there are vanishingly few editorial stock photo clients that request film. many, many stock photo agencies are either converting or completely converted to digital now and will refuse to accept film. you have to supply digital files. they won't scan your slides for you gratis anymore given the availability of high quality film scanners at reasonable prices. in editorial stock, anyone still using film will be laughed out of the market and 6 megapixels are considered adequate. for commercial stock, the file size/resolution requirements are higher, but that typically stops at 11 megapixels, which by no coincidence is the same resolution as the Canon 1-Ds. magazine covers are routinely done from 4 megapixel files.
after having converted, agencies going digital significantly increase profits and significantly reduces liabilities. it's been more than decade since any reasonably sized periodical has been able to do layout completely digitally on PCs and Macs. from that time on, film has been a necessary evil. art magazines may choose their own route, but not the mainstream. if you don't believe me, check up on the agencies listed in the Photographer's Marketplace 2003 edition. there is no way to do electronic delivery unless you have an electronic image. my latest client called requesting very specific photos. it took me half an hour to ready a custom web site containing all the pictures that might meet her very specific requirements. most of that half hour was spent uploading the site since i am on an ADSL line where upload speed is pretty slow. she looked at them and saw one that fit her needs. a half an hour later, she had a high resolution image in her hands ready for layout. it took that long because i had noticed a blemish in the original and had to fix it. press time was about 6 hours after i sent the picture. she had no time for fooling around. we talked once by phone for a couple of minutes. the rest was done by email. this is how editorial stock works these days. there is no room for the time taken to deal with film. Herb.... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Whaley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 17:21 Subject: Re: Tough times in Rochester > It seemed that's who you meant, but I wanted to clarify it. > You're telling us that all the great old stock companies are mostly > buying digital anymore? > > I've never thought about it, but I guess if those who buy images from > stock companies LIKE working with digital well enough, that is the > handwriting on the wall...
