Patrick and I created Fstoppers.com about eight years ago and it's been a wild ride. We never planned any of this, we simply tried to steer this ship that seemed to be moving on its own.
Fstoppers' entire existence has been a bit of an experiment for us. We usually come up with some sort of idea; whether it be a blog post, a video, or a full-length photography tutorial. We create it, we share it, and then we examine your response. It's pretty clear which of our projects are successful and which are duds based on clicks, views, and comments alone. And they don't even have to be positive comments. Sometimes the easiest way to gauge success is by counting negative comments (so we even appreciate the trolls).
In 2017 Patrick and I created more free and paid content than ever before, but it still felt like we were neglecting our website and our YouTube channel because we could have posted more. We've hired an incredible team of photographers/writers from around the world who bring you guys quality content every single day and it's been easy to post less knowing that the site has been in such good hands. Our hope for 2018 is to be more involved.
In a perfect world, all of our content would be free and we would get so much traffic that we could make enough money with advertising alone. Sadly this isn't the case. Fstoppers.com the website doesn't make much money after expenses and YouTube may only pay us a few hundred dollars for a video that took a team of us a week to produce.
The full-length photography tutorials in the Fstoppers Store are the only reason Fstoppers is what it is today. For those of you who have purchased one from us, thank you. You guys have made Fstoppers a success and have allowed us to create so much other free content. That being said, I would love to produce even more free content but to make this financially viable, we need more traffic to these posts and videos.
30 Videos in 30 Days
Starting tomorrow, January 1, 2018, we are going to release a new video and post on Fstoppers.com every single day for 30 days straight. We want to know what will happen if we work our asses off to bring you entertaining and informative free content every day for a month. Will Fstoppers.com gain exponentially more traffic? Will our YouTube channel gain exponentially more subscribers? Will anyone even notice?
As always, this is just another experiment for us. I'm not sure what's going to happen but, even if it's not a massive success, we're going to have a great time trying to pull it off and we hope you join us. This should be fun.
Ohhh yeah can't wait to see what happens!
Can't wait to see the D850 review.
Coming VERY VERY soon!!!! ;-)
Lee, you and Patrick are awesome! Thank you for everything you have done so far. As a relative neophyte in the photography world your site has been a huge asset. Looking forward to.the new experiment and will help promote as much as possible!!! Happy New Years, here's to a prosperous 2018!!! #eliarocks
Thanks for the kind words. Hope you enjoy the free content.
I do. I am also a paying consumer, and frankly, can't wait to be able to do more to support you guys. (Didn't want to make the original comment about me though)
Keep up the good work Fstoppers Team. This site is top-notch, and I think I speak for all members and visitors when I say - we greatly appreciate this platform as a valuable resource to our photography. Best regards, and happy new year!
Happy New Year! :))))
I usually don't watch videos. I'm looking for written articles. How can I be a paid subscriber?
Me too. Videos are very low bandwidth for me. I read quite fast and I like to follow links. Video takes too long and links are a PITA. I value Fstoppers and am willing to have a paid subscription.
All the best to you, Patrick and all the wonderful people that make Fstoppers a great resource and community! Happy new year gang!
My two cents: Fstoppers' original content is very often top-shelf - like the iPhone photo shoot, the blind camera comparison, the gun portraits. I want more of that stuff.
Strive for more honesty. It is the creed of artists.
You will like tomorrow's video...it's as honest of a review as it gets while still being fun to watch (I hope)
Love your website and pretty much like the content. I can appreciate the hard work put into it on a daily basis. As a working pro I would like to see more "money making" info like PDN used to do back in the day. This gear ain't cheap. I also don't care about gear reviews as there are way too many other sites who do a good job of that ie: DP Review. I already know how to make a great photo and light things and people so rarely need tutorials. I just want to stay current on getting new clients, estimating jobs and the like. For that I would gladly pay for a subscription. That may put me in the minority of your viewership so I'll understand if you don't pursue this advice. Just my two cents. Keep up the good work. JM
Subscribed on YouTube. But if day 1 is something about a drone, I'm unsub'ing... kidding! maybe...
I have been following your site for some time. Truly appreciate the work and the information you make available. The images are awesome to look through and see what others are doing. Truly inspiration. I, for one, would be more than willing to pay for access to the volume of high-quality material. i know other sites have a small annual subscription fee.
I rarely watch any videos. No matter how well done they are it's quicker to read an article than to watch and listen to all the intro, chit-chat, and banter that's usually part of a video. With an article, if the author gets too long winded I can skim for the key parts. Scrubbing through video, not so much.
Additionally, unless I specifically use ear-buds, watching a video means I'm automatically sharing my the audio with everyone nearby; no thanks.
Keep making those awesome articles instead!
:O
Love the site.... you two do a great job. Happy New Year, I wish you the best year ever
Hey guys can you shine some light on something someone (sales person at a camera shop) said to me recently. I was looking at upgrading from my Canon 5D MKII to a Canon 1DX Mark II and the first thing I was told is that my lenses which is the 24-105mm f/4L and 70-200mm f/2.8L and others will not yield a great result, he basically stated if I go that route I'll need to update all my lenses. So he pointed out the Nikon D850 and the lenses for it stating they were better , etc, etc. My question is upgrading to Canon 1DX Mark II is there truth regarding the lens. I do like the features I see in the D850, this would mean switching from Canon to Nikon which would be a huge expense, since I use the 24-70mm, 24-105mm, 70-200mm, 100mm, 100mm macro, 85mm in my work 90% of the time.
I have no idea why that would be true but I don't spend as much time behind Canon's line as I do Nikons. Tomorrow's first video is about the D850 but I don't think it will answer that question. I'd get the camera you want and rent some lenses and see if you can tell a big difference.
I call BS on this. Either he’s making a bigger profit on Nikon gear, or he’s being biased towards them.
The only lens you might see a difference in would be the 24-105. But I have no idea why the other premium glass from Canon you mention would yield poor results.
Go with Canon if you are invested in their lens lineup already!
My main concern is wil the image become softer as I print large prints on a Epson 7880 printer.
There is a common misconception that with higher megapixel sensors, you MUST upgrade your lenses but actually, higher megapixels means your lenses automatically get upgraded in terms of detail which can be resolved. It's lens-dependent, of course as something like the 50/1.4 gets less of an upgrade than something like the 100L.
In this case, however, the pixel density of the sensor on the 1DX Mark II is actually lower than the 5D Mark II so it's not something you need to worry about.
This is a sales person trying to get you to spend more money. You will not notice any decrease in performance and may even notice an increase in focusing speed and accuracy with your current lenses by upgrading your camera.
That said, upgrading some of your lenses could yield additional benefits (focus speed, accuracy, sharpness, etc) but you will NOT notice degraded performance if you upgrade the camera.
The bottom line is if this guy gets you to jump ship he will be making a helluva lot of commission on a camera and a large number of lenses. Ask his store manager if he can confirm that with their Canon rep.... and see if he's willing to lose the ability to sell Canon.
I am a D850 user and went with Tamron for lenses: 15-30, 24-70 G2, 70-200 G2 and 45 f/1.8. All are equal or better than the Nikon equivalents when it comes to image quality.
Interesting as he did state that the Sigma Art lenses are better than the Nikon lenses.
Thank you very much for everything in 2017. Great information and entertainment. I look forward to more work on the website but I am a big fan or the tutorials (I've bought a couple) and I love the BTS so hopefully you won't cut back too much.
You really make a great job, thanks for all!!
Looking forward to the new year. Fstoppers is one of the three sites I visit on a daily basis.
Happy New Year 2018
I have just learnt that there is a channel YouTube!...
Even if my English is close to zero (I am French) I go and look at your videos with interest!
Thank you for your work!!!
Really enjoying your content and your humor! I think that more content and interactions with your followers will add even more followers and potential business for your company.
Keep the good work up!
Sounds amazing....
Can't wait to see what yall come up with! Producing a video EVERY DAY is a pretty remarkable feat. We've tried that a few times and usually it lasts about 5 days :D.
My plan is to stockpile up front. I don't like the idea that my entire Jan is going to be dictated by having to create something every day but I'm also excited to push myself outside my own boundaries. I can't even film more than day 4 days into the 365 day diary app!
It is very hard to swallow a bucket :) Man, you guys are so cute.
Hello, thanks you for this announcement. You said that you have no more tutorials but you were not supposed realize tutorials with Brian Rodgers for packshots?
Thanks and happy new year :-)
Yes we have that coming but we are basically done with the production. It's part of the 30 for 30 :)
Allright-Youtube subscribed and notifications turned on. You guys do a great job and your site is one that I check into on a daily basis.
I'm always shocked when discussing articles on Fstoppers with "supposed folks in the know" that they aren't aware of your great and newsworthy site?
Anyhow, I look forward to what you come up with in 2018 and a Happy and successful New Year to you guys!
I mercilessly hammered Fstoppers recently for the article "A Defense of Rooftop Photography", but that was the outlier for me. Everything else has been a positive. If I'm a troll for that, well, hopefully my feedback (along with others) will have helped shape the way you put your content out there going forward.
I come to this site and another couple on a daily basis as a source of knowledge, learning, perspective and ideas as an aspiring hobbyist who'd love to up my game in terms of creativity and quality... as well as someone who'd love to make some money on the side with this art. Really enjoy the content, videos and groups for feedback and community. Tip-top stuff, all around. Kudos.
Love Fstoppers.......so much so I am on it several times per day. I am recently retired and getting back to a life long hobby of photography and you have been one of my most inspirations. Thank You for all that you do.
My money is on exponential growth. The biggest people on Youtube post consistently, every day or multiple times a week, and that’s what the consumers look for. Judging from the content you guys have put out in the past, the new stuff will be great as well.
This site is top-notch and I check it daily. My ONLY critique, if I could change anything, it would be to drop any hint of political commentary.
Alright then; let's see what happens! Happy new year everybody! In 2017 I joined my first site/community and it was Fstoppers.
Someone give Patrick an apple box to stand on please :)
I know I don't interact like I should online, especially with websites like this. I do check in here every day, and a resolution this year is to be more interactive. Love the work you guys do and all the insightful content ... you're doing in right! Many positive wishes for a great 2018.
Best of luck, your content (paid & free) is gold. Do you think you might go subscription based for your classes?
I don't mind buying what I really like right now, but a subscription like Netflix or Masterclass may help customers and yourselves, ha, also may not, curious what your thoughts are :)
Certainly considered it but the paid content we have is different then other sites. We have a few products but they are all super long. Plus they come with raw files and extras. Maybe one day.
Thank you, for making the difference.