My photo test was rejected due to camera.

[Jenniferhappy 5]

Hey everyone, I submitted my 3 photos to start, and of course it was rejected. There was an explanation saying "Soft or lacking definition," and "digital camera not suitable." My camera is a Sony Cyber Shot 50X zoom DSC-HX400V.  Its a nice camera with 24mp photos but I used zoom which softened it, I should not have. I tried to submit 3 new photos without zoom, but it wont accept them. When I get to stage two where you upload, it automatically loads the failed tests instead. I tried 5 times but all the same results. Have I been banned because of my camera?

 

I was looking at a used Nikon D7100 today to buy, but if I spend all that money (I'm a ellementary teacher), will I be able to upload the photos if my account has a ban or something on it because of my old camera? I love taking photos, and I live in Taiwan with some unique things that may contribute to Alamy. Any help would be appreciated. I bet you head this story a 1,000 times.

Thanks, 

Jennifer Chen-Taiwan 

Edited June 20, 2017 by Jenniferhappy
more tags to find this discussion

[Jenniferhappy 5]

So now that I tried to upload 3 new photos with no zoom, higher quality and focus, the old 3 instead got uploaded again. Says wait 24 hours to find out.

 I guess I didn't get banned, just made a rookie mistake. 

[DHill 82]

The D7100 should indeed make a big difference. If you're serious about photography, it'll be a good investment whether you take stock any further or not (as will any number of DSLR and mirrorless cameras of a similar generation). It's often a steep learning curve though from amateur photographer to being successful with stock - I'd suggest getting the new camera, and spending time learning to get the best from it (lenses are important, too, for image quality, though most of the time a cheap kit lens will be OK as long as you get to know its weak spots - often the widest aperture - and avoid them). And I'd also suggest taking the time to learn how stock works - knowing what sells is very important; stock can get very frustrating without this knowledge. 

 

In short, here are just two things to remember about stock: 

- the technical quality required is much higher than for most amateur purposes such as sharing photos on the internet and making small to medium size prints

- pretty pictures often don't sell well (due to low demand and high levels of competition) - the key is to supply the pictures that buyers want to buy. 

 

I wish you the best of luck! 

[spacecadet 3,466]

There are very few fixed-lens cameras which are capable of passing QC, but you certainly haven't a chance with a camera with such a tiny sensor and a 50x zoom.

Edited June 20, 2017 by spacecadet

[Joe Gaul 59]

As Mark says above, the small sensor and large zoom range of your camera work against you in terms of image quality and are therefore not suitable for professional work. If you are really serious I suggest you invest in a camera with at least an aps-c sized sensor whether by Canon, Nikon, Sony or Fuji; a basic dslr will do the job and they can be picked up relatively cheaply. A kit lens will get you started but glass is important for image quality and this is where I would suggest you spend any spare cash when you decide the type of photography that interests you. Post processing (Photoshop) is also important to squeeze the most out of your images.

 

If you aren't sure that you are ready for all of this there are sites that will accept photos from your camera and even mobile phones, but we can not talk about them here.

 

good luck

Joe

[Matt Ashmore 1,113]

Jennifer, this recent thread would probably be of interest to you:

 

 

[Jenniferhappy 5]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I bought the Nikon D7200 14-140 lens kit yesterday. I love the AF, but must switch to MF to do close up small items on a table, but if I have 1/2 a meter from any item, the AF is godly. I will however keep practising the MF, because its a lot more fun. The D7100 was only a 100US below the D7200, so I took the new one. Probably will never earn that back, but am sure going to try.

 

I tried to upload 3 new photos for the test since my old camera test failed 2 times. However I noticed a glitch that takes the failed test from last time and loads those rejected photos without asking, meaning I have to wait 24 hours for another try. Hope it works correctly next time. I use a Safari browser so maybe thats the trouble. I'll try Firefox tomorrow.

[Allan Bell 2,147]

8 hours ago, Jenniferhappy said:

Thank you everyone for your advice. I bought the Nikon D7200 14-140 lens kit yesterday. I love the AF, but must switch to MF to do close up small items on a table, but if I have 1/2 a meter from any item, the AF is godly. I will however keep practising the MF, because its a lot more fun. The D7100 was only a 100US below the D7200, so I took the new one. Probably will never earn that back, but am sure going to try.

 

I tried to upload 3 new photos for the test since my old camera test failed 2 times. However I noticed a glitch that takes the failed test from last time and loads those rejected photos without asking, meaning I have to wait 24 hours for another try. Hope it works correctly next time. I use a Safari browser so maybe thats the trouble. I'll try Firefox tomorrow.

 

I never have any problems with Safari. May be something else?

 

Allan

 

 

[spacecadet 3,466]

8 hours ago, Jenniferhappy said:

Thank you everyone for your advice. I bought the Nikon D7200 14-140 lens kit yesterday. I love the AF, but must switch to MF to do close up small items on a table, but if I have 1/2 a meter from any item, the AF is godly. I will however keep practising the MF, because its a lot more fun. The D7100 was only a 100US below the D7200, so I took the new one. Probably will never earn that back, but am sure going to try.

 

I tried to upload 3 new photos for the test since my old camera test failed 2 times. However I noticed a glitch that takes the failed test from last time and loads those rejected photos without asking, meaning I have to wait 24 hours for another try. Hope it works correctly next time. I use a Safari browser so maybe thats the trouble. I'll try Firefox tomorrow.

The long zooms are more problematic, but that one (18-140 btw) rates about the same on DXO as the kit lens I use so you should do alright with care- stop down a bit, good shooting technique, the usual stuff. As you've been advised, professional standards are far more exacting than you may have been used to hitherto.

[NYCat 2,212]

Your problem wouldn't have been with Safari. I use Lightroom and when I export to the folder I will use to submit to Alamy the export screen will initially show the folder I last used and I have to point it to the new one. Your problem will be something like that. Safari is OK for submitting.

 

Paulette

 

 

[MDM 1,666]

On 20/06/2017 at 19:06, GS-Images said:

Also I would recommend a cheap fixed focal length lens (prime lens), such as a 50mm. The quality of most of those available is a lot better than any kit zoom lens, and although you have no zoom option, you do get a much wider aperture which will help you create sharper images that stand out more. I would get used to that sort of lens first so you can practice your photography and techniques. A 50mm f1.8 lens is about the cheapest usable lens you can buy, and they give fantastic results (hence often being known as a "nifty 50").
 

 Good advice although a 35 may be more suitable as a general purpose prime with a DX format camera as a 50 will be a short telephoto on DX - really depends on what the OP is intending to shoot.

 

31 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

The long zooms are more problematic, but that one (18-140 btw) rates about the same on DXO as the kit lens I use so you should do alright with care- stop down a bit, good shooting technique, the usual stuff. As you've been advised, professional standards are far more exacting than you may have been used to hitherto.

 

It is important to read into the DxO sharpness charts rather than going by the overall score to determine apertures and focal lengths for optimal performance and whether there is good sharpness across the field. This lens appears to perform well at wide apertures and is poor at apertures smaller than f11 so she shouldn't stop down too far. Again it depends on the subject matter. It seems like a pretty decent lens for such a large zoom range but it is also important to keep in mind that the actual lens one gets may not be as good as the one used in the test - I've certainly experienced this.

 

 

[Jenniferhappy 5]

Hey, I found the problem. It occurs only after failed uploaded tests. If you try to submit 3 by pushing the upload button, it will load the old failed photos, but at the bottom of the failed page there are three buttons, the first is "try again." I didn't see that. I have to hit try again before I hit upload. I thought I could skip a step. Sorry for the confusion.

 

I will look for a photography class to help me fine tune my skills on this new camera. It is a complicated device, but I really love it. Best camera I ever had. 

[NYCat 2,212]

..

Edited June 28, 2017 by NYCat

[Jenniferhappy 5]

Hey everyone, I passed the test with my new camera. 

 

I changed the focus to the back of the camera, and changed to AF-C, and turned on VR to help me, and turned on the grid pattern on screen to help me. It seems to have worked for now, but in low light situations I will miss out. Didn't choose CH over S, because I don't want to fill up my SD card and edit out so many replicas. So much to learn and I'm only skimming the surface. Now if I can just get that flash to stop popping up (frightens me when it does) while taking outside photos where its useless to have.

 

Thanks for all the help, 

Jennifer Chen-Taiwan

[Matt Ashmore 1,113]

1 hour ago, GS-Images said:

Well done for passing Jennifer. 

 

To stop the flash popping up, you should change to one of the other modes - I'd suggest A on your camera (aperture priority). I'm guessing you have it on Auto or one of the P (program) modes, which will automatically pop the flash up if the shutter speed gets too low.

 

Geoff.

 

And you might want to check out the 'flash button' (looks like a lightening bolt) to turn it off.

 

 

[Lynn Palmer 144]

Congratulations Jennifer on passing your first QC and the new camera! Don't forget to go into the Alamy Image Manager and add your description, tags/keywords, attributes etc. and save. Until you do that the images won't go on sale.

[NYCat 2,212]

Your letterboxes have the wrong caption. You probably had two images selected when you did it. One of the many annoying things about the image manager is that you have to deselect before moving on.

 

Paulette

[avtan 0]

hello Jenniferhappy,

I have same problem with uploading photos.

can you provide screenshot of page where the "try again" button lays? or explain little detailed where can I found it?

than you in advance.

 

[Jenniferhappy 5]

14 hours ago, avtan said:

hello Jenniferhappy,

I have same problem with uploading photos.

can you provide screenshot of page where the "try again" button lays? or explain little detailed where can I found it?

than you in advance.

 

 

Ha! just learned to reply to the post. Sorry for being late. I was working 12 hours shifts at school this week.

 

It only appears at the bottom of the Alamy Image Manager section and has green buttons with white letters, but is only visible until you pass, then its gone forever. So I can't get screenshots sorry.

Don't give up, and don't feel bad you failed. Just make sure you do this;

1. upload the raw right out the camera photos from a DSLR camera. I bought a Nikon D7200 just for this site. Its smarter than me. 

2. Dont change the three photos in any way. It wants these raw.

3. Dont change the name or label on each photo. 

4. Don't crop or anything, any size is ok, but don't change anything of the first three...later you can edit on other photos, just not these. 

 

Good luck, 

Jennifer Chen-Taiwan

[Jenniferhappy 5]

On 28 June, 2017 at 23:15, Matt Ashmore said:

 

And you might want to check out the 'flash button' (looks like a lightening bolt) to turn it off.

 

 

 

Thanks Matt, that helps a lot. A real life saver. Now I wont shake when the little thing pops making me jump and ruin the photo. 

Thank you, 

Jennifer Chen-Taiwan

[avtan 0]

 

do you mean this section?

there is nothing like green button.

[NYCat 2,212]

5 hours ago, avtan said:

 

 

do you mean this section?

there is nothing like green button.

It has been many years since I first joined Alamy and things have changed a lot since then. I think that is true of most of us who answer questions on the forum so we may not be in a good position to help you. I suggest writing to contributors@Alamy.com with your problem. I didn't totally understand your situation in your original post on the subject and thought this woman might be helpful. Of course, she has things a bit wrong. You send jpegs to Alamy -- not raw photos-- though it is advisable to shoot raw and use something like Lightroom to process. Good luck.

 

Paulette

[avtan 0]

thanks. I wrote to mail you have suggested. now I have another chance to upload photos. you suggest to upload raw instead of jpeg?

[spacecadet 3,466]

1 minute ago, avtan said:

thanks. I wrote to mail you have suggested. now I have another chance to upload photos. you suggest to upload raw instead of jpeg?

That advice was wrong. Alamy only accept jpeg.