Link: http://bit.ly/3eCREj

This is interesting: a new mid-format camera by an independent vendor. More than that, they say "every camera system is supported".

The price tag of 4985 € looks like a serious barrier for many prospective buyers. I guess the explanation for the high price is in Hartblei' FAQ:

Which camera systems are supported?
Very simple - ALL of them! Canon and Nikon mounts are on stock. But on a built to order base we can do about any other custom mount according to customers needs. We have all the mounts on stock and after order they are assembled to the lens. Further on a later date You can of course change your lenses mount, but for this you have to send in the lens to us for service.

They build the camera on demand, so you get a custom-made body. Probably that's why it costs a lot.
I am not sure where is their manufacturing though. Hartblei calls themselves "a German-Ukrainian company", "Munich-Kiev". I guess they utilize the facilities of the famous "Arsenal" factory located in Kiev, Ukraine. "Arsenal" is the manufacturer of all Russian/Ukrainian-made "Kiev" cameras since late 40-x. These cameras where typically copies of German-made IIWW-period models, and their quality and the quality of Arsenal-made optics widely varied.

When I first saw this announcement I was sure that the whole idea was to provide a medium camera body for existing 35mm lenses. This is a great idea. Many of us have a nice set of Canon/Nikon/Pentax/Minolta-Sony lenses and will be happy to go medium format with no additional investment in the pricey optics.
However, reviewing Hartblei offer I discovered that they also offer Carl Zeiss designed tilt shift lenses:
Hartblei - Macro 4/120 TS - Superrotator SR120M 3249 €
Hartblei - 4/40 IF TS IF - Superrotator SR40IF 4589 €
Hartblei - 2,8/80 TS - Superrotator SR80PL 1989 €

If I read it correctly, their prices are higher than for most Canon's TS. While I like the idea of a medium format body accepting 35 mm lenses, I am in doubt I will be willing to pay for these TS, even if they indeed provide 200 lpm resolution, like Hartblei site states.

It seems that once a three year we create the next thing, helping you to get some more sales online

Visit Pixamba web site and take a look what we did this time.
Build on an advanced cloud computing infrastructure, Pixamba is probably the world-fastest online stock photography agency today. Utilizing our technological advantage, we plan to add more features and media services soon.

We start with 255,000 midstock collection and we welcome microstock contributors.
At the moment the business model is credit-based and your commissions are $0.40/credit for any non-exclusive submission, which is effectively 40%-53% (depending on the credits package price) of the sale price.

Register now, take a tour and tell us what you think and how we can make things better and more convenient for you.

Did you know that if you do not work with Shutterstock in PSM you can use "Shutterstock FTP" credentials uploading to any FTP-enabled agency? Just keep in mind that what is shown as "Shutterstock" in PSM is in fact your trusted "ABC-stock" agency.

How to do that: go to "Upload->Stock Agencies->Shutterstock" and replace Shutterstock FTP server name with the name of the FTP server for "ABC-stock", adding your FTP credentials for "ABC-stock".

From now on, each time you upload to "Shutterstock" the file actually goes to "ABC-stock". Since Shutterstock keeps blocking their submitters login with the image captcha you can't see your Shutterstock stats in PSM anyway, so it can be used as a placeholder for any other FTP-enabled agency you prefer to work with.

If you did not see it yet somewhere else, worth watching:
a virtual tour in Yuri Arcurs studio, guided by Yuri.
Impressive.

New in this release:

1. Shutterstock uploads switched to FTP. Go to "Upload->Stock Agencies" to change your credentials.

The FTP server name is already filled in for you by the app. Your FTP user name is your email address, which is on file with Shutterstock and the password is your regular Shutterstock web site password.
Since the connection to Shutterstock is now via FTP only your stats for this site can not be displayed anymore.
Here is why...

2. “Export Metadata” dialog added in “File->Export Metadata” menu. It creates a CSV file with JPG IPTC metadata and a few more file parameters for all JPGs in a specified folder. Optionally, it works recursively on all the subfolders of the specified folder. You probably remember this free JPG IPTC metadata dump utility? Now it is an integral part of PSM, available for free with any license. Just open "File->Export Metadata" menu and select a folder to be exported.

3. Fixed an annoying bug causing thumbnails not to be displayed in many cases.
I am sure you faced it at least once - you start PSM, open a folder and there are no thumbnails, just the file names with '...' are displayed. Well, not anymore.
The app still needs some time to draw the thumbnails at the first access, but once the initial processing is done you get all the graphics instantly.

4. EXIF reading is back.
EXIF decided to leave PSM for a few weeks. Now it is back at its full.

5. Manage metadata – copying data between images: verified & OK. Also the dialog will close now when a user press OK in the “applied” confirmation message.

6. Alamy uploads: only one image can be uploaded. The issue is still there.
A quick check shows that the same is correct for Alamay uploads from their web either with their Java applet or with Alamy ActiveX control. Seems to be a problem with their web server. More info...

7. Minor fixes & updates for performance and graphics, here and there

We just have released a small and nice command line Java-based utility that can dump all your JPG IPTC metadata to a CSV file. It runs recursively for all the subfolders, collecting all JPGs there and writing their metadata in a CSV file.

The output looks this way

This JPG IPTC metadata to CSV utility is free to download and is free to use with no limitations. It is delivered to you as a part of ProStockMaster software according to PSM EULA. This utility requires an installed PSM v1.6.2 or later, with either free or commercial license. Free PSM installation is available here. The utility also requires pre-installed Java 5 or later. (Get latest Java here)

You can download the utility JAR file here

Windows Installation & Run
Installation
Put psm_metadump.jar file in the lib folder in ProStockMaster installation directory (Typically, "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster")
The full path to JAR should be like "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster\lib\psm_metadump.jar"

Running
It's a command line tool, so you open a cmd window, then type in:
cd prostockmaster-installation-directory
(i.e. typically you type: cd "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster")

Next, run:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar root-folder-for-your-JPGs

Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar D:\\usr\\david\\img\\20D\\edited_full_size_jpg\\stock

Note that you have either to duplicate back slashes in the folder path, making \\ instead of \
or replace each \ by / (replace the backslash by the slash)

The utility produces a CSV file "psm_metadump.csv" in the current directory, i.e. in that "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster" where you run it in the cmd window.
NOTE: the output file is overwritten each time!

Mac Installation & Run

Installation
CTRL+click on PSM 'java-cup' icon, whenever you have it installed, select Open Folder and put the downloaded psm_metadump.jar file in "Contents/Resources/Java/lib" folder. You should see all the rest of .jar files there, if they are not there you went to the wrong place.

Run
Open Terminal window and type in
cd psm-installation--folder/ProStockMaster.app/Contents/Resources/Java
where psm-installation--folder is where you put PSM (e.g. your Desktop folder path)

Next, run:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar root-folder-for-your-JPGs

Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar /usr/david/Desktop/images/stock

The utility produces a CSV file "psm_metadump.csv" in the current directory, i.e. in that "psm-installation--folder/ProStockMaster.app/Contents/Resources/Java where you run it in the Terminal window.
NOTE: the output file is overwritten each time!

More configurable params (all platforms)
1. You can specify different output file path by providing the second argument in the command line:
Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar /usr/david/img/stock /temp/metadata.csv
in this case the output file will be "/temp/metadata.csv" (note again the double-backslashes)

2. You can replace the default columns delimiter ";" (semicolon) by any char you want, providing the third argument to the command line:
Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar /usr/david/img/20D/edited_full_size_jpg/stock /temp/metadata.csv #
- here symbol "#" will be inserted as the columns delimiter in the output file. Make sure that your reading software can understand such CSV though.

Using "," (comma) as a columns delimiter is NOT recommended since this is the default keywords delimiter. Do not use comma until you want each keyword to be inserted in its own column (and I have no idea why you might want that)

3. When openning the CSV file make sure you have checked 'semicolon' and unchecked 'comma' check buttons in the export wizard:

I guess most of you already saw this message when logged in to iStockphoto:

The iStock forums post by the same author says:

It's an interesting statement, where the first part is correct, while the second part is very confusing. No financial information to breach, oh yeah, really?

Just a week ago Dreamstime complained in this thread that "we had cases when contributors had their accounts accessed, password changed, payment requested". Now the iStockphoto guys are brave enough to say us they have "no financial information to breach"?

We all know that iStock, like any other stock photo agency has on file your PayPal / MoneyBookers accounts. They also collect funds that have to be transferred to contributors monthly. Should not this stuff be considered as a valuable financial information stored by iStock? And if it is not enough, add here you personal profile details like your home address, phones and your picture ID. And even your images portfolio is in danger since it can be first completely downloaded and stolen and then, just for fun, completely removed from the agency by a hacker who looks for an entertainment on the hacked site.

What happened to iStock on March 3 is not funny at all. And it is a much more serious issue than just a few hours of iStock down time, even if iStock prefers to present it this way. The site stores financial information and digital goods that can be stolen, so their "no financial info stored" statement is very far from the reality.

The point is that during the last few months I wrote to iStockphoto multiple emails pointing them on some security vulnerabilities in their system. The iStock answers always were "you don't have to worry, it is fine", whenever there was any answer at all.

The last email, which explains a serious security flaw in one of the iStockphoto technical interfaces was sent to iStock guys on March 2, 2009. Quite ironically, it was just a day before the site was attacked by the phishers. And quite typically, this email is still unanswered.

So I do worry. In my understanding, having security holes 'by design' is a very wrong approach to the software security concept, particularly for an online system where any security flaw can be explored and used by wise hackers. These people intentionally look for any vulnerability and once found, it will be sooner or later used against iStock customers. Perhaps we can not say at the moment how exactly some security flaw will be used to serve the hackers, but when we will know how it was used to compromise iStock security it obviously will be too late. Fixing the security flaws can not eliminate the next phishing attempt, but it definitely reduces the risk of a successful hacking attack.

Here is the email I just have received from iStockphoto.com:

Let me read you what is written in this message.

Now, please tell me who was the marketing genius behind this correspondence. I just want to shake his (her?) hand.

Dear marketer, what target did you want to reach? If you wanted to get some angry customers, my congratulations, you got them all. I am sure anyone who got such a message feels frustrated and angry after reading it.

So, you want to keep iStock collection 'clean', containing only brilliant images? I see. No doubt this is a good target you should aim to.

Assuming that iStock biggest investment is in human reviewing of images and this investment is taken anyway, it would be enough just to mark images that you do not like anymore as "low quality", handling them respectively in images searches. Adding "this-image-is-a-low-quality-image" DB field is exactly 20 minutes of work for your developers, including testing.
Give your reviewers an option to mark images that they do not like anymore as "low quality" and you guys are done!

Instead, iStock preferred to lose money sending messages like this one above to tens thousands contributors that will be shocked reading them exactly like I was.

How much does you guys cost to bring in a new contributor who generates some sales? Now take this cost and multiply it by the number of photographers that will leave you now - this is the cost of such a marketing communication message. I will not be surprised if many recipients of this correspondence will just stop submitting their images to iStock, which appears to be too good for their artwork, preferring submitting images to other agencies that treat their photographers differently.
Bravo iStock! - good work, great marketing, refreshing approach to customers relationship - thumbs up!

I especially loved "You have two options." quote. I see it this way:
One dark night you meet a robber. He points his gun on you and says:
"You have two options. You either give me your money and then I kill you or I first kill you and then I take your money."
Being a good iStockphoto marketing person, the robber continues: "Do not you worry, my friend. The choice is always yours. You are in complete control here!".
And just because that robber is a bit more polite than the author of the email above he also adds: "Oh, and thank you for doing business with us!".

In a short time after this post has been published I got a personal message from iStockphoto staff, saying that the email discussed in this post was sent out by a mistake and they apologize for the misunderstanding.

According to iStock, what should be sent out was this message:

Obviously, this is a very different message to a contributor. When you get such an email, you see one more [welcome] service from iStock which is designed to help you selling your images that were never sold, at a lower price. Just great, let's try selling this unsold stuff for just $1, why not. And see - there is no single word about image removals!

Mark Dennis,iStock commented out what happened with their Dollar Bin initiative at last: So the gremlins got into the auto email system again, and some people got an email saying that the files will be deleted after 30 days if they're not selling.

Well, it seems that these gremlins, goblins and trolls were quite human and very intelligent, were not them? I guess that they really enjoyed what they did to the company, these cute little pets of iStockphoto.

Jokes aside, I am glad that iStock clarified their position now, and even probably took the entire gremlins family out of the iStock email system this time?

Mark, if you want my advice - next time just deduct the damages costs from the gremlins salary. Typically, it works at its best avoiding further similar attempts.

iStock also has sent 'the right' email to their contributors now, so if you just like me got the 'remove it or else' email discussed above, wait for the next message from iStock. As you see above, the second email looks much better than the first one.

Do you remember Mason Resnick from Popular Photography? I do. I enjoyed his articles in PopPhoto for years.

Mason is now an Editor for Adorama Learning Center and he has conducted a full-frame DSLRs research taking in the lab all 6 modern DSLRs: Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 5D Mark II, Nikon D3X, Nikon D3, Nikon D700 and Sony Alpha 900. According to his findings, all full framers have inaccurate ISO settings!

In a nutshell, the actual ISO measurements results vs. "official" ISO setting for the full-framers look as follow:

Want to review ISO measurement results for APS-C sized DSLRs like EOS 50D/40D/30D/20D, Nikon D90/D300/D200 and others?
Read this article by Mason Resnick

This time I will not talk about making more money selling your stock photography, neither I will talk about software bugs or new features. I'd like to dedicate this post to the 'art' part in the artworks we create.

There are so many great images and excellent photographers! There are probably thousands of millions of creative pictures online with Flickr, Multiply, Fotki and others, not counting in the stock industry. Nevertheless, or, probably, exactly because of this nearly infinitive quantity and endless variety of good images, I am very excited each time I discover some new and unusual things.

The photograph below was taken by Justin Quinnell, a UK based photographer with his home-made pinhole camera. The "frame" was exposed for 6 months! (no kidding. A single non-stop six months exposure)

And this image becomes the best illustration for the power of pinhole photography. Some of us will say that they capture a moment. Others will say they capture a mood, a unique view or a personal vision. No doubt, all this is great.

But look - with a pinhole camera you really can capture the time.

In this photo of Clifton Suspension Bridge located in Bristol, UK you can see the suspension system deformations depending on the season. Is not it amazing? It's pure Physics, drawn with light and captured by a pinhole camera.

And just in case if you want to take 6-months exposures like this one by yourself, Justin has the instructions page on his web, guiding you step by step how to build a pinhole camera for the long time exposures. Try it out and probably you will discover a new way to express your creativity.

We have started our advertising program which offers prices as low as $25 per month for an ad slot on our web. With more than 800 unique visitors a day prostockmaster.com is probably an ideal place for a stock photography related advertising.

More details...

An email sent today by Alamy Member Services reminds us Alamy contributors that Alamy has changed their contributors contract on November 26, 2008. And (guess what?) - starting at January 10, 2009 there is a 5% increase in all Alamy' commissions for all contribution plans. Additionally, Alamy reduces the Contributor's Agreement termination period from 6 month to 45 days.

All these changes look like a sign for a very difficult time for Alamy, which is facing strong competition from successful microstock brands. In one of my previous posts I reviewed the Alamy's initiative to go microstock. At that time many Alamy contributors disliked that idea, mostly because they saw Alamy as a traditional but not a 'microstock' agency.

With the fantastic success of microstock agencies in the last few years Novel Use is a native Alamy's attempt to follow this trend and open an additional revenue stream from microstock. Just look around - virtually everyone sell microstock subscriptions, why Alamy should not?

Particularly knowing that the competition is tight and a major microstock site made $70 mln revenues last year, followed by others tens-of-mlns-dollars microstocks, does not it make a perfect sense for Alamy trying to follow their success?

Well, I am not sure. At least not with NU idea.

Let me state: we do not speak about content. This is my point: content does not matter here. Content is similar. I can hear your strong "NO!", but, - com'on, forget for a sec all these technical "TIFF+scale-up+keywording" content preparation tricks "for a really HQ content" and just look what micros sell. Would you agree now? - they sell the same, particularly from the buyers point of view. I know that content people will never agree to this statement, but buyers just made their votes with their bucks, so it is better to hear the market. You can find content at microstock prices for at least 90% of your industrial buyers' needs. Buyers can choose buying content through Alamy or through a microstock. And - surprise - buyers are already subscribed to 2-4 microstock agencies (more info: InfoTrends marketing research).

So where is the Alamy's difference on this saturated microstock market? Well, it's not about the content, it's about the community. It's Alamy's Pros vs microstock Amateurs. Can you sell your community to a buyer? Not sure. Can you sell quite similar content for non-micro prices? Sure you can not, Alamy already knows this answer and therefore NU came out.

However, NU does not takes in account the most important - psychological - factor: for many pros Alamy was an alternative to microstock. NU completely destroys this vision. The last shelter for a pro who keeps screaming "I am not going to sell my images for a buck or two! Never ever!", this last shelter fails with the NU introduction. Well, probably it should not be so dramatic, but the feeling of many pros as they express themselves in Alamy blog and in other places on the Internet is quite similar to that.

That's why Alamy community strongly disagree to license their images under NU. Their vision is an opposite to microstock amateurs who say "I can get 30 cents per download or nothing if my images will continue sitting on my HD. Obviously, I go microstock!"

In my understanding, NU, which attempts to sell existing "non-micro" content to "microstock-like" buyers is an unnecessarily hard try. Not because Alamy has to educate the market that Alamy sells microstock too, but mostly because Alamy has to educate its own community that Alamy went microstock. And such community education could be a long and not necessarily successful process.

A reasonable alternative to this community education process could be... getting another community that is willing to sell micro. Change the community, because for the micro- market you need a micro- community. And forget your existing content! Keep selling it with "macro-" prices. For the micro market, Alamy brand, the team and agency's market knowledge supported by the right selling community can make the difference, while NU, propagating similar content with pro-community behind, which is unwilling to support micro-sales can kill the initiative at the very beginning.