos (~380) most (~320) were rejected mostly with the "Please submit better quality images" reason.

I'm with 8 other agencies (including all of the big ones). 70-90% of the photos rejected by stockXpert have been accepted by them and are selling great.

These are three examples out of my portfolio which were all rejected for "submit better quality images":

Apple:
http://www.unfolded.com/critique/apple.jpg
100% crop:
http://www.unfolded.com/critique/apple_crop.jpg

The apple crop is a bit large. IE might scale it down. You have to click on the image (possibly in the lower right corner) to see the full resolution.


Phone:
http://www.unfolded.com/critique/phone.jpg
100% crop:
http://www.unfolded.com/critique/phone_crop.jpg


Microphone:
http://www.unfolded.com/critique/mic.jpg
100% crop:
http://www.unfolded.com/critique/mic_crop.jpg


I'd be glad about any critique. I'm really puzzled and curious why stockXpert would reject 80% of the photos which are online at every other agency.

Many thanks,
Michael

Hi all,

given the same glass, what are the differences between the various Canon bodies (XT, XTI, 30D, 5D, 1D)? Will a XTI with the same glass get (much) worse image quality than a 1D with the same glass?

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

this question is one which has been going through my mind for a long time. It is clear that the DSLR is the more versatile camera and really shines compared to ProSumer cameras in particular at higher ISO.

However, in this discussion I would like to discuss DSLRs vs. ProSumer cameras in a controlled environment, as the one which we are mostly using for our Microstock photography, i.e.,
- Very good lighting
- Shooting at lowest ISO (e.g., ISO 80)

This discussion / my question is based on a discussion which is going on at dpreview, where the basic conclusion is that DSLRs do not have much (if any) advantages over ProSumers in a controlled environment, such as the one described above. Their really advantages appear at higher ISOs.

The dpreview discussion is in located here, for your review:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1018&message=21836849

I think one of the advantages of DSLRs vs. ProSumer cams in a controlled environment is faster autofocus, which is relevant when working with models.

Other than that - what do you think? I would love to hear your objective and well-founded opinions.

All the best,
Michael

ps: Disclaimer: I currently own a Canon Powershot S3, which I succesfully use for Microstock at iStock, Shutterstock, Dreamstime, Fotolia.

Hi all,

I just e-mailed LO support to ask about when they plan to start using paypal for paying photographers. Within 5 minutes I got the reply:

Michael-
We'll probably have something in place before the end of March.  Thanks!

Bryan

Definitely soon enough for me, given my current sale rate :-)

All the best,
Michael

Hi all!

Let me share with you some statistics. Microstock Monitor was so far downloaded 118 times by unique users, based on my web server logs. I do hope that there are as many satisfied users of the software.

Microstock Monitor was also mentioned in some blogs - many thanks!

From today on it is also available through google search. That was awefully quick. I think the blog entries and the exposure from Microstock Group (thanks Tyler!) really helped it to get indexed fast in Google.

Please spread the word friends. As you notice given the frequent feature additions, I'm quite hooked with the implementation and I'm already thinking about many new nice features to add.

All the best and many thanks so far,
Michael

ps: Please spread the word! If you do so please feel free to post in this forum about your efforts. I will love to read about them and this is heavily appreciated.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

some people expressed their concern whether Microstock Monitor is safe to use. I fully respect this, since many photographers do extraordinary work and have very valuable portfolios.

In order to react to these concerns, I've spend the better part of the day to write a guide which enables anyone to monitor and control any connections which are attempted by Microstock Monitor (or any other windows program).

You can find this guide in a new section of the Microstock Monitor website:
http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/index.php?pr=Is_this_safe?

Please note that Microstock Monitor is a hobby of me. I do not run a business or anything else. I have a full time day job which has nothing to do with Microstock Monitor. On this site I did my best to enable you to guarantee that Microstock Monitor is safe. If you are still not feeling secure with using it, then please don't use it.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all,

after another motivated evening of coding, I'm happy to announce that versoin 1.2 of Microstock Monitor is available. It got support for RF123 and Featurepics! It only displays the balance at the moment and not the current downloads. I'm not sure if they have a concept of "current downloads", as I did not have any sale there yet *g*.

Can you guys please head over to http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com and test the new version? I'm really looking forward to your feedback.

Ah ... and if you don't contribute to any of the supported agencies yet, but plan to, please consider using the links from inside Microstock Monitor or from my website. This will make me your referer and might give me a little compensation for developing and maintaining Microstock Monitor.

Let me know how this new release works for you.

All the best,
Michael

Hi all!

Which license are you using at featurepics? I'm currently using RF + business extension. Which one are you using? I've been with them for a month with competitive prices and haven't sold a single photo (those are doing very well at other agencies). Maybe it's the wrong license? I chosed it because it seems to give buyers the most flexibility.

Thanks,
Michael

Hi all!

I've just released version 1.1 of Microstock Monitor, which adds support for iStockPhoto. It seems that iStockPhoto has no concept of monthly downloads (I'm not sure, I got accepted, but don't have any downloads yet), so the "current downloads" field shows "N/A" (as for Lucky Oliver).

It would be awesome if you could grab the latest release (no need to uninstall 1.0) and tell me if and how iStockPhoto stats work for you in Microstock Monitor.

http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com/

Many thanks!
Michael

Hi all,

this is a sticky and locked thread where I will maintain all features which are currently considered for future releases:

Give the option to automatically refresh every x minutes

At the bottom of current balance put a "total"

Could possibly add a "Downloads per day" "Average DL per day" and "Average Profit per day"

Give the option to minimize it to the tray.

national derivations of fotolia
fotolia seems to automatically redirect you from fotolia.com to, e.g., fotolia.co.uk based on your IP address. Microstock Monitor does not handle that redirectoin yet and gets confused by it. I need to implement proper handling of the redirection.

autorefresh
Cool idea! But shouldn't autorefresh too often, else the agencies will suffer slowdown from to many requests. I'll consider it as a "nice to have" feature.

more than 1 account on the same stock
Is that allowed? I'll only implement it if there is considerable demand for it. I'll consider it as a "nice to have" feature.

can it run from an USB stick
The program currently stores its data (in particular user info) in the windows temp folder. You can run it from an USB stick (just copy libcurl.dll and MicrostockMonitor.exe), but the user info which you enter will be specific to the computer were it is used (i.e., you will have to re-enter it and it will be stored on your work computer!). I'll consider changing the program so that the user info is stored in the same directory as the program, then it will be truly portable by copying the dll, the exe and the user config file onto the stick. I'll consider it as a "nice to have" feature.

paypal button
Sounds good --> "nice to have" feature...first do the important stuff :-)

adding CanStock
CanStock ... is it selling?

LO shows 'N/A'
I wasn't able to figure out the "current downloads", i.e., the downloads in this period (month) with them. Is there such an info for them? I only see the total downloads.

Each time I refresh the statistics, it erases all the posts from the SS Latest Topics page (http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/search.php?search_id=newposts
)
Tricky...it should only re-log in if the application is restarted. I'll look into that.

Hi all,

I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Michael and I'm from Austria. I've been doing microstock with shutterstock for about one year now and recently also joined the other "big" microstock agencies. I don't know about you, but I'm one of the statistic freaks who usually check their sales very frequently. Of course, when I joined all the other microstock sites, this got very time consuming.

Luckily, my other "hobby" is programming. Therefore I started to write a software which would pull all the relevant stats from all the agencies which I contribute to and display them in a small window. Recently I've finished this software and have been using it a lot for myself.

Today, I'd like to announce that I'm providing this software, which I call "Microstock Monitor" to anyone for free. Microstock Monitor is a local windows application and it is from now on available for download at:


and currently supports Shutterstock, Dreamstime, Fotolia, BigStockPhoto, StockXpert and LuckyOliver. iStockphoto is coming very soon.

Since I really appreciate the value of Microstock Group forums, I did contact Tyler (aka Leaf) and asked him if he could provide a forum to discuss Microstock Monitor in exchange for a link in the application. While it's easy enough to setup a forum these days, I did not want to set up just another forum, but rather work togeter with my favourite microstock discussion site in bringing this software to you. Tyler kindly accepted (after testing the software) - many thanks!

One question which Tyler immediately asked me was:

What assurance can you provide to myself and others that the software is safe to use (ie, password, user theft)?

which I answered with:

The software will run on the local computer of the user and will store all user information locally. It does not send the user information anywhere, except for the microstock agency web sites. The user can configure their firewall to allow the software to only communicate with the websites of the microstock agencies and therefore avoid any mis-communication with unknown servers. Windows standard firewall allows such a configuration.

Another question is which compensation I get for developing and maintaining this free software for you. The answer is quite simple. I've a links section on the Microstock Monitor website and links inside the software which have my referal code added to them. So if you like Microstock Monitor then I'd greatly appreciate it if you use one of those links to sign up with microstock agencies, which might give me a little compensation for my work. Thanks!

Said that, please go to http://microstockmonitor.unfolded.com and give it a try. I'd love to see you using this free software and I'd love to get your feedback in this forum. This is a new software, so I fully expect that it may have bugs (although it runs very stable on my machine) - so please report them back here as well!

Many thanks and all the best,
Michael

Hi all,

I got accepted at istock. Now I'm at all of the "big 5" plus a few of the upcoming ones.

But is istock really worth the pain? There are no FTP uploads. The website upload system does not read the IPTC data of my photos (anyone else got the problem?). The ImageManager software seems cumbersome to use (can't I add 5 photos _at once_) and it doesn't like my IPTC keyword format (it interprets all keywords as a single one).

And I haven't started about the 15 per week limit for non exclusives yet.

Is istock worth all the pain?

Michael

Hi!

Got accepted at stockxpert on first try! I'm happy!!! :-)

All the best,
Michael

ps: Took only 3 days...