Quote from: lisafx on September 04, 2010, 22:36
Patrick, or anyone else, can you recommend a higher end LCD for comparison purposes?  

My 244T is still going strong (knock wood) but I had been thinking I would spring for an Eizo or LaCie next time around.  Would love your opinion on those...

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_pa241w.htm

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2711.htm

http://shop.colourconfidence.com/product.php?xProd=2673&xSec=10158

http://shop.colourconfidence.com/section.php?xSec=10313

Keep in mind you're also paying for the brand name...

Patrick.

Quote from: Allsa on September 04, 2010, 18:19
My beautiful  Samsung SyncMaster244T monitor is dying, and I've been shopping for something comparable. I searched on this forum, found a recent discussion about monitors; and learned that my monitor was discontinued. It's replacement, the  Samsung SyncMaster245T was recommended instead, but it turns out that model has been discontinued, too. There are a gazillion monitors available, at all different prices, and I can't decide. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Exellent quality.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hp_lp2475w.htm

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/605961-REG/HP_Hewlett_Packard_KD911A8_ABA_LP2475w_24_LCD_Computer.html

Patrick.

http://www.microstockgroup.com/123royaltyfree-com/donate-free-images-is-it-good/

I can add to that :

When they started the Free image offerings my downloads dropped 30-40%.
I even joined in the program in the beginning.  What made me decide to stop offering free images is that a designer contacted me personally asking if i could donate image x and x and x and x also to the free section... i didn't.
More interesting is that I didn't had any sales on those X images that month... that made me conclude there are a lot of designer out there that are not interested in becoming a paying customer.

Patrick H.

Just wondering... what are the criteria to submit to the EVO collection..?..

Patrick.

I'm also starting to wonder if my images come up in searches..... 
This is my worst month since I started uploading to them years ago... 

Patrick.

Quote from: Pixie on August 11, 2010, 20:13
Hello everybody,

Let's sort everything out. We're certainly not thieves, and we're not enemy of all contributors nor we're sharing your files for free on Twitter (was that serious?).

1. We have strong duplicate detection. It's not perfect but it does a pretty good job. So my guess it that 95% of the files are recognized as dupes and the rest is either new or somehow more compressed than it is on the other site.

2. Violators:  We take everything pretty seriously and even though it may seem like we don't know the buyer's size of shoes, we do know buyers e-mail address and more importantly payment details via PayPal or Credit Card, so it's pretty secure. Does anyone of you think that other sites are any more secure where you can basically fill in any made up personal info and hotmail address if you so choose to do so?

3. The content we're getting from FT and DT is treated very seriously. We don't publish anything without watermarks and we don't even release hi-res files until it's sold. Also, no FT or DT image is sold via subscription on Pixmac everything is pay as you go.

4. Guys, you should be able to choose on FT and DT to opt-out third party distributors. That's what we've been told.

Finally. Yes we're here to make money – we're a business, but obviously not without you on our side. Is there really someone who thinks that by stealing and violating rights we will grow and make significant sales without being spotted? Honestly? Also, there is no need to be offensive – we are also people not "them".  We welcome any feedback and advice on reasonable ideas that we can implement (as we already did many times)

Thank you.

And thanks to everyone  who sees Pixmac as a serious business and have supported us so far.


Vitezslav Valka, CEO & Simon Raybould, Director of Sales & Marketing – North America.


Note from Simon – Cheesy?  I take offence to that.....hold on, let me just change my ipod over from Michael Bolton to Celine Dion.

The world keeps turning (and I keep getting dizzy)

One last serious note – www.pixmac.com is a pretty good site (we hope) for users. We
genuinly believe it's a worthwhile tool in a designers toolbox.

We can not opt out on Fotolia.
Patrick.

Most of these are completely done with photoshop CS2-3 ... except for number two, combination of photoshop and bryce 3D.









Patrick.

http://www.buffalo-technology.com/products/external-drives/drivestation/ifc-pcie2u3-usb-30-pci-express-interface-card/

Quote from: FD-regular on July 28, 2010, 15:35
If it's only for the OS, who cares it breaks down after 2-3 years? An OS and the progs are easy to restore. Data aren't. It will break if you use it all the time, certainly when you also use it as PS scratch disk. Mine broke down exactly after 3 years of use, and I replaced it by the cheapest one around which seems to be 300 Gig something for 50$. Off the shelf.

Sure... a scratch disc doesn't store data... it only uses that disk to perform operations... so no loss of data ...

Patrick H.

Quote from: click_click on July 28, 2010, 15:34
Thanks for you responses.

The WD Raptor start at about $130 right?

I can't afford that right now.

How about this one: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WD3200KSRTL-Caviar-3-5-Inch/dp/B000FBSREU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1280327294&sr=8-1 for $50

It really doesn't have to be 10RPM.

If I could I'd get a nice SSD to be on the fast side... 

Another question about the IDE thing. I doubt that I would go that route but mys system doesn't have IDE ports. I just have a ton of SATA connectors. Would I have to get a converter plug or even a expansion card to get IDE connectors in there? It's a DELL XPS720 (from 2008).

You can use IDE drives by adding a PCI-e card into a free slot that drives a combo of IDE drives or SATA drives, ranging speeds from 4000-15000  rpm.  Costly... but worth the investment.

Patrick.

Quote from: ichiro17 on July 28, 2010, 15:15
i've never had a hard drive fail, either IDE or SATA.  But it would be silly to go out of your way to buy old IDE technology thats slow and dated.  

Buy a WD Raptor drive 10K RPM, they are amazingly fast and quiet and I love them.  Got 2, plus 1 TB 7200 RPM, 400 GB 7200 and 320 GB 7200 in my system

I've had a SATA drive 80 Gig configured as the scratch drive for photoshop only... internal... and problems too (numerous crashes, freezing, data loss etc) ... replaced it with an IDE an no problems anymore.

Patrick.

ps : i'm working on a Packard Bell P IV quad core 2.4 .. 8 gig memory.... however, the motherboard seems to be buggy with SATA drives (research on several forum and sites.. )

Quote from: click_click on July 28, 2010, 15:05
One of my computers failed on me due to a motherboard issue. It will be replaced today.

However my second computer which is the one for eeeeverything (photo editing, video rendering and all the stock stuff) failed on me as well.

I can't replace both computers due to the lack of a raise from SS - lol

OK here is the deal. I need a reliable, SMALL SATA hard drive.

This hard drive will only be used for the OS and not storage. Since my OS drive failed, I can't use my newer computer as the secondary HD is full  

All I need is a small, reliable and preferably dirt cheap HD. Ideally I'd like to pick it up at Staples, Office Max, Office Depot or BestBuy so I can go on with my work today.

Reading reviews of ANY HD shows that some people ALWAYS had a failure within warranty time or just after. Is there a drive that usually quite reliable?

I had a 500GB Seagate that failed and I'm inclined not to get a Seagate anymore.
But online I read from other people that Maxtor and Western Digital suck and they only get Seagate  

What should I do? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I've only had problems with sata drive, crashes, data lost etc...
I've installed my start up (windows, programs etc) on a IDE drive, no problem since.
Since then  i've replaced all SATA backup drives with external IDE drives, not taking any risk anymore with SATA.

Patrick.

Quote from: OM on July 24, 2010, 23:39

Quote from: OM on July 24, 2010, 23:26

Quote from: dirkr on July 23, 2010, 19:23
Fotolia. They allow you to opt out your exclusive images (and only those) from their subs program.
But I remember reading some comments on the (German) FT forum, that members doing that have experienced dropping sales. Obviously FT takes into account your view/sales ratio for determining search order, so having images not available for subs might impact your position in the search.
As I have no exclusive images with them, I can't give any own experience though.

Correct. I attempted to give up FT subs but lasted 3 weeks. In that short time, I really had the feeling that my sales were dropping and I folded.
On an FT blog there was some info regarding images in subs and how it does affect that image in the search results. Every time an image is viewed in subs, it gathers a point which helps in the search order. Images not in subs get zero points and can quickly become invisible.

I'll quote meself! I found the section on FT blog about subs that I posted a few months ago:

"Visibility
By following the rules above, you will achieve a better visibility. But there are further tips to increase your visibility:

1. By allowing the sales in subscription you will improve the ratio sold/views for each one of your contents. When a subscription customer wants to buy your image and you don't allow the sale in subscription, your content will be marked at 0 sold for 1 view. The ratio sold/view is an important criteria within our search engine. Images that are sold each time they are viewed receive a better visibility in the results page."

http://blog.fotolia.com/uk/guideline/microstocktips.html

This could also lead to misuse of the system.  To reduce competition and worsen their ratio sold/view i could hire a third world country guy to click on as many images of top contributors a day except mine.

Patrick.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2311h.htm

Seems like a winner for photo editing.

Patrick.

Make sure it doesn't corrupt raw files.  I once had a mobile backup hard drive with card reader from Vosonic (one of the earlier versions) for dumping my CF card on the drive. All raw files were corrupted, Nikon NX or photoshop couldn't read them anymore.  The 3 cards/files i transferred to the device were completely  lost.
Needles to say I returned the device to the store the day after and replaced it with a newer version that didn't corrupt my raw files.

Patrick.

Don't be surprised if Nikon starts using Foveon sensors.

Patrick H.

Quote from: suwanneeredhead on July 11, 2010, 21:07
That's funny... but interesting as well because that's what I tell people to do after they think they have isolated an object on white... it's a good way to find your mistakes and places you missed.  Or, of course you can slide your levels temporarily to darken up the missed spots.

Thanks for sharing, that's too cute.

No need to tilt the screen if you have a S-IPS based panel monitor.. 

Patrick H.

Quote from: Colette on July 09, 2010, 18:31
Glad to see that I'm not stressed at all.
I can clearly see the cow ant the dolphin grazing together on green meadowland.
What I don't understand is why they put that dolphin there...

Finally some who also sees grassland... ooofff... thought i was loosing it.. 

Patrick.

Quote from: microstockphoto.co.uk on July 03, 2010, 08:01
I am an happy Olympus user, but e-20p is a fixed lens camera, a "bridge" camera between point&shoot and a real reflex; also, image quality is not good enough given today's standards - useful as a general purpose camera but not actually for stock.

If you choose Olympus, go for the E510 as MicrostockExp suggested. I have one and I'm very happy with it; although kit lenses are a bit soft: start with kit then buy a proper lens as soon as you can.

Good advice.. 

Quote from: Kone on June 25, 2010, 15:04

Quote from: louoates on June 25, 2010, 13:37
Best bet is to learn from all rejections and resubmit the same one from time to time in hopes of getting a better reviewer.

Personally I never resubmit the rejected image. If they don't like it...what is the point of resubmitting?
Also if you want to learn from the rejection why do you resubmit the same one?

Exactly my point too...

@ some previous participant in this discussion.. reviewers are human too.....i'm sure they work according to specified parameters set by the site... no point in insulting them...

Patrick H.

Hilarious...

Quote from: dreamstock.com on June 21, 2010, 22:13
Thanks for all your feedback! We have taken them in and modified our program. We are still in beta and always open to suggestions. We will be adjusting the Unlimited program so payouts are now 15c, not 10c and will be limiting downloads to small resolution image files only. We also plan to introduce a new 25-per-day download plan shortly.

1. Unlimited plan - (Unlimited downloads per day)
15c credit to photographer per unique download ~ small image downloads only (under 1000px width)

2. Freedom Plan (25 images per day)
30c to 50c credit to photographer per unique download ~ full image size downloads

Rates will be:
30c - under $10,000 lifetime earning
40c - over $10,001 lifetime earning
45c - over $25,000 lifetime earning
50c - over $50,000 lifetime earning

Quote from: cuppacoffee on June 20, 2010, 16:46
From a business perspective why wouldn't you want the proven sellers up front? It is all well and good to be "fair" but fair doesn't always make money.

This is exactly what happens at most sites.... we'll just have to wait and see with this new site.
If this happens, and considering they don't have a Free site that drives (potential) buyers to the paying site..... maybe it's not worth the time uploading for the few bucks we could be earning each month.
We'll just have to wait (and upload if you feel to) and see.

Patrick.

Quote from: Microbius on June 11, 2010, 10:53
The way I interpret the statements above it just means you can get a cash price for the image and pay for it like you would any other online purchase at checkout without having had to buy credits prior to choosing the image. I think this will help by making impulse purchases more likely and stopping customers worrying about unspent credits in credit packs.

The way I interpret it also...:-)

Patrick.

Quote from: sharpshot on June 05, 2010, 17:43
I don't get images rejected on all of the sites, so I can't justify having them free on one site while people pay on other sites.  I am really not interested in free images anyway, if the sites use them to get new buyers, do we get referral fees?

Exactly my attitude also.. why giving away something for free when it's being sold somewhere else..?.. 

Patrick H.