Wow, I found one of my shots on a billboard over the weekend!  What a hoot!   

Congratulations! That's amazing.

What camera did you use to get an image that size?   

Wow! Impressive.

And you can see why mirror lock up is such a useful facility. Look at the way the thing vibrates as the mirror slams up. How many cameras have it these days?

I've been using Nikons since 1972 and I've never had problems with any of them. started with a Nikkormat and I'm now using a D3. The Nikkormat still takes photos except the built-in exposure meter is dodgy (they had a strange carbon resistor ring system which wears out). The F801s I got after it works absolutely perfectly and I still use it for film photography.

Any brand, even the best, can throw up dud specimens. Doesn't matter if it's cameras, cars, washing machines, TVs, whatever. No manufacturing process is 100% sure.

Sounds like a significant part of your problem lies in not returning the obviously faulty camera immediately ...

I decided to keep it and deal with the issue. I noticed when I turned the camera off and then on the issue sometimes went away. After a couple months, I finally had some time to send the camera in

Salut Jay.

Bienvenu. Il n'y a pas beacoup de 'tchatche' sur cette forum ... la plupart est en anglais ... mais n�anmois il existe les francophones ici et l�.

Cheers

It seems to be sorted now. Just a hiccup I guess.

istock has doubled its referral bonus for September, from $10 to $20 per referral.

I wonder why they've done that?

Anyone here a member of the Stoack Artists Alliance?

Perhaps they have no room for microstock photographers, but they could have some good info info.  They keywords magazine looks interesting.

When last I heard, they were quite strongly anti microstock. I don't know if that has changed.

In an interview in a UK newspaper this weekend, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) warns that the economic times faced by Britain and the rest of the world "are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years". To deepen the sense of gloom, he adds: "And I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought."

How will that affect us? Will sales of images slump too as businesses/publishers/newspapers/magazines cut back on costs?

Or will they remain buoyant as advertisers/editors/etc desperately try to drum up new custom?

One aspect in favour of this 'industry' weathering the storm is its global nature. For example, just this morning I learned that I'd sold an image in South Korea. The global span of stock makes it different to other more localised industries.

Any other ideas?

(P.S. you can read the article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/aug/30/economy.alistairdarling)

So far we've got 57 cameras represented and 44 photographers.

1.29 cameras per photographer. In other words, only about a quarter of us use more than one camera for stock.

I can never understand why manufacturers get so uptight about this sort of thing.

I also write and writers are constantly reminded, in magazines for example, that 'kleenex' and 'sellotape' and 'hoover' etc. are brand names and must not be used without permission.

Surely all this sort of stuff gives the company publicity. Even if it is rumours it still keeps Canon in the public eye and that can't be bad, can it?

Like others, I was using Smart FTP, but I began to have all sorts of problems with it. Also, as I recall, it began nagging me to buy an upgraded version (I think it was that program).

I switched to Filezilla and never looked back. Yes, it's simple, but that's the beauty of it. Works like a charm, every time.

I got booted out of a 'permanent and pensionable' job with no warning whatsoever ('structural adjustment' they called it).

Then I went through a succession of awful, or great but highly insecure jobs (working for the British Diplomatic corps ... vile! Working for a children's publishing company ... great, but very insecure) until I got too old to be of interest to anyone - though not too old to have a brain, experience, skills or want to work.

I decided to try and use some of the thousands of 35mm trannies I'd taken whilst living in Zambia. Sent them to an agency and was accepted. Then I found microstock!

Wish I'd done this earlier - a whole lot earlier. I could really have hit the jackpot whilst in Zambia, and I was only doing it for fun.   

Now I'm beginning to get a reasonable and relatively steady income from doing something I love, and is creative. Ain't never gonna retire.