Long awaited Canon 5D MKIII comes with a long list of improvements compared to its predecessor Canon 5D MKII.

New 5D MIII features compared to 5D MKII

• new Digic 5+ processor: 6 fps in RAW+JPG mode, new noise reduction algorithms for higher ISO
• 22.3MP full frame (36x24mm) CMOS sensor – almost no change in images size vs. full frame 21 MP @5D MKII
• ISO: standard 100-25600, expandable to 104,200 – much better sensitivity in low light than Canon 5D MKII
• New: 63-zone dual layer iFCL metering system. This one is truly exciting. New Intelligent Focus Color Luminance Metering system integrates with the focusing and take in account both New: color and luminosity near chose AF points! Evaluative, center-weight, partial or spot metering modes
• New: 61 point High Density reticular autofocus vs. 9 points in 5D MKII. The new AF system is sensitive in extremely low light scenes – up to EV-2
• 100% coverage optical view finder vs. 98% in 5D MKII
• 3.2″ TFT LCD with 1.04M dots resolution vs. 3″ LCD with 900K dots
• New: finally, dual card slots! CF + SD
• New: built-in HDR mode. I love this one.
• New: silent shutter mode
• exposure compensation in +/- 5 stops in 1/3 or 1/2 increments vs. +/- 3 stops in 5D MKII
• Video: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD): 30 fps (29.97), 25 fps, 24 fps (23.976),  1280 x 720 (HD): 60 fps (59.94), 50 fps, 640 x 480 (VGA): 30 fps (29.97), 25 fps
• New: Multiple exposure mode for cinematic-style images: additive, average, bright and dark

Verdict: fantastic tool for low light shooting, optimized for professional videography.

Note that the actual spec above was changed since the below commercial video was released. Smaller 22 MP sensor (and not 28.2MP like advertised, 6 fps and not 8 fps). In any case, Canon 5D MKIII with its current specification is a great machine to work with.

New release 2.0.3 of ProStockMaster comes with the following changes

1. Added scrolling for language context menu, so all languages are reachable for all screen resolutions
   

   Scrolled languages menu

2. Fixed issue which did not allow suggestions for multiple keywords / keyphrase.
   

   Keyphrase suggestions

3. Mac: application menu moved to top menu bar where it is supposed to be for a Mac app
4. Mac: folders tree changed to be more Mac-like, showing “PLACES” and starting from the user’ home folder.
   

   Better Mac experience

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 – $69.95 only!

Just a quick note to let you know about such a great price for this exceptional tool which should be in the arsenal of every photographer. It is a one-day deal at B&H Photo, NYC, NY USA.

We just have released the new 2.0.2 version of PSM for Mac Os X Snow Leopard. This release follows previous v2.x releases for Windows, switching PSM to work with your (free) Lightburner account. Thus you get the best of the two worlds, browsing and adding metadata locally, while uploading only once for all microstock channels via online software. For more information see release notes  for 2.x versions.

Once you’ve downloaded the latest software, make sure that

• You have a valid Lightburner account (free signup here)
• You defined your microstock agencies and/or private FTP sales channels in Lightburner
• You provided PSM with your Lightburner username and password (Tools -> Lightburner account menu in PSM)

Known issues

1. Sales stats received from Lightburner.com always overwrite any data you might enter manually. Still thinking how to handle the logic here.

I am happy to announce that the long awaited PSM v2.0 BETA is currently released for Windows OS. This is a major software release changing how PSM works with your images. While the user experience and the GUI mostly remain the same, other software layers were significantly modified.

Main changes

1. PSM now works as a Lightburner.com client, uploading images exclusively to your Lightburner.com account. If you did not get your free Lightburner account yet, go get it now.
2. It means that now you can upload your images to as many microstock and traditional stock photography agencies as you wish, either by using pre-defined Lightburner.com microstock sales channels like iStock and Shutterstock, or by defining your own private FTP channels.
3. It also means that PSM will now upload images only once, to Lightburner.com, instead of uploading them N times to N agencies. Thus you save time and bandwidth.
4. Lightburner accounts are set up for automatic distribution of all uploaded images, no additional action required. Once PSM uploads the images Lightburner will distribute them to the microstocks of your choice.
5. The IPTC/EXIF/XMP metadata library is replaced by a more sophisticated solution. WARNING: MAKE COPIES FOR ALL JPEGs BEFORE YOU APPLY ANY METADATA CHANGE, particularly because it is an early BETA release of the software.
6. The database structure was cleaned up and was significantly changed. The new database is incompatible with DBs of PSM 1.x.x. If there will be a huge demand for the backward compatibility I will consider adding a DB convert utility.
7. Some less important functionality existed in the previous versions is removed to reduce the number of features delivered in this BETA release.

DOWNLOAD: http://prostockmaster.com/dc2/Setup_ProStockMaster.exe

Once you’ve downloaded the latest software, make sure that

• You have a valid Lightburner account (free signup here)
• You defined your microstock agencies and/or private FTP sales channels in Lightburner
• You provided PSM with your Lightburner username and password (Tools -> Lightburner account menu in PSM)

Known issues

1. Sales stats received from Lightburner.com always overwrite any data you might enter manually. Still thinking how to handle the logic here.

** Please report the bugs to support(at)pixamba(dot)com! **

Thank you!

Alamy, a UK-based traditional stock photography agency, proudly announced in their latest letter to their contributors that Alamy will be able to transfer payouts via PayPal.

Good news – we have made some improvements to the way in which we pay our contributors. We are now offering PayPal – we can pay you in GBP, USD or EURO’s via PayPal. If you opt for PayPal we will send your payment so that you do not pay any PayPal fees

I like Alamy because they are so British. Meaning they are so ages-back traditional and so fantastically slow in adopting the change and following the market trends, and nevertheless – or because of that, – they still sell well. Today virtually every reasonable stock photography agency offers PayPal payouts, so welcome to the club, my dear Alamy.

Shutterstock, who came to the microstock market as a first agency to offer microstock subscriptions, joins iStock, Fotolia and Dreamstime by offering single images sales. The recent announcement on Shutterbuzz states that current royalty rates for subscription-based packages are not going to change. As per the new product which ‘is being tested in the certain markets’ the planned royalty rates are based on the contributor’s life-time earnings on Shutterstock:

• up to $500 – 20% payout rate
• $500 – $3,000 – 25%
• $3,000 – $10,000 – 28%
• over $10,000 – 30%

Shutterstock is an owner of BigStockPhoto.com, re-branded as BIGSTOCK sometime ago. BIGSTOCK, which deploys a traditional credits-based microstock model, was purchased by Shutterstock to complete their subscriptions offering. For the last few months in addition to the credits packages BIGSTOCK also offers immediate purchase of a single image. The single download prices start from $2.99.

BIGSTOCK single image sales

It looks like Shutterstock was closely following BIGSTOCK in this initiative and now they are doing a similar move.

All in all this is good news for the microstock artists. I believe that the contributors like me will be happy to increase their earnings effortlessly, by selling the same microstock collection on Shutterstock in a different way, so let’s wish Shutterstock good luck with their new baby.

Nikon Corporation recently announced two new camera models in the new Nikon 1 mirrorless series: J1 and V1.

Nikon Series 1 J1 mirrorless camera

Nikon Series 1 V1 mirrorless camera

Nikon announced new Series 1 lens mount system with the following dedicated lenses:

• NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6
• NIKKOR VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6
• NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8
• NIKKOR VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM

However, the biggest news is that with a new FT1 mount adapter Series 1 lens mount is backward compatible with good old F-mount Nikkors!
Both J1 and V1 bodies look modern and retro at the same time, promising the best mix of manual user experience in the modern automated camera body.
Both cameras offer Full HD 1920 x 1080/60i video, 3″ LCD screens (420K pixels for J1 and 920K pixels for V1), RAW support, sensor-based dust reduction. V1 sports EFV with 1440k-dot (SVGA).

With these new cameras Nikon introduces a new Nikon CX-format CMOS image sensor, a new imaging format to its existing Nikon FX and DX formats for digital-SLR cameras. Nikon claims that both J1 and V1 are the world’s first interchangeable lens digital cameras equipped with focal plane phase detection AF for the world’s fastest autofocusing. Not surprisingly, both cameras support matrix, center-weight and spot exposure metering and feature the new EXPEED 3 image processing engine.

J1 comes in 5 colors, from pink to black, while V1 is available in silver or black only.

Nice 12 minutes tutorial with a good level of details covering Adobe HDR Merge and Adobe Camera Raw. The author demonstrates a complete workflow, starting from 3 handheld-exposured images to HDR to the final adjustments in CS5. Worth watching if you play with HDRs, for mictostock or just for yourself

Lee Torrens, a well known microstock guru started a new welcome initiative by creating a new web site dedicated to microstock photography buyers.We can expect there comparisons of various licenses, evaluation of various microstock packages and subscriptions, microstock agencies reviews and interviews with the industry leaders.
Photo buyers community definitely needs better education understanding the various licenses and proper use of the licensed media.
Good luck with that Lee!