We accept footage that originates from high-quality cameras, including:
- Professional cameras
- Prosumer cameras
- 3CCD consumer cameras
- Smartphones with minimum 1080p basic resolution
- Wearable cameras, GOPro or equivalent
- Drones with minimum 1080p resolution
Note: We can make exceptions for unique content, but these exceptions are rare.
General Guidelines
Accurate focus and exposure, proper camera settings, and stable camera movements are essential for good footage. Using a tripod or stabilizer while creating stock video is encouraged.
We prefer that clips have no edits. If you have a file with several clips edited together that can be sold as individual clips, please separate them. Pond5 may determine certain sequences acceptable if they meet specific artistic or aesthetic standards.
Moderate color correction and effects are okay; however, please remember that many buyers will color correct or otherwise modify the look of the footage after purchase, and will therefore desire a high-quality, minimally manipulated, or RAW image to work with. We will evaluate videos with filters applied on a case-by-case basis.
Archival Footage
If you’re scanning your own film or have archival material (that is not public domain) please try your best to convert it to 1080p. We will consider lower resolutions on a case-by-case basis.
Audio
We prefer that the audio is removed before uploading to the platform. Exceptions include Editorial content or footage where the audio is crucial to the usage of the content.
Examples of acceptable audio include:
– archival clip of a speech from a historical figure
– wildlife clip with distinct animal sounds
If the audio associated with a clip could be useful to our buyers and doesn’t contain any copyrighted material (such as music) or recognizable voices (which would require a model release), then the audio should be included with the clip.
Note that we only accept audio recorded with high-quality microphones at a proper level. Sound from in-camera mics will most likely not be accepted. Pond5 considers audio quality just as highly as video; if audio quality is an issue on location, please disable it on your camera.