Pentax News: New firmware for K-7 DSLR

Pentax have released an updated version of their firmware for the K-7. Now at version 1.02, it adds a fine sharpness setting, as well image processing performance and stability in certain situations. Available to download from here.

Microstock News: Shutterstock provides legal guarantee

In an attempt to provide some differentiation in the competitive microstock industry, Shutterstock* has announced it will legally guarantee any image/footage sale up to $10,000, against any legal costs or direct costs associated with the use of one of its licences.

Microstock News: Fotolia on the offensive

In the increasingly consolidating and competitive microstock industry, Fotolia has turned the heat up a notch - this time in trying to attract top contributors to their site, away from others. In launching 'Operation Level Ground*', if you have at least 1000 active images on another site, they will reward you with a status as if those downloads had been made on Fotolia. Only available until the end of the year (although why wouldn't they extend it?).

Canon News: EOS 5D Mark II - new firmware and wireless conntroller

Canon have taken the unusual step of updating its users with news that they're going to be launching an update to the firmware for the 5D Mark II. It will enable the recording of high definition 1080p video at 24 and 25fps, meaning it's no longer been overtaken by the recently announced 7D. It should be released in the first half of 2010.

Alongside the Mark IV announcement and its wireless transmitter, Canon have also announced a new controller for the 5D Mark II - the WFT-E4 II. Info here.

Canon News - Canon EOS 1D Mark IV Announced

After much anticipation, today Canon announced their successor to the EOS 1D Mark III, with the predictably named Mark IV:


Although almost identical externally, there are some key new features to convince you to buy/upgrade:

• Completely Redesigned 45-Point Autofocus System, with 39 high-precision cross-type focusing points
• Fast 10 fps Continuous Shooting
• 16-Megapixel Resolution
• Outstanding ISO Sensitivity (up to 102,400)
  
• Full HD Video Recording at Selectable Frame Rates

To accompany the new EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR camera, Canon is also announcing a new accessory, the WFT-E2 II A wireless file transmitter providing photographers with a wide range of professional digital connectivity options, details here.

Full press release here.

And Canon's micro-site here.

And their white-paper here.

As for me, I can't afford one, so I'll just upgrade my 'dream camera' from the Mk III to Mk IV version!!

Microstock News: Polylooks launches in the UK

A German microstock agency (owned by Deutsche Telekom) thinks it's seen a gap in the busy microstock industry in the UK and is launching its Polylooks brand here. It's aiming to be the go-to source for UK/European imagery, something which they say a lot of the US-based sites are not strong in.

Commission rates are 50% and 35% for exclusive and non-exclusive, respectively.

More details in their press release.

Microstock News: ShutterStock buys BigStockPhoto

Following consolidation in the microstock industry earlier this year (see my previous post), Shutterstock* is now getting in on the action, with its acquisition of BigStockPhoto*. There's a natural synergy between Shutterstock's subscription model and BigStockPhoto's credit-based model. For now, the sites will run independently, but presumably it wont be long before they'll look for marketing synergies and share collections to benefit all parties.

Sigma News: 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG OS Launched

Sigma have launched a new zoom lens, the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG OS:


The 'OS' stands for 'Optical Stabiliser' and is equivalent to the IS on some Canon lenses.

It comes with a lens hood and versions will be available to support Canon, Nikon (D), Sony, Pentax and Sigma mounts.

Canon	Nikon	Sony

Pentax	Sigma

More information available from Sigma's website here.

Tamron News: SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 Launched

Tamron have introduced a new zoom lens, snappily called the SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II VC LD Aspherical (IF):



VC stands for 'Vibration Compensation' - similar to the IS with some Canon lenses.

It's for digital cropped sensors only and initially only for Nikon mount, with Canon following at end of October.

You can read more about it on their website, here.

Nikon mount available here*:

Canon News: New lenses

Canon weren't content with launching the 7D and have also announced three new lenses:

EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens

As discussed in a previous blog post, this is Canon's first lens to include their new hybrid image stabilisation.






EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens






EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens

Canon News: 7D Launched (a D300s killer?)

Well, after months, if not years, of speculation, Canon have announced the 7D.

I'll update this post with more information and links, as and when they become available.

Specifications

Here are the specifications:

• 18Mp APS-C (1.6 Crop)
  
• 8 frames per second
• A new auto-focus system, including 19 cross-type sensors
  
• ISO 100-6400, expandable to 12800
  
• 100% viewfinder coverage, with horizon assist
• Dual Digic IV processors
• Full HD video, including HDMI output and external mic input
  
• Built-in flash, with wireless sync to other flash units
• A revised 3" LCD 920k screen

On every count, that should beat my Canon 40D nicely, especially for wildlife photography, where low-light and fast action are often on the menu.

Pricing

As for a UK price-point, that's a little bit of a tricky one. It's not clear yet whether there will also be an evolution for the 50D (presumably the 60D?), or whether the 7D is the replacement. It's also serving largely different needs to 5D Mk II which suits landscpaes, weddings and portraiture, with its higher resolution and full-frame capabilities. A quick look at Camera Price Buster this evening (31st August) has the 50D body at £730 and the 5D Mk II at £1868. And the closet rival from Nikon would be the D300s (£1270) so I'm guessing somewhere around the £1600 at launch to grab the early adopters open wallets?

(update: I was close - it seems to be around £1700, albeit a lot are throwing in extras!)

UK Availability

The UK has got availability now:

Amazon*:

• Park Cameras
• Jacobs
  
• Jessops
• Warehouse Express
  

Reviews

• Luminous Landscape
• Digital Photography Review

Sony News: New DSLRS: A850, A550 and A500

Just days before the expected launch from Canon of its much anticipated 7D, Sony have launched three new cameras and a new lens.

A850


You can read more in this press release, but the highlights are:

• Same 24.6Mp full-frame capabilities as the top of the range A900, with slightly reduced fps and viewfinder coverage - and it's cheaper!
  
• Dual Bionz processors
  

Sony have also launched a new zoom lens, with constant f/2.8 aperture: the SAL2875 28-75mm F2.8 SAM lens

A550/A500

More details of the A550 and A500 can be found at this press release. They come with:

• 14.2/12.3Mp sensors respectivity, utilising Sony's new Exmor (TM) sensor technology
• A 3" tilt LCD
• In-built HDR (high dynamic range) processing - I think these are the first cameras to do this?

Microstock Categories - a help or hindrance?

I'm nowhere close to earning a decent income from microstock and doubt I ever will, but it has provided me with some great positives:

• I'm a much better photographer; I'm learning about what makes a 'commercial' shot, improving my understanding of composition and even starting to get my head around Photoshop
• It's a nice feeling that someone is willing to pay for my work
• I can (start to) justify spending money on new gear

What is frustrating though is the hassle (and therefore time) involved in the upload process to the various sites. Specifically, the insistence that alongside keywords, categories have to be specified. They either overlap with keywords, or the list of categories to choose from is so incomplete/patchy, there's never one which seems to fit. And as the category options are all different across sites, there's minimal opportunity to select generic categories.

I'm not a buyer from microstock sites, so would love to know how useful the categories are? My hunch would be though that most buyers know what they're after and they'll simply drop the relevant keywords into a search box. I guess microtock administrators can see from their web stats how often categories and used to search versus keywords, so I'd love to get an insight into this too...

So, I vote to remove categories from the microstock industry! Do you?

Canon News: Six new Powershots Announced

Today Canon announced the introduction of 6 new cameras:

Canon G11	Canon S90	Canon SX20 IS
Canon SX120 IS	Canon SD980	Canon SD940
	?	?

More details here.

My first Enhanced License Microstock sale!

Although still well behind my target of earnning £250 from Microstock this year, I had a welcome boost from Shutterstock*, where I've made my first enhanced download sale. It was for the following image:



That means my Shutterstock earnings have gained a significant lead against the other sites, although iStockphoto has moved into second place... All the stats on the right-hand side of the front page of this blog.

Alamy still profitable - but it's tough going

As the update by Alamy CEO James West says in a blog update, times are tough at Alamy, with a prediction that sales will be 15-20% down this year compared to last. James rightly points out that a significant factor has been the 'recession' and its impact on image buyers (e.g. UK newspaper industry). The other factor which I would have assumed was just as relevant is the evolving marketplace and availability of more competitive offerings from the microstock companies (iStockphoto, Dreamstime, Fotolia, Shutterstock, etc.). As well as probably being cheaper, arguably some of these companies have tigher image quality control in-place at time of submission, which could lead to a more efficient buying experience.

For the record, I'm yet to make any sales from my small Rights-Managed portfolio on Alamy, but finger's crossed one day I will!

Microstock News: Yet another proposition from Getty

As you can read about here, Getty Images have launched a new cheap option for online news and blog sites. Images from their existing creative imagery house collections and archive will start from $5. Apparently, this doesn't conflict with their microstock offerings discussed in one of my recent posts, here. Perhaps no conflict, but for me at least, further confusion!

Nikon news: Compact Camera with in-built projector

Nikon have launched the 12.1MP image-stabilised Coolpix S1000pj - with an in-built projector! More details available here. It will 'throw' an up to 40 inch image onto a wall up to 2 metres away, A great idea - not sure how battery life will be impacted in real-life tests, though.






Also launched are the Coolpix S640, Coolpix S570 and Coolpix S70.

Microstock News: Getty's customer segmentation

Well, as expected, there's ongoing consolidation in the microstock industry and Getty continues to flex its muscles as it looks like it's trying to introduce some customer segmentation into the market. It now looks like it's aiming for three tiers of microstock:

1.) Free - Stock.xchng - with explicit upselling to iStockphoto*
2.) Cheap - iStockphoto*
3.) Premium - Vetta* (for selective exclusive imagery)

There are then partnership models in-place with the likes of Photos.com - yes, it is very confusing!

That leaves one of its other recent Jupiter acquisitions, StockXpert* a little exposed - it's in direct competition to iStockphoto*. If it's retired/merged, it will be a real shame, as its upload interface (especially compared to iStockphoto*) is simple. Commissions at iStockphoto* for photographers are lower though, so there's an inevitability about it all. This may explain why a batch of my latest photos haven't been reviewed at StockXpert*.

Microstock News: SnapVillage closes its doors

As known for a while, Snapvillage is closing its doors - see their blog update for details. From 1st August, visitors will be redirected to http://www.veer.com/products/marketplace/ instead.