Infographic – What Gear for Shooting Stock Photos

Contributing photographers are looking for the key to successful selling in stock photography. When you start selling your photos on stock photo agencies, there are so many variables that could make you the poster child for stock photo sales. But if you are looking to buy cheap stock photos, check out this article.

Dreamstime has recently added a “search-by-camera” feature camera, which led to a large amount of statistical data. They where so kind and handed their data to us, which we used to create this stunning infographic titled ‘What Gear for Shooting Stock. To our surprise, the results were a bit overwhelming. There are a few cameras, like the Canon EOS 5D Mark II,  that show higher stock photo sales and downloads for photographers. Could it mean that the camera you choose to use as a stock photographer could increase your stock photo sales? The statistics gleaned through the Dreamstime site seem to point towards this conclusion, heavily. But take a look yourself and feel free to share and link to this useful infographic for stock photographer.

Infographic about Gear from over 157,000 Contributors and over 17,500,000 Stock Photos

We have compiled the massive amount of data, delivered from Dreamstime, into a handy and interesting infographic for stock photographers and stock agencies. Click on the link to see a larger version of this infographic. Use the code below the infographic to share it on your website or blog.

What Gear for Shooting Stock Photos (Infographic)

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Amos Struck
Amos Struck

I am a publisher and entrepreneur in the stock imagery field. I focus on providing knowledge and solutions for buyers, contributors and agencies, aiming at contributing to the growth and development of the industry. I am the founder and editor of Stock Photo Press, one of the largest networks of online magazines in the industry. I am the founder of Microstock Expo, the only conference dedicated to the microstock segment. I created several software solutions in stock photography like WordPress plugins. Plus I am a recurrent speaker at Photokina Official Stage, and an industry consultant at StockPhotoInsight. I am passionate about technology, marketing and visual imagery.

15 Comments
  1. Reply
    Canon or Nikon? Camera for microstock - Forster Forest Photo August 8, 2013 at 5:29 am

    […] the full Stock Photo Infographic 2013 What Gear to use in Stock Photography designed by StockPhotoSecrets.com. Tagged camera, Canon, gear, Nikon, photography. Bookmark the […]

  2. While there may be some validity to the above conclusion (that the camera you chose could increase your stock sales) I think the choice of the 5D Mk II (or equivalent Nikons) by successful stock photographers has more to do with the fact that the majority of the people who are willing to pay the price of a Mk II are serious photographers and have the skills and the eye for photography.

    • Hi Steve, i agree on most of your points, but i also think that you need a high-end camera because of the requirements of the stock agencies. Most microstock agencies require almost none grain or high-iso images. They also require very good and sharp focus, compared to macrostock or other stock photo agencies. I think that the 5D is the working horse in this industry, that’s also one of the reasons why they use it.

  3. […] posted that image (Click here) showing what cameras are the most used on Dreamtime service. As you can see the Sony world is quite […]

  4. But Sony makes most of Nikon’s sensors, owns Olympus, and I think they also make Pentax sensors too (Pentax owned by Ricoh now).
    It is more about lenses owned and matching a body. A lens collection is expensive. Once you are set up.

    • You are right, it’s about the body and the lens. As i know a lot of stock photographers, i can tell that most of them use Canon and second most Nikon. They need a workhorse with easy to get lenses, good service and good availability. Most of them are coming from the amateur sector, which means they might have started using a Canon Rebel and then just stayed at the Canon brand. Even Shutterstock’s founder, Jon Oringer, started his company with 30.000 of his own images shot with a Canon Rebel. BTW: I have had a lot of Sony cameras and i loved them!

  5. the main reason for the sale of a stock photo is: content, content, content.
    content, period.
    when we sell images for stock, it is because they have the content the client is looking for. nothing else.
    only occasionally they ask, but only after they found the picture they like, if the image can be enlarged up to whatever size they need. But clients ask only because some images come from early generation cameras with resolution below 6mp.
    If you are a photographer with a good reputation and already published in magazines around the world or more simply, if the content of your images is sellable, agencies do not even dare to ask what camera the images are made with.
    the list of cameras they have is only on order to filter out all the amateurs and low end professional. although that trick does not work anymore, since a 500$ dslr ot P&S can produce a file that is more than suitable for stock agencies.
    The best single sale (well above 5 figures) i ever made, was from a 6mp canon. it was made when my current cameras at that time were between 24mp to 50mp file size.

  6. […] 编译于 stockphotosecrets […]

  7. Reply
    Infographic reveals the most popular cameras on stock sites « Shoot The Centerfold® September 19, 2013 at 10:00 am

    […] According to the infographic, the Canon 5D Mark II is the most popular camera on this stock photo website. There are more than 1.34 million images on Dreamstime captured exclusively with the 5D Mark II. […]

  8. […] Para ver o texto completo e todos os gráficos resultantes deste levantamento é só ir até o stockphotosecrets. […]

  9. Reply
    QUE EQUIPAMENTO USAR PARA PRODUZIR STOCK | Microstock Brasil January 29, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    […] infográfico desenvolvido por stockphotosecrets com a relação de equipamento vs desempenho nas suas vendas em bancos de imagens. Microstock Brasil […]

  10. Thank you, this was really interesting!

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