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Micro Four Thirds for stock?


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Hi Guys.

 

I have been uploading stock shot on APS-C and Full frame cameras for some time but considering getting a micro four thirds as a carry everywhere camera.   Is anyone else using micro four thirds for stock and getting pictures accepted and sold?

 

Regards

 

Chris

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Yes, No problems with getting accepted as the image quality I'm getting from my Olympus OMD-EM1 mark 1 (Micro Four Thirds sensor 17.3mm x 13mm, 16mp) is excellent. It's only when shooting above iso 1600, which I try not to do, will a full frame get me better results.

The new model Olympus OMD-EM1 mark 2 is supposed to be a big improvement over my older model, but I'm happy with it so won't be upgrading for sometime.  I only have the M.Zuiko 40-150 f2.8 lens at the moment and use via an adapter my 55mm Micro Nikkor which benefits from the IBIS (in body image stabilization). For Wide shots I usually carry a compact Canon G1x III (24mp APS-C).

 

Till recently I did own and use for alamy submissions:

Nikon D3, D700 ,D7100, D700, D90 & D2x

Canon 1D III and Canon 6D

Fuji X-T10, X-M1 & X100F

 

I've ony been uploading images taken with my Olympus since the beginning of April 2019, so It's way too soon to make any inference about sales, though I really dont think it makes a blind bit of difference what camera you take the shot with, so long as the final output is up to alamy QC standards.

 

Many people here are using camera's with 1 inch sensors (12.8mm x 9.6mm) which in good light is plenty good for alamy. I even for a short while used a 1 inch sensor Canon G5x compact which was great upto iso 800, but a couple of weeks later sold it and replaced it with my similar sized Canon G1x III.

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17 hours ago, Chris Ison said:

Is anyone else using micro four thirds for stock and getting pictures accepted and sold?

 

Alamy themselves say that Micro 4/3 is OK here:

 

https://www.alamy.com/blog/alamys-rough-guide-to-digital-cameras

 

...and yes, 1" sensor cameras, particularly the Sony RX100 series are widely used amongst those on this forum, indeed I think that one contributor's entire port is taken with this camera. Micro 4/3 should give you a bit more leeway in the noise and higher ISO department.

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I picked up a OMD EM-1 mk 1 this time last year for exactly the reasons you gave.  1000+ images submitted without any QC problems and the sales have come and are starting to come in greater numbers as the images come in reckoning for seasonal articles.  I love the IBIS, sensor cleaning that actually works, lack of a low pass filter, and the small lenses.  My carry round kit is the 12-40 f2.8, 60mm macro and tiny 35-100 Panasonic and it all fits in a tiny bag and is easy for my aged frame to lug around for a day's shooting.  Above all it doesn't attract the attention which my bigger and heavier Canon gear does.

 

Do I miss anything?  Yes.  The ability to really separate out plant portrait backgrounds with my 180mm macro on the Canon.  For the moment I'll stick to both systems.

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7 minutes ago, John Richmond said:

Do I miss anything?

 

Do you find it easy to switch between the Canon's 3:2 aspect ratio to the 4:3 of the Micro 4/3? I know it's possible to crop but it seems a shame to throw away pixels. Your flower pictures look great that way, like a 645 slide.

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1 hour ago, Harry Harrison said:

 

Do you find it easy to switch between the Canon's 3:2 aspect ratio to the 4:3 of the Micro 4/3? I know it's possible to crop but it seems a shame to throw away pixels. Your flower pictures look great that way, like a 645 slide.

I've never found it a problem - it's just selecting a subject view that fits the framing.  I don't usually crop myself but the end user always has that option.

 

One thing I forgot to mention is the ability of the EM-1 to focus bracket.  I find I'm using it more and more for getting even better depth of field for longer focal length shots.  A couple of examples:

 

compressed-perspective-view-over-the-autumn-hues-of-the-long-walk-at-the-garden-house-buckland-monachorum-devon-uk-PTGW64.jpg

 

compressed-perspective-view-over-the-autumn-hues-of-the-summer-garden-at-the-garden-house-buckland-monachorum-devon-uk-PTGW98.jpg

 

It needs a tripod and a still day but the front to back sharpness of a compressed perspective shot is impressive, even with the limitations of the 16Mp sensor of the first gen EM-1

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2 hours ago, John Richmond said:

One thing I forgot to mention is the ability of the EM-1 to focus bracket

Thanks, that's not a feature that I've ever considered but it clearly works extremely well when you get it right, very nice images.

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I've had an OMD E-1 since April 2014 and love it. Have sold many images taken with it, here, to local magazines, national calendar companies, and as fine art prints. 

Great in good light, not bad up to ISO 1200 as long as you expose properly and don't need to recover highlights. So light and easy to carry. I didn't ge the "pro" lenses since this was my first experiment with mirrorless, I have the inexpensive and super light 40-150mm zoom (it is super sharp), and the small 17mm and 25mm f/1.8 (which make lit easier to get low light shots at night). 

 

I sold all my Nikons.(including my D700), kept the Olympus and got a Sony full frame A7rii and I have to say that I think the IBIS on the Olympus is better - but then it's probably not fair to compare 16MP to 42MP. I love my Olympus and plan to keep it along with the Sony - because the lenses are much lighter and I can fit a full kit in my purse. 

 

I have never had a QC fail with the Olympus. 

 

Still having trouble dragging and dropping photos. Chose two in low light and the second one made me lose what I wrote. I seem to only be able to add one photo at a time. 

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, Bhandol said:

Harry, you might want to caption this beautiful saleable image and several others on the same page:

 

Hi Bhandol, thank you for that gentle nudge, and for liking the image! In fact I see that all images of that upload batch have lost their captions which is very strange but has got to be down to something that I've done accidentally in AIM. I will download the csv and check it out. I will have the captions in a previous csv but I need anyway to revisit all my images and expand the captions and keywords, I've learnt a lot from this forum, enough to know that I need to do much better.

 

Thanks again for alerting me.

 

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Took this from the balcony of my hotel - used a tripod, but still not a bit of noise in that black sky. Licensed for a magazine cover ($175) which means they had to crop into it to make it a vertical image. And as I recall it was very windy so I wasn't shooting all that slowly. It was February and it was actually quite chilly in the desert - it rained 2 of the 6 days we were there and we were shivering despite having left behind sub-zero temps in New York. We stayed in Boulder, NV after this leg of the trip and the woman who ran the hotel said that dry cold feels way colder, just like you don't feel the dry heat out west  as much as you do in the muggy summer heat on the east coast. I still felt silly shivering when it was 50 degrees out. Needless to say I didn't get to the pool. 

 

Anyway, I'd say about half of my sales in the past couple of years have been from the Olympus. And it also accounts for even more than half of the images I've had in gallery shows since I got it. It's a keeper. 

 

high-view-of-hotels-and-casino-lights-on-the-strip-from-above-lit-FBB3B7.jpg

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I used to shoot Canon FF and APS-C. I've totally switched to MFT, currently two GX85s/80s, and one G85/80 which I recently added. No problems with QC and the images sell. Here are a few sellers:

 

chicago-illinois-usa-24th-march-2018-gun

 

chicago-illinois-usa-24th-march-2018-tho

 

big-bluestem-grass-pheasant-branch-conse

 

mounted-policewoman-in-the-old-market-om

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On 14/05/2019 at 19:44, Bhandol said:

Harry, you might want to caption this beautiful saleable image

 

Hi Bhandol,

 

I fixed those captions immediately after you told me about them, on May 15th I think (I had the csv to copy them back in from) but weirdly that same image sold on May 20th!


R20664

 

Is it just a coincidence or could somehow the fact that it appeared here have helped?

 

Anyway, thanks again.

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  • 2 months later...
On 14/05/2019 at 03:44, John Richmond said:

I picked up a OMD EM-1 mk 1 this time last year for exactly the reasons you gave.  1000+ images submitted without any QC problems and the sales have come and are starting to come in greater numbers as the images come in reckoning for seasonal articles.  I love the IBIS, sensor cleaning that actually works, lack of a low pass filter, and the small lenses.  My carry round kit is the 12-40 f2.8, 60mm macro and tiny 35-100 Panasonic and it all fits in a tiny bag and is easy for my aged frame to lug around for a day's shooting.  Above all it doesn't attract the attention which my bigger and heavier Canon gear does.

 

Do I miss anything?  Yes.  The ability to really separate out plant portrait backgrounds with my 180mm macro on the Canon.  For the moment I'll stick to both systems.

wonderful flower images.....who said micro 4/3 could not give good Bokeh

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