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Messages - GeoPappas
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551
« on: October 23, 2007, 16:16 »
GeoPappas - Well I see now why you have not rushed out and bought one yet. I just looked at image samples of the cameras in your short list (plus a few more) and nothing impressed me either. Even though the camera will be for my husband and not for any stock (and I know I should not be comparing them to a SLR) I still have a hard time getting past the harsh noise most of these models produce. It seems anything past ISO100 and the image really falls apart.
I couldn't have said it better. You hit the nail right on the head. While the P&S would not be my main camera, it would be nice to know that if I took a great shot I could upload it to most of the microstock sites and get it accepted. I guess that we're asking for too much! As I stated at the beginning, we currently own a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 (5 MP, 12x optical zoom, IS) which performs pretty well, but it still has massive noise on higher ISOs. I have been thinking about upgrading to one of the cameras on the list. Even though it won't be dSLR quality, most of the new cameras will have better image quality and larger MP. At least that is something.
552
« on: October 23, 2007, 15:43 »
One of the things that hasn't been mentioned about a rating system is that most users will rate your image for "artistic content" and not for "saleability". In other words, images with beautiful landscapes and sunsets will get high ratings, even though those types of images really don't sell well as stock. And plain isolated images will get low scores even thought they might sell fantastically as stock.
Something to think about...
553
« on: October 23, 2007, 12:36 »
This is starting to become interesting. What were the cons about SV? Watermakring?
madelaide: I'm shocked!  You're not on SnapVillage yet??? 
554
« on: October 23, 2007, 12:23 »
Canon A640 10 MEG
The 640 was announced over a year ago, and is slightly older technology. As such, it does not offer IS (which is one of my requirements). Thanks anyhow...
555
« on: October 23, 2007, 06:58 »
Earnings are quite important, but I think it doesn't put the other aspects so behind. I mean, IS is my top earmer (not this month), but I do like StockXpert much better because it is a very good earner (my best this month) and has a much easier upload system.
I agree with you. My point was that adding sites such as USphotostock, Fotomind, Photola, etc., etc. would just add confusion to the poll and wouldn't add anything positive.
556
« on: October 23, 2007, 06:27 »
yeah i see where you are coming from, but there is going to be around 30 sites when they are all entered 
leaf: I'm not sure that I would put in every site. As almost everyone has agreed, the most important feature of a site is monthly income. And most of the sites outside the Big 6 don't offer much of a monthly income (if anything at all). I think that adding in another 25 or so sites would really complicate the polls but wouldn't add anything of interest. I would add a few more sites, such as a few of the Up and Coming sites (LuckyOliver, 123RF, etc), but that is it. Anyway, just my opinion...
557
« on: October 23, 2007, 06:23 »
Just a suggestion on the poll's design...
There are currently six sites and 10 performance options. It would be easier to enter our opinions with an equal number of choices, like six sites and six performance options or 10 and 10.
At first, I thought the same thing, but now I like it with more options than sites because it allows us to show a gap that might exist between sites. For example, Site A might be the best at something and Site B might be second best, but Site A might be twice as good as Site B. With the current system you could give Site A a 10 and Site B a 5. I hope that makes sense...
558
« on: October 23, 2007, 06:18 »
Maybe Canon Tx1 can be a good choice ? It seems that you can even make stock video with this one.
The Canon Tx1 is a bit pricey (> $450), has a small LCD (1.8"), is only 7 MP, and has a small sensor (1/2.5"). At ISO 80 and 100, the shots look pretty good, but if you look at anything at ISO 400 and above, the grain gets pretty bad. Check out this ISO 400 image (warning large file): http://dpreview-img.fotki.com/gallery/canontx1_samples/originals/img_3073.jpg
559
« on: October 23, 2007, 06:02 »
That said and back to topic i would also recommend the Fuji F31fd much cheaper and still the best sensor technology for compacts.
The Canon-G serie is way overpriced.
I have heard a lot of good things about the Fuji F31fd, but unfortunately it doesn't have IS. The new Fuji F50 fd does have IS, so I will need to add it to my short list.
560
« on: October 22, 2007, 18:30 »
On another forum, it was reported that if someone has your email address, then they can use the "Forgot Pass" feature of StockXpert. This then would display the new password on the screen. So the hacker can then effectively get into your account.
But I just used the "Forgot Pass" feature on my account and it doesn't display the password on the screen. It just emails it to you at your email address.
So as far as I could see there is no security threat.
Let me know if I am wrong...
561
« on: October 22, 2007, 18:21 »
Here is the short list that I am still looking at:
Canon G9
Canon G7
Nikon P5000
Nikon P5100
Nikon P3
Nikon P4
Panasonic LX2
Sony DSCW200
Pentax A10
One camera that has caught my eye is the Sigma DP1, but it will probably be highly priced when it debuts.
Wow! Thats your short list? Do all of these have IS/VR? That is important to me also. Thanks and keep us posted.
Leaf - I would love to click an amazon link and support the site...but I do not see one. Do I need to log out?
edit - OK, DUH! I just noticed the "store" link in the menu
Yes, all have IS. That was a part of my requirements. My other requirements were that the sensor be larger than 1/2.5" (which the majority of cameras have), that optical zoom be at least 3x, that it not cost as much as an dSLR, and that the camera be relatively thin (< 2"). The last requirement was from my wife (in order to fit the camera into her purse/pocketbook).
562
« on: October 22, 2007, 15:26 »
what did you end up going with?
As of this point, I haven't purchased anything yet. None of the cameras really blew me away. Here is the short list that I am still looking at: Canon G9 Canon G7 Nikon P5000 Nikon P5100 Nikon P3 Nikon P4 Panasonic LX2 Sony DSCW200 Pentax A10 One camera that has caught my eye is the Sigma DP1, but it will probably be highly priced when it debuts.
563
« on: October 22, 2007, 12:56 »
Are there any manufacturers who still use this trick to make their cameras look more impressive than they really are?
I don't think that it is a trick, but rather a different way of capturing light via the sensor. I actually think that the Foveon X3 captures light in a more realistic manner than most other cameras out there. I think that both cameras are known to have excellent image quality, but they are definitely not the type of camera to use for stock sites (since they don't understand the technology). I am aware of two camera systems. Fuji Super CCD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_CCDSigma Foveon X3: http://www.foveon.com/article.php?a=67I'm not sure if you have seen some of the images taken with the Foveon X3, but they are simply amazing. For example, check out this image: http://www.sigma-sd14.com/sample-photo/portrait/img/sd14-po-005.jpgOr go here for some more: http://www.sigma-sd14.com/sample-photo/index.html
564
« on: October 22, 2007, 07:20 »
In the past few days I have uploaded a few images to StockXpert. As of this morning, the thumbnails are not available and states that it is "Generating image..." Is anyone else having this problem?
565
« on: October 20, 2007, 19:15 »
Very nice.
One comment: The last question can be taken a few different ways. I understood the word "performance" to mean how fast the website was in responding to requests. You could also take the word "performance" to mean how much money you make there. I would suggest trying to clarify that question a little better.
566
« on: October 20, 2007, 09:11 »
At first I didn't understand why the voting was such an integral part of the site, but I think I understand a little better now. On MostPhotos, there is no approval process for images. There are no inspectors. The rating system sort of the alternative to having hired inspectors and basically makes every member an "inspector" of sorts. It is provided to help with the "Best Match" sorting algorithm so that buyers can find the best images at the top of the sort. In a perfect world this would work wonderfully. Great images would work their way to the top of the sort order, and bad images would be banned to the bottom of the sort order. As we all know, this is far from a perfect world and rating systems have been abused on every site that has had one. IS used to use the rating system in their Best Match algorithm, but it was abused and is not used anymore. StockXpert has a rating system, but even that is abused. I just recently uploaded an image that has become a good seller and someone gave the image a 6 to try and get it off the top of the sort order. Granted, the image isn't the best in the world, but it definitely isn't a 6. ( If anyone is interested, here is the image: http://www.stockxpert.com/browse.phtml?f=view&id=5393431. If you don't like the image, then please don't rate it.) I like the idea of a rating system, but I can't seem to figure out how to implement one that is usable. I was on Photo.Net for years and they also have a rating system. For the most part it works, but it is also abused by certain members. The Photo.Net system works because of the large number of ratings that an image can receive. In the end, an image will usually average out where it should be. Great images receive high marks and poor images receive low marks (for the most part). The other problem with rating systems, is the "revenge" factor. If a member receives a bad rating (even though it might be a bad image), they might then take revenge on the rater and give them bad ratings on ALL of their images.
567
« on: October 20, 2007, 07:26 »
My understanding is that you don't actually clean the sensor itself, but the clear low pass filter over the sensor.
This brings up a question: What is the sensor filter made of? Is it glass?
If it glass, then plastic wouldn't harm it.
I have also heard of using Saran Wrap to clean the sensor filter. Anyone ever tried this method?
568
« on: October 19, 2007, 16:27 »
I think that it would make sense on DT to give higher level images a better place in the search as they make more money from them but I don't know if they do or not. If someone looks for "yellow car" and I have an image in which "yellow car" is in the title, description and keywords (thus almost surely being an image of a yellow car...), it doesn't make sense that my image comes behind images from great sellers if they have a series of a dozen images in which yellow and car are keywords only (because in fact the image is of a woman wearing a yellow shirt crossing the street in front of a few cars).
That is my beef with DT's default (Relevance aka Best Match) sorting algorithm. It doesn't work the way you think it should work. I agree that if you type in a search, then the results should contain all the search words in the title, description, and keywords. But it doesn't work that way. For example, if you search for "American United States flag", you will find that most of the results don't contain the search words in the keywords, title, and description. As a matter of fact, I counted only five images in the first 100 results that contain all of the search words in the title, description, and keywords. Now how is that good for a buyer? A buyer searches for an American flag, but they get images with the following titles: "Man with American Flag" "United States Constitution, Bible, scales weighing" "Constitution of the United States" "United States Constitution, Candle, and Flag" "US Air Force Parachuter with American Flag" "Mount Rushmore American Flag" "Half Staff American Flag at the United States Capitol" "United States Capitol Building Dome" etc, etc. The same is true of other searches. For example, if you want to find a Christmas tree with snow and you use the search "Christmas tree snowing", then you will get images with titles such as: "Christmas decoration" "Merry Christmas" "Celtic Christmas card" "Christmas card with space for wishes" etc, etc. So it seems to be taking other factors into consideration that don't seem to be giving the best results. IMO, the old sort algorithm worked much better than this new one.
569
« on: October 19, 2007, 12:35 »
...The amount of money they make from us, they should employ someone just to stop these sites stealing images.
Istock implies that they will fight legal battles for exclusive photographers to protect the images. I can't get you the exact link & quote since IS is offline for maintenance.
If that is true, then that is ironic, since it is the non-exclusives that pay more to IS for their "services". You would think that "you get what you pay for", but in this case it might not be true.
570
« on: October 19, 2007, 08:10 »
Steve-Oh:
I agree with everyone else in this thread that the new Account Balance web page needs to be tweaked. It currently isn't very useful.
As mentioned above, another column should be added for subscriptions. So the first column would still be date, the second column would be for credit (regular) sales, the third column would be for subscription sales, and the fourth (and last) column would be the total for the day.
A hyperlink should be provided on the date (if there are any sales for that day) where details could be provided (which would show the breakout of sales) for each day.. Alternatively, a hyperlink on the second (credit sales) and third (subscription sales) columns could be provided instead that would show the details for each of the different types of sales.
Hope that helps.
571
« on: October 19, 2007, 02:49 »
On dreamstime I believe that the dls/image ratio is one of the factors in their popular search which makes sense to draw attention to portfolios that are generally of high quality.
DL/image is definitely NOT something that is used in the Relevancy (aka Best Match) sort order. My current DL/image is at a little over 7. Last month it was even higher - it was around 8. It dropped because I started uploading new images in the last month to try and counter the free-fall that my sales have had. My sales used to be quite good on DT, but since the beginning of the year they have been on a death spiral. I barely make anything at all on DT anymore.
572
« on: October 17, 2007, 13:02 »
Well, I haven't actually used it yet, but I installed it last night and figured that I would pass this on.
I make it a point not to install applications on my C: drive. Most applications will allow you to pick another drive to install to without a problem.
Well, when I tried to install PSP X2 last night, I pointed the app to my E: drive (which is where I install all my apps). I then pushed the button to continue, but it complained that it still needed over 300 MB of free space on my C: drive!
It took me about an hour to clear enough space on my C: drive for the install. Not very user friendly or extensible.
Once I finally got it installed, I did manage to open the app and take a quick peak. Looks nice from a UI perspective, but that was all I had time for.
573
« on: October 16, 2007, 18:20 »
What I don't understand is how he stole the images.
574
« on: October 16, 2007, 12:47 »
Funny thing is that I have been in the IT industry for over 20 years, yet I see her going clockwise (and only clockwise). I have asked about a dozen other IS staff to look at it with the following results:
4 men see her only going clockwise;
3 women see her initially going clockwise, but then changing direction every now and then;
2 men see her initially going clockwise, but then changing direction every now and then.
Out of the group I polled, nobody only sees her only going counter-clockwise.
One question that came out of it was "what is the definition of clockwise/counter-clockwise?" In my poll, we all determined that we would be looking down on her to determine the circular direction. But others might determine direction by looking upwards towards her.
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