Quote from: m@m on April 28, 2010, 09:56

IMO, the site is not worth uploading too, as a matter of fact just requested my account closed and images deleted yesterday...It seems that the Panther Media Upload / Contributor Back End has fade away into oblivion...not enough sales to make the painful uploading process justified...  
Personally, I don't see a very bright future for PM as is...

Oh why so hostile and impatient? They announced the new system June 16th 2009 and in only 18 days it will be a full year of waiting for the promises. If you write to support, expect two to three weeks wait for an answer, sometimes not answering the question you asked. Confusing navigation with far too many options that don't lead to anything useful. No views, no sales... aren't we supposed to be happy about this?  

[sarcastic mode off]

For at least a year, I had higher hopes and the site looked like it had potential. Now they have fallen into the rest of the pack with unfulfilled promises, buggy system issues, insanely slow and inconsistent reviews.

Yes, you'll have 800 photos, and no downloads in 17 months.

Ha!  Just kidding

Thanks, D

I was working on some files and turned on the focus mask. It shows only her hair as sharp in all the images... Its weird, becuase it doesn't make sense only the hair is sharp here.

Mamiya just released 2 new digital medium format camera lines (4 cameras) and it got me drooling again over medium format.   So far the costs have been pretty prohibitive, especially considering what a Canon 5D mark II can do.  But the big sensor of a medium format sure looks tempting.  Mamiya hasn't released their pricing yet but this is what they say

Quote

Mamiya 28 and 22 Megapixel Series
The new Mamiya DM28 and DM22 each offer an unmatched value for the new professional photographer. Featuring 16-bit/ channel image quality and industry-leading shooting speeds, they will be priced at extremely attractive points.

Utilizing a range of 15 existing Mamiya 645AF focal plane lenses, the Mamiya DM22 and DM28 offer many of the features found on their higher-end siblings. They also include Raw file processing with new versions of either Leaf Capture�, or Capture One� software by Phase One, allowing photographers their choice of workflow from the industry leaders.

[Press release]

There is also the option of buying a good used older medium format camera (for film) and buying a digital back.

Anyhow, anyone using medium format here?  I know Yuri does (or at least did).

Well I've been pondering this now for the last night / day and a bit and this is what I am thinking, some of this may be a bit of a rehash of others ideas and or patch of job so credit for others is due where it is due.

A co-op is most definitely the way to go but how to do it? The tech requirements, logistics, legal and what not are just to large an barrier for a fresh out of the darkroom co-op to work around. The idea behind the porn structure is good but I can us getting into trouble with conflicting contracts and payment structures (processing and pricing).

As far as creating our own self sustaining site site we get into issues managing the site, lawyers, accountants, marketers, image reviewers (yes we need reviewers), someone to hire all these people. If we do these jobs ourselves there will be conflicts and not nice ones either amongest the members not to mention the conflicts of interest with running a site will submitting to other agencies.

I'm thinking that our best bet to make this co-op work will be to partner with an existing site. I know people have their reservations about the new sites and low earners but quite frankly what would we expect from our own start up. If one of the new / low earners were to approach us with a new business plan were we as contributors are offered a "new" contract were by we take a smaller percentage of the sale price of each image for x number of dollars in exchange for a vote in the operation of the site (similar to a vote on the board of directors), one vote per contributor. This way the site becomes legally responsible to seek the majority vote of its contributors before making changes to the site or agreements, no majority no change. Also once the x number of dollars has been reached by the contributor their percentage of each sale would rise to rate y, therefore providing the site with a financial boost to assist with the re-branding (renaming) and marketing the site as a "Fair Trade" stock site.

In order for such a change in a contributors agreement would most certainly require the submission of proof of identification as the contributors would end up becoming shareholders of the site (one share per contributor).

The one contributor one vote would help avoid any one contributor from corning the voting process on changes although the site would have to disclose the number of votes outstanding and abide by a 50 percent plus one rule for votes cast on changes.

By using an existing site we would have the infrastructure in place and a means to review our images (in a clear well stated manner, rules and guide lines) to ensure that we do not harm our own quality.

No mandatory exclusivity as it would limit the number of images that we can get on-line in a relatively reasonable time frame.

These are just few thoughts that I've had on the subjectand how it maybe able to work, and yes these thoughts still need work themselves. Now is there a site admin out there that may interested in such an idea?

Enjoy and rip away!

Thank you very much!

That is some quite impressive numbers   

Perhaps I should consider NOT to delete my account after all 

By the way... You'll find links for personal shop and much more via the "My Panther" menu - Extras - homepage vidgets

Thanks,

Best regards
Flemming

Did they change?
Last time i checked they have been exclusive and paid 15% commission considering most of their sales are through partnersites so the actual photographershare will be even far less then the ridiculous 15% !