There is now such a huge price difference between iStock and Fotolia it's unreal........

Very sensible strategy Vonkara.

Well, see iStock's announcement today - prices increased by 50%.

Wow, these price increases are HUGE.

Small size up 50%.  Medium up 50%.  Large up 55%.

Look like very nice deeply saturated pics to me.

Good point sharpshot.  I wasn't around in those old days, nor for the launches of DT and FT.

However life has moved on.  IS alone will turn over nearly $100 million in sales this year.  That's serious business.  So to enter into a market the venture has to be serious and expert, because it isn't a startup industry any more.

Anyway, we'll see how SV develops.

I agree about the possibilitis Nazdavie; after all this is Corbis we are talking about.

On the other hand the whole SV thing gives the impression that it is being run by an old school RM agency person who simply doesn't believe or understand about microstock - it's so sloppy it's like an afterthought.

Until that changes, SV will not realise its potential.

It's quite remarkable that in the space of three or four months SV has launched and managed to become the laughing stock of the microstock industry.  That's quite an achievement.

Still, hopefully one day something will happen to make it change.  But at the moment it reminds me of an old Korean phrase - "a frog living in a well has a limited view of the world".

Porsche Inter Auto Signs on as Fotolia�s 500,000th Member
Leading source for legal, low-cost imagery welcomes luxury car dealerships as milestone member

NEW YORK, NY � December 4, 2007 � Today, Fotolia (http://www.fotolia.com) the world�s leading source for legal, low-cost imagery welcomes its 500,000th member: Nicole Schlotterer, Head of New Media, for Porsche Inter Auto GmbH & Co KG in Salzburg, Austria.

�Porsche Inter Auto GmbH is responsible for 122 car dealerships throughout Europe representing Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti,� explains Sclotterer. �The key to our success are strong partnerships. In Fotolia we have found the perfect partner in the image sector. Fotolia gives us access 24 hours a day, 365 days per year to a broad selection of professional high quality material and this is what is important to us. We are looking forward to this partnership!�

Schlotterer manages graphic design and all electronic media for Porche Inter Auto GmbH & Co. Through this work, she is responsible for the purchase of all stock images to be used for the dealerships� promotional materials.

"We are thrilled to announce Nicole and Porsche Inter Auto as our 500,000th member,� says co-founder and president Oleg Tscheltzoff. �Fotolia has, since our launch, prided ourselves in bringing together top photographers and illustrators with a wide variety of buyers. Our initial goal was to find a solution for small business owners to obtain legal, low-cost imagery, but since our initial launch, we�ve been fortunate enough to attract some of the world�s biggest and best brands, and they are a perfect example of the calibre of our buyers.�

Since its launch in November, 2005, Fotolia has grown to offer the world�s largest library of legal, micro-priced images on the Web, offering professional and amateur photographers the ability to connect with more than 400,000 media buyers worldwide � from small businesses and design firms to some of the world�s most recognizable brands.

About Fotolia

Fotolia is an inclusive, global community in which photographers and designers come together to form a marketplace free from traditional royalties and rights management. Launched in early November 2005, Fotolia�s digital image marketplace has acquired over 2,700,000 images in its database and 500,000 international members. For more information about the company or to access the Fotolia web site, visit www.fotolia.com.

Press Contact:

Julie Wohlberg
Director of Communications
Fotolia, LLC

Often when I try to upload five pictures the thing times out - a little red message appears at the top of the screen saying "an unknown error occured - please try again after some time".

On other occasions an error message pops up saying 'invalid character in file name".

When these errors occur I resort to uploading only two pics at a time - that solves the problem, but man is it shortening my life.........

Re FTP - see the announcement by SV above "we plan to introduce FTP sometime in the next few months....."  Not exactly what you'd call 'dynamic business growth'......

By coincidence I was just doing a search at StockXpert to check that my images were appearing okay.  Sadly, I couldn't get past THIS image which naturally cropped up everywhere:



Here are the keywords:

1940-1980 abandoned action adult advertisement air airplane airplane airplane airplane airplane airplane airplane airplane algorithm alternative angle announcement antique architecture arms arrow artificial back backgrond bad banner baroque barren beam beautiful beauty bizarre blade body botany branch bubble buddhism burnt bush business butterfly cartouche chaos child circle classic clip coat coil coiled cold color colored communications complexity composite concepts condition conservation cool copy cracked creation cross culture damaged dance dark day de dead deflated defocused deformed depth development distorted dividing dizzy dreaming dreams drop energy environment environmental exploding faded falling fashion fiber fibonacci figurine fine flame flash fleur floral flower flower fly fly flying flying footpath footpath forecasting forecasting forest forest form form four four fragility fragility frame frame fun fun funky funky galaxy galaxy gallery gallery garbage garbage garden garden geometric geometric geometry geometry glass glass global global glowing glowing gothic gothic graffiti graffiti grafic grafic grass grass green green group group growth growth halloween halloween heat heat helix helix high high hippie hippie horror horror house house icon icon ideas ideas idyllic idyllic igniting igniting illness illness imagery imagery imagination imagination in in industrial industrial industry industry infinity infinity insignia insignia interior interior intricacy intricacy kitsch kitsch label label larry larry laser laser lasershow lasershow leaking leaking life life liquid liquid lush lush lys lys material material mathematical mathematical mathematics mathematics medicine medicine meditating meditating mental mental message message messy messy micro micro mid-air mid-air military military monochrome monochrome moving moving multi multi multi-layered multi-layered museum museum music music narcotic narcotic nautilus nautilus net net netting netting nouveau nouveau nova nova objects objects obsolete obsolete ocean ocean old old old-fashioned old-fashioned orange orange organism organism organized organized ornamental ornamental over over painted painted part part peeling peeling people people perfection perfection periodic periodic photographic photographic piazza piazza placard placard planet planet plant plant plastic plastic poster poster presentation presentation product product projection projection prop prop psychedelic psychedelic pump pump purple purple rag rag rainforest rainforest ray ray reality reality red red remote remote renaissance renaissance render render rendered rendered repeat repeat repetition repetition retro retro retro-styled retro-styled revival revival ring ring rock rock rocket rocket roof roof room room row row run-down run-down runs runs sailing sailing scene scene science science screen screen scroll scroll sea sea senior senior serene serene sharp sharp shell shell shiny shiny ship ship shivering shivering shredded shredded silhouette silhouette simulator simulator single single sky sky small small smell smell smoke smoke smooth smooth smudged smudged softness softness sparse sparse speed speed spiked spiked spiral spiral splashing splashing splattered splattered spooky spooky spotted spotted spray spray spring spring stain stain stained stained stream stream striped striped style style sunbeam sunbeam table tall technician tek tentacle text textile ticket torn tranquil tree triangle tropical tube turning twisted unpleasant up urban vek vibrant victorian vine virtual visual vitality waiting warrior wave waving weather white woods yellow youth zen-like zoom

Quite right RP - keyword spamming is bad for business.  For everyone.

How long would people use a search engine for if all it does is throw up ridiculous and completely irrelevant results?  Not long - they'd get fed up and simply stop using it.

Well it's the same in stock photos.  Keyword spammers ruin the business for everyone.  Customers get fed up and go elsewhere.

I've had another look at that comparison and I have to be honest and say I really can't see any difference from iso 100 to 400.

Some might see that as a negative (I suppose we have come to expect big leaps every couple of years) but on the other hand Nikon have managed to produce the same quality at 12.4mp from the APS sensor.

I also only buy full frame lenses and I've sold all my APS lenses.

I won't be buying a D3 simply because I cannot justify the huge leap in price when it's still only 12.4mp.  I should think for most people the D300 is the obvious choice of the two.

When they launch a reduced price full frame I'll go for that, but until then I will upgrade to the D300 (but only after the Christmas rush) if I cannot find a used D2Xs at a lower price.

This thread wasn't started to be 'funny' or to cock a snoot at the Macro photographers.  Its intention was to highlight the difficulties facing Getty (and the other macro houses) and to put the emergence of microstock in perspective.

Having said that, I have spent some time looking at the collections offered by Getty, Corbis and Jupiter, and I must say that I am surprised by the high percentage of poor quality snapshots.  For years, these macro houses appear to have been 'clubs' where one can get a 'seat' through the 'who you know' route, or by having enough money to be able to buy a few Hasselblads or Bronicas.  I'm afraid that 80% of those photographers simply won't make the grade in the microstock world.

The problem has been caused simply by the huge change in technology which has allowed talented photographers to emerge whereas in the past many of those simply couldn't overcome the hurdeles placed in front of them by the macro houses.

It's only the same as when other technologies emerged years ago - look at how Henry Ford destroyed the motor car industry by his production line methods producing inexpensive cars for everyone.  Many niche manufacturers went bust, but the motor car industry flourished (in a different way and with different people at the forefront).