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AlamyUpload - update

Permalink Comments (42)16 April 2007 at 16:03 by Alan Capel
Posted under Boring but necessary announcements, News

We are making good progress on the development of AlamyUpload. It’s in beta testing and will be trialled by increasing numbers of contributors in a phased release. Here are some more details.

We have been putting our new beta version of AlamyUpload through its paces. Our engineers tested it extensively on Mac and PC and we carried out the usual round of bug fixes. We also invited two groups of Alamy Contributors to our Oxfordshire offices to try it out. We made a few changes as a result of their experiences and soon, another group of contributors will test it from home or work. Thank you to all of you who offered to help with our trials, but we need to use specific profiles of contributor to fulfill our testing plan.

We will gradually involve more and more of you in the trial. Once we are satisfied that the system is working properly, we will make AlamyUpload available to all, and will notify you when you can use it. To use AlamyUpload, you will need:

  • One of the following combinations of operating systems and browsers:
    • Windows PC with Internet Explorer or Firefox.
    • Apple Macintosh OS X 10.4 with Safari or Firefox.
  • A broadband connection.

For more information, please read, AlamyUpload - technical requirements.

We’ll post more news as it becomes available. In the meantime, thank you for your patience and please continue to submit your images on CD/DVD until we notify you that AlamyUpload has been enabled on your account.

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Add your own commentComments (42)

  1. 16 April 2007 at 16:19 Ian M Butterfield

    Those wishing to discuss this blog entry in a forum environment may do so here:
    http://forum.iphotos.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=5090

  2. 17 April 2007 at 07:15 Andy K.

    I hope that Alamy is aware of the matter of fact that in many remote areas of Germany broadband connections are not available. There are no alternatives, especially in places outside of major cities.

  3. 17 April 2007 at 09:57 Alan Gallery

    Thank you for the update on Alamy Upload.

    Will this have an impact on how quickly images appear on My Images? I assume that the initial stage of loading from disc onto the system will be the time that will cut from the overall process.

    Thanks for managing to get the processing time down to such a good level – 19 calendar days for my last batch.

    Will small batches of uploaded images be collected together and processed/quality checked together?

    I wonder what progress is being made with the contributor tools – To my mind this is of greater priority than Upload.

    Kind Regards

    Alan Gallery

  4. 17 April 2007 at 16:41 peter davey

    I'd be happy to Beta test it for you.

    As for submission times - I've never had done on or under guidelines - always way over.

  5. 17 April 2007 at 22:19 Steve

    I wonder how many Alamy contributors will fail the tech requirements of OS X 10.4? I for one only have 10.3.9

    It's almost as bad as asking Windows users to have Vista. Anyone on XP or 2000 won't be able to use it.

  6. 18 April 2007 at 08:58 ixopo

    Yet again, Alamy fudge the issue of contributors who do not have broadband access. Can we please have a final answer ...

    Will contributors who do not have broadband access stil be able to send in DVDs?

  7. 18 April 2007 at 17:13 Philippe hays

    Re nº 5
    Steve, if you have the Software Update application (and internet access) on your mac, just double-click it and update your OS as needed. If you haven't got the app you can download it from the Apple site. The latest Mac OS is 10.4.9. You can also do the above by going into Apple Menu-About this Mac-Click Software Update.
    Hope that helps.

  8. 19 April 2007 at 11:43 David

    I have read elsewhere that Alamy will continue to support CD submissions after Upload is live for the majority. That makes sense.

  9. 19 April 2007 at 12:25 Andrew

    Is a 3MB ADSL Internet link going to work with the proposed AlamyUpload facility?

  10. 19 April 2007 at 12:26 Serguei

    I'd be happy to Beta test it for you.
    :) I very much wish ??????????? to load photos of the girls
    http://ap-studio.narod.ru/links.html

  11. 19 April 2007 at 12:49 Serguei

    Include please to me loading of photos through the Internet :)

    http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/F73B8FE0-E464-40D9-B378-1594380048E2/Serguey+Kovalev.html

  12. 19 April 2007 at 13:22 curious

    Serguei,

    Out of curiosity all those pics that you have on the micros - shutterstock, iStock, Fotolia and the rest - are you also going to be placing those on Alamy?

    Or, as I hope you'll say, are the ones going on Alamy not on micros?

  13. 19 April 2007 at 14:36 Ben plewes

    RF is RF and bound to feature on multiple sites including micro stock sites. I think Alamys' strength is in rights managed imagery.

    I'm wondering if there's any plans to produce an Aperture plugin for direct upload from Aperture to Alamy. There are quite a few stock sites doing this now and it speeds up workflow quite a bit.

    FTP is also great for batch uploads. Hope this is part of Alamy upload too.

  14. 19 April 2007 at 15:42 Ladi kirn

    Curious,
    While we are waiting for Sergueis answer perhaps you would want to
    Compare RF images:
    AK4T42
    AK4T40
    AK4T38
    AK4T41
    and so on, and so on…

    To RM images:
    AD75F1
    AD75EE
    AD75E5
    AD75EF
    and so on, and so on…

    I am shocked... have no comment. Somebody out there?

  15. 19 April 2007 at 19:43 Roger Bryant

    I would be interested in participating in the Beta testing of your AlamyUpload application. Is it going to be a formal Beta test with scripts to follow, or just additional users testing the latest release of your code?
    Thanks
    Roger

  16. 20 April 2007 at 16:08 Pat LAM

    Ladi Kirn

    You are right, the first pix is even fron Robert Harding Library. What is going on there??? I hope Alamy take a look at this

  17. 20 April 2007 at 20:49 ann stevens

    As a 'dial-up' hostage (broadband is not universal and I have the scars to prove it!), please don't assume all of us have BB access. Even if I do manage to get it (and I'm trying again this week) it will be 'sub broadband.' I feel another complaint to Ben Verwaayen BT CEO coming on again!
    ann

  18. 21 April 2007 at 10:19 peter davey

    Re No.3 the speed of a line that most people quote is actually download speed not upload speed, I have an 8meg line but my upload speed is only 512K most are 256k - so file size will critical to uploading time.

  19. 21 April 2007 at 15:48 Arni Katz

    I am cautiously optimistic about upload as submitting discs has been far less than satisfyting. I have now had my second disc of submissions lost and two images not of my creation posted to my upload files with MY NAME in the pseudonym. I was hoping to have 5000 images in market on Alamy by June with 10,000 by December. My Loupe apparantly has solved this issue and in 5 months less time with them the time from file prep to market placement exceeds Alamy's by a factor of 10. This is extraordinarily frustrating and the loss of discs clearly imprinted with content and my name and contact information is simply inexcuseable. I don't care how many photographers are on Alamy or how many images are online. Sloppy management of our hard work is a recipe for failure.

  20. 24 April 2007 at 13:35 Steven Bernard

    re no7

    Sorry Philippe but you are mistaken, you can only update system software on the version you are on. ie you can update from 10.3 to 10.3.9 but you can't update from 10.3 to 10.4. If you could Apple wouldn't be able to sell it as you would just download it!

  21. 25 April 2007 at 15:53 Philippe Hays

    Re nº 20
    Oooops! Sorry to have mislead you Steven. Looks like you'll have to fork out then ;o)

  22. 25 April 2007 at 19:24 philip scalia

    This is a promising development. I'm looking towards the day when software will perform QC and the time lapse between photographing and placing for sale is lowered from weeks and months to minutes and hours.

  23. 26 April 2007 at 03:21 Craig Ruaux

    I just uploaded my first file via AlamyUpload. So far so good... but you are going to want some reasonable bandwidth. I'm on a 6MBit down/1 MBit up cable broadband connection from the US, and a 12.4 MB image just took about 6 minutes to upload. I've got 66 in the queue, so I expect this process will take about 6 hours to finish. Still faster than mailing a DVD though :)

  24. 28 April 2007 at 20:17 Nitish Naharas

    We have been waiting to use the upload for quite some time at least since Dec. Do you have a timeline for completing the beta testing? Why don't you conduct a stress test by opening it to all the contributors for two weeks - that'll tell you more whether the upload will work well. For people like me, it'll give me a chance to upload the hundreds of good images that I've been waiting to upload.

    And, btw, the images for the security code does not show up when using firefox. So, I had to use IE to leave this note.

  25. 29 April 2007 at 11:52 shel

    Attn Nitish: I'm using Firefox v 2.0.0.1 and the security code picture is visible.

  26. 01 May 2007 at 11:16 Tony

    First regarding about Steve upset about upgrading software, it's a part of your work flow, if you're a professional, surely you reinvest in equipment that's essential to your business, I believe it's about £80, so it's not the end of the world (a couple of image sales should more than compensate?). Most Macs from the last 3 years or so are more than able to run 10.4 (it's Adobe PS CS2 my older iMacs have problems with) It's certainly nothing like Vista where even the relatively modern machines are struggling to run even the basic OS.

    Regarding the upload service, I've been really disappointed to see one of the acknowledged market leaders (Alamy), fail so dismally at keeping ahead of the curve, I'm sure there's technical issues that I'm unaware of, but every microstock and his brother have accepted uploaded pics for a significant time, yet Alamy still struggle, along with the contributor tools issues, has made me question Alamy's commitment to the photographers, the very people that supply it with its life blood.

    I'm not Alamy bashing for the fun of it, I love Alamy, but have abstained from submitting images until such a time when the upload service becomes widely available, preferring to vote with my feet, and contribute for the time being to other libraries. I'm sure Alamy haven't missed my participation.

    Lastly, the Mail In service should be retained, even after the upload is live, upload speeds in europe are still significantly poor, that many I'm sure will choose (or have no other choice) but to use the mail in service.

    Sorry for the long post, off my soapbox now :)

    T.

  27. 02 May 2007 at 22:03 Richard Wong

    I too would be more than glad to beta test Alamy Upload. I have been waiting months to submit but want to wait for the upload capability, as processing hundreds of images at a time for DVD's is extremely time-consuming.

  28. 09 May 2007 at 13:40 John Fryer

    Perhaps a solution would to allow
    broadband users to upload on line and others to send CD/DVDs as now.

  29. 04 June 2007 at 17:32 legge

    hi As a registered dyslexic are the instruction going to be easy to follow, or is it going to use drop and drag to up load the images


    kind regards

    legge

  30. 09 June 2007 at 14:36 Reven T.C. Wurman

    Can we get an update on when the upload will be working?

    I have files backing up...

  31. 11 June 2007 at 14:22 Alan S Skyrme

    I concur ... even a ball-park estimate would help.
    I have not sent any images to Alamy for a year - I prefer to avoid burning CDs/DVDs.

  32. 12 June 2007 at 18:00 Doug Wood

    I would love to help test the uploader.

    Thanks.

  33. 12 June 2007 at 18:31 Tony lilley

    Hi,
    I have now tried out Alamy upload twice. Both times have been completely successful and should save many disks and post charges. It's also good to see the pictures going straight into Processing and then Awaiting QC.
    The upload did seem a bit slow and I have 4Mbit broadband. These are big files however and there must be many more people all uploading at the same time.

  34. 12 June 2007 at 23:11 Nitish Naharas

    Are there any updates on a probable data for availability of Alamy upload?
    Still waiting...

    Cheers,
    Nitish

  35. 13 June 2007 at 18:07 O. geibel

    I am working part time as IT consultant using both PC and Macs and iView Media. If you ike me to test things for you, please get in touch via email. I am currently using BE Internet (in the UK), which provides a upload of around 1300k/sec (just over 1MB).

    Please rememeber that its your upload speed thats relevant on your ADSL connection; most times it does not matter what download you are getting, as most UK providers will limit uploads to around 512k/sec.

    I would also hope that we do not have to click and select each image individually in order to add to teh upload queue (ala Yahoo attachements), as this is just too time consuming!

    Also if anyone is interested in this sort of thing, have a look here: http://gallery.menalto.com which is freeware and has a function to 'pull in' imagaes from a webserver, ftp and other recourses, complete with all EXIF data...

  36. 14 June 2007 at 06:02 Roberto Orrù

    So far I'm happy with Alamy Upload, even if it's not too fast, still it's much faster than posting some dvds. Besides, I live in Colombia, so the posting is also expensive for me, and I have absolutely not guarantee that my pictures arrive to UK in good conditions, DVD are pretty delicate...
    Until now, the system has stopped uploading my photos just two times, and with a click I went on business again. I hope that Alamy could extend the uploading to all contributors.
    By the way, some of my fellows photographers are complaining about the technical exigences of this sysem....
    guys (gals), it's just normal, as you buy that lens that give you so pretty images, sharp and almost tridimensional, you should put some money in your computer too; after all, you all use Photoshop, no?

  37. 23 June 2007 at 23:20 michael vitti

    I meet the Mac requirements (OS 10.4.9 JRE 1.5.7) and am on a reasonably fast cable conntection. Have been using the Photoshelter uploader with great success.

  38. 27 June 2007 at 20:04 Daniel geiger

    Is the 20 MB jpeg file size limit going to stay? Lately, I've been shooting mainly 4x5 inch, and have been submitting the uncompressed 8bit tif equivalent of 200 MB files, which is around 40-60 MB jpegs. I have a T1 line availbale.

    I have been looking forward to the digital upload, as it will certainly increase my submission volume, as the inertia due to burning CDs and the snailmailing is removed.

    Second, do you still want B&W images to be submitted as RGB files? Seems to be a waste of bandwidth. This is mainly for electron microscopy images, which are by their nature B&W.

  39. 01 July 2007 at 20:11 Chris - geopic ltd

    It would be good if this Blog entry could be updated by Alamy to give us more up to date information. As a new contributor sending DVDs seems quite antiquated and I cannot wait for AlamyUpload to be enabled on my account - it will, as others say, increase my submissions greatly.

    I wonder if the QC turnaround time will remain the same or wether this will shorten in time. It seems to be quite a delay ? However if AlamyUpload increases submissions then maybe QC time will lengthen as submission volume goes up?

    thanks

  40. 15 August 2007 at 10:17 mAsTeRpIeCe

    ...I can't wait your AlamyUpload
    more longer, please make it fast.
    My pc system is all time ready (braodband, firefox, java and the images off course)
    best regaards.

  41. 15 February 2008 at 14:30 Emeka maduagwu

    Just joined Alamy, how long will I have to wait before AlamyUpload will be activated? Have lots of pictures which uploading is preferred than sending it via Nigerian postal services.

    Regards,

  42. 08 April 2008 at 18:15 Steven Poe

    Is there a quantity limit to achieve a successful upload?

    Twice now I have uploaded a folder of 300+ JPEG's and each time I get a "Image processing error" on random images.

    If each time its the same batch without any changes and some are accepted then the only variable is the image ingestion system.

    Does anyone have a workaround for this problem?


    Thank you,
    Steven Poe

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