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2 hours ago, RedSnapper said:

 

 

no need for runners collecting cards. News photographers can shoot/upload direct from their cameras via their phones (mobile or satellite). Images sent to their agencies in real time. Edited  captioned / sent to the news desks in seconds.

 

This is what you are up against in a major breaking news story

 

km

I have got my camera so it uploads to my phone (if I talk nicely to both of them) but it takes time (not as fast as uploading to my computer and has extra steps) but then I have to disconnect my phone from my camera in order to connect it to the internet to send the photos (as I discovered the first time I tried when an hour later the shots were in the outbox not the sent box).

It most certainly requires my attention for a couple of minutes to do this.  I guess the big boys have better software or something.

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8 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

I have to disconnect my phone from my camera in order to connect it to the internet to send the photo

 

Camera to phone by wireless .

Phone to picture desk by 4G.

No need to disconnect / reconnect.

 

shoot>transfer>upload...about 15 seconds

km

Edited by RedSnapper
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4 minutes ago, RedSnapper said:

 

Camera to phone by wireless .

Phone to picture desk by 4G.

No need to disconnect / reconnect.

 

shoot>transfer>upload...about 15 seconds

km

Its probably me but if my phone is connected to my camera wirelessly (if it took a wire I would not even try) it will not connect to the internet either 4g or wireless.  Also when it connects to the phone first off it insists on sending a preview of every image on the camera.  Then I have to click on the ones I want - which then download to phone - before I can send them anywhere.  I guess I must add learning phone software to my things to do list lol

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I can see emotions are flying high here, which based on events is 100 percent understandable. Can I just ask you all to consider for one moment how this may be affecting the employees , not directors, on the Alamy news team ? I don't know all the background,  and I haven't asked, but I'm guessing this is having an impact on them . It would to me as an employee, especially when I know that I've given my all even through challenging times. Those guys and gals have my vote of support. If things change that makes me re-consider then fair enough , I always have a plan b, c and d.

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10 minutes ago, Simon said:

I can see emotions are flying high here, which based on events is 100 percent understandable. Can I just ask you all to consider for one moment how this may be affecting the employees , not directors, on the Alamy news team ? I don't know all the background,  and I haven't asked, but I'm guessing this is having an impact on them . It would to me as an employee, especially when I know that I've given my all even through challenging times. Those guys and gals have my vote of support. If things change that makes me re-consider then fair enough , I always have a plan b, c and d. 

 

Yes, +1.  They will know about the reactions here (bad news spreads fast and all that), and I will add my voice to yours.  The interactions I have had with all the teams at Alamy over the years - with the odd v. rare exception -  have been very positive and I have found them to be courteous and helpful.  Customer service is very good here and something that other organisations could learn from.  Thanks to Alamy Live News - it's been exciting and fun.

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1 hour ago, Simon said:

I can see emotions are flying high here, which based on events is 100 percent understandable. Can I just ask you all to consider for one moment how this may be affecting the employees , not directors, on the Alamy news team ? I don't know all the background,  and I haven't asked, but I'm guessing this is having an impact on them . It would to me as an employee, especially when I know that I've given my all even through challenging times. Those guys and gals have my vote of support. If things change that makes me re-consider then fair enough , I always have a plan b, c and d.

Ellie and Jessica have always been helpful, especially with quick replies this week. I am now going quiet. All the best.

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22 hours ago, Keith Douglas said:

 

You can get it second hand in the UK for about £7 hardback and £15 paperback. I suspect that the hardback version is from 1978, and the paperback from 1997. Well worth it though.

 

Sigh.   I'm in Nicaragua.   

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13 hours ago, Simon said:

I can see emotions are flying high here, which based on events is 100 percent understandable. Can I just ask you all to consider for one moment how this may be affecting the employees , not directors, on the Alamy news team ? I don't know all the background,  and I haven't asked, but I'm guessing this is having an impact on them . It would to me as an employee, especially when I know that I've given my all even through challenging times. Those guys and gals have my vote of support. If things change that makes me re-consider then fair enough , I always have a plan b, c and d.

 

12 hours ago, losdemas said:

 

Yes, +1.  They will know about the reactions here (bad news spreads fast and all that), and I will add my voice to yours.  The interactions I have had with all the teams at Alamy over the years - with the odd v. rare exception -  have been very positive and I have found them to be courteous and helpful.  Customer service is very good here and something that other organisations could learn from.  Thanks to Alamy Live News - it's been exciting and fun.

 

12 hours ago, Mr Standfast said:

Ellie and Jessica have always been helpful, especially with quick replies this week. I am now going quiet. All the best.

 

To be fair, I don't think anyone has criticised individuals just the Alamy collective and the rather crass way things are dealt with at times. 

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Quote

 

 

On 16/04/2019 at 08:54, Paul Glendell said:

I haven't read every post here - I do have a life - so can anyone that was taken off the live news list and that has since applied to join has been accepted or declined. I see many people complaining that they have been taken off the list, even those with press cards but have they applied to see if they can join.  I applied last week and am waiting to see the result. 

I applied within 24 hours of receiving the email from them and am still waiting for a reply. 

While I cannot say where the fault lies as I don't know what happened internally to result in this happening or how much notice the news team had of the extra workload of having to deal with all of us reapplying, the net result has been a mess which has left a lot of contributors feeling very put out.

I would hope that the management at Alamy would learn from this to find a better way to do things in the future, but they don't seem to have learned from past issues that upset their contributors so I'm not holding my breath.

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This hasn't really affected me but I have been appalled to see the way it was done. Giving ample notice would have also given ample time for people to re-apply and for the decisions to be made on whether they could continue with their plans to shoot news. So unfortunate all around.

 

Paulette

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1 hour ago, Sultanpepa said:

To be fair, I don't think anyone has criticised individuals just the Alamy collective and the rather crass way things are dealt with at times. 

 

No, you're quite right; it's just that things can sometimes be misinterpreted...and I'm probably not the best at conveying my thoughts clearly at times without seeming very upset!  I wanted to make it clear to Alamy staffers that I have found them to be generally extremely helpful. :)

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22 hours ago, RedSnapper said:

 

Camera to phone by wireless .

Phone to picture desk by 4G.

No need to disconnect / reconnect.

 

shoot>transfer>upload...about 15 seconds

km

I do upload my RAW files to my laptop via photo mechanic so I can select and use a template for caption, keywords etc, then import into lightroom for a quick edit and then upload to Alamy via mifi.  About fifteen to twenty minutes for a big shoot.   I have duel cards, one raw and one JPEG  for a really big story I can upload using the jpegs from photo mechanic - about five minutes. 

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6 minutes ago, IanDavidson said:

I do upload my RAW files to my laptop via photo mechanic so I can select and use a template for caption, keywords etc, then import into lightroom for a quick edit and then upload to Alamy via mifi.  About fifteen to twenty minutes for a big shoot.   I have duel cards, one raw and one JPEG  for a really big story I can upload using the jpegs from photo mechanic - about five minutes. 

 

I get the impression ('scuse the pun!) that a number of press togs seem to use photo mechanic (sometimes in tandem with LR, as you do).  Is it worth the extra investment?  I guess that you'll answer inn the positive, otherwise you wouldn't be using it!  But what's the primary benefit?  Speed? Keywording and captioning?  Something else?

 

Sorry to hijack the thread - just looking for a quick reply, if poss.  Thanks.

Edited by losdemas
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10 minutes ago, losdemas said:

 

I get the impression ('scuse the pun!) that a number of press togs seem to use photo mechanic (sometimes in tandem with LR, as you do).  Is it worth the extra investment?  I guess that you'll answer inn the positive, otherwise you wouldn't be using it!  But what's the primary benefit?  Speed? Keywording and captioning?  Something else?

 

Sorry to hijack the thread - just looking for a quick reply, if poss.  Thanks.

I am not a press tog - I do sports photography, stock photography, a small bit of news when it lands in front of me photography, and please myself photography.  I absolutely could not do without photo mechanic.  I would drop LR before I dropped photo mechanic.

First big huge positive - it is way quicker at importing and sorting photos than LR.  It can import and have thumbnails for checking within seconds.  For those used to working with LR I believe they need to experience it to believe it.  
Then it is fully compatible with LR - my workflow is import with PM, run through and tick the photos I want to work with, then drag them into LR.  LR will then only catalogue the images I want to work on which is much quicker.

Second big positive is the what PM calls "stationary" - which is iptc data.  The flexibility and variability of this is huge.  You can save any number of pre-filled forms that can then be set to be applied to photos on import (which for some reason PM calls ingest but its the same thing).  These can be anything from basic copyright and contact markings to full shoot and location details - and of course the caption headline and keywords.  Of course, once these are applied they are still fully editable. 

Thirdly in partly in conjunction with the stationary pad but also working in other areas there are "variables" - for instance, my photos are set to import to {imn3}-{idy0}-{iyr4} - ***  - that gives me the month, day, year and the stars represent shoot title.  So if I go out Monday and shoot easter it would return Apr - 22 -2019 - easter - and the only thing I would actually have to type is "easter"  There are a huge number of variables - from settings on the camera to sizes to custom settings the user creates themselves.   The user can define any number of shortcodes - and any number of groups of shortcodes.  This means a sports photographer can create a list of team players names linked to numbers then type the numbers in the caption field and the names will be printed - and again can save any number of team lists.
You can colour mark, star rate, and tick - up to 7 colours, 5 stars, and ticked or not ticked gives you I do not know how many categories.  Also where it is compatible with LR you can set it to use just lightroom colours then anything you mark in LR can be saved in PM.

It is absolutely worth the extra investment - but they offer a month's free test to try it out.  PM 6 has just been released - I have not tried it because I cannot afford it right now but 5 is still absolutely fine.  As someone else said on here when we were discussing the release of 6 PM is unusual in that it is a small group of software engineers that actually totally focus on what is needed and do not fill the program with unnecessary bells and whistles bloatware.  The program does what is says it does, does it well, and is probably one of the most stable bits of software I have come across.  I cannot recommend strongly enough that people go and try that free month test and see for yourself.

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8 hours ago, losdemas said:

 

I get the impression ('scuse the pun!) that a number of press togs seem to use photo mechanic

 

1) Is it worth the extra investment?  

 

2) But what's the primary benefit?  Speed? Keywording and captioning?  Something else?

1) Yes

 

2) Speed

Edited by Colblimp
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2 hours ago, losdemas said:

 

I get the impression ('scuse the pun!) that a number of press togs seem to use photo mechanic (sometimes in tandem with LR, as you do).  Is it worth the extra investment?  I guess that you'll answer inn the positive, otherwise you wouldn't be using it!  But what's the primary benefit?  Speed? Keywording and captioning?  Something else?

 

Sorry to hijack the thread - just looking for a quick reply, if poss.  Thanks.

Yes, it speeded up my filing by a very large margin.    As noted all the above!  I use the templates/stationary  a lot, I have a list of cabinet ministers and just type /Gove/ and I get “Michael Gove MP PC,  Secretary of State for the Environment”. Correct spelling and job title.  The template already has location, date and activity and all IPTC fields complete..  So I end up with London 1st April 2019 Michael Gove MP PC Secretary of State for the Environment arrive for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street.  All I will have typed is /Gove/. 

 

Even setting up ad-hoc events is very fast and ensures consistent format and spelling.   

 

I tend to to set up templates for specific events like London Fashion Week or Trooping the Colour  and just add details to captions as required.  

 

As noted the speed of reading RAW files is unbelievable.  So selection, rating and culling is as fast as you can press the keys.  It will read hundreds of raw files almost instantly, if you have a high spec laptop.

 

i would not be without it.  

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57 minutes ago, IanDavidson said:

Yes, it speeded up my filing by a very large margin.    As noted all the above!  I use the templates/stationary  a lot, I have a list of cabinet ministers and just type /Gove/ and I get “Michael Gove MP PC,  Secretary of State for the Environment”. Correct spelling and job title.  The template already has location, date and activity and all IPTC fields complete..  So I end up with London 1st April 2019 Michael Gove MP PC Secretary of State for the Environment arrive for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street.  All I will have typed is /Gove/. 

 

Even setting up ad-hoc events is very fast and ensures consistent format and spelling.   

 

I tend to to set up templates for specific events like London Fashion Week or Trooping the Colour  and just add details to captions as required.  

 

As noted the speed of reading RAW files is unbelievable.  So selection, rating and culling is as fast as you can press the keys.  It will read hundreds of raw files almost instantly, if you have a high spec laptop.

 

i would not be without it.  

It is also of huge benefit if you send to more than one agency as you can have a basic template set up with what each requires, and then adapt to the specific shoot. For anything with lots of names or identifiers that you know beforehand, the code replacement facility - as Ian stated, is a very big time saver. 

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On 15/04/2019 at 23:39, Chuck Nacke said:

I am not buying this, I have dealt with Jessica many times without problem and under major difficult circumstances and also on much larger stories

than a Rugby Game, and she was professional and efficient.

 

I am going to send an email to Jessica and with her permission I will post her and Alamy's response to this thread.

 

Tired of this.

 

Chuck Nacke

Where, Chuck, does it say, in what I wrote,  that I criticized, Jessica, or any individual staff member? Nowhere.

When and if you do get a response, let me know, because I still have not gotten one from my April 5th email to Alamy News.

Cheers

Gerry Rousseau

 

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Gerry,

 

I do apologize, I should not have mentioned Jessica, I was just dealing with her at the time,  I should have written Alamy News.

I do stand by the rest of what I wrote.  I've dealt with News several times today, 4/17, and they were great to communicate with.

 

I also never wrote that you "criticized" anyone.....

 

Chuck Nacke

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1 hour ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Gerry,

 

I do apologize, I should not have mentioned Jessica, I was just dealing with her at the time,  I should have written Alamy News.

I do stand by the rest of what I wrote.  I've dealt with News several times today, 4/17, and they were great to communicate with.

 

I also never wrote that you "criticized" anyone.....

 

Chuck Nacke

Thanks Chuck, all is good.

Have a great day.

Gerry

 

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On 16/04/2019 at 13:24, RedSnapper said:

 

Camera to phone by wireless .

Phone to picture desk by 4G.

No need to disconnect / reconnect.

 

shoot>transfer>upload...about 15 seconds

km

 

Yep, can do it, but still no news upload allowed!

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