OCUS Arvostelua 436

Pros - Prompt payment on work. Steady assignments through 1st 3 quarters. Reasonable requirement for no show fees. Software tends to work related to assignments, uploads, and approvals.
Cons - Declining assignments (in St. Louis USA) to near zero in some months. Very slow customer service when unusual circumstances occur beyond the 24-hrs promised.
OVERALL - Enjoyed the relationship with OCUS for the past several years, and looking forward to continuing in 2026.

La atención a las inquietudes e inconvenientes de los fotógrafos es bastante lenta

I have no issues

Update:
I was contacted directly by the OCUS team. The payment issue has been resolved. I hope that the platform will function properly in the future, and that photographers’ feedback will be taken into account more often.
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I still haven't received my November payment. Support is completely useless. I've been working for OCUS for two years. During that time, the platform has deteriorated so much it's hard to describe. The new platform is still in the draft stage, not a functioning platform.

The contact options between image creater and support team is very disappointing.
The cancellation fee payment process is not satisfactory
The rating system should be improved

Manchmal wartet man zu lange auf Antworten

The Ocus platform has become horrible lately. I worked on two different projects, and in both cases I ended up losing money instead of getting paid.
For the first project, I had to travel to another city to complete the shoot. I paid for fuel from my own pocket, went on-site, and did everything required to finish the project. In the end, I did not receive a single euro—no payment, no compensation, nothing.
For the second project, I was again on-site and ready to shoot, but the restaurant owner rejected the shoot. Even in this case, I had already traveled, spent money on fuel, and cancelled other plans/work to be there. Despite this, I have been waiting for almost 25 days with no proper response from the Ocus team. My compensation request is being rejected, even though I was physically present and have full proof.
There is no support, no clear communication, and no responsibility taken. As a creator, the minimum expectation is to be compensated for time, travel, and effort. Unfortunately, that is not happening here.
This platform has now become a huge headache to work with. I had good experiences in the past, but not anymore. Because of this, I’ve decided not to work with Ocus again, and I cannot recommend it to other professionals.

I have photoshoot that has been rescheduled twice but it’s difficult in the platform to reschedule due to it is blocked and same with getting a reschedule or photographer fee because you have to click the wrong button just to process it and i end up not getting a rescheduling fee.

Thank you. So far, so good. But I couldn't register the first time. The second time, I registered using my wife's phone. There are no instructions on how to take photos, such as aperture, distance, lighting, etc. It's good that I have some experience. Photos should be no larger than 19 megabytes, but my Nikon D810 takes larger photos. Should I lower the quality? I have to reduce the size in Adobe Photoshop. Is this correct? Last time, my selfie wouldn't upload to the site. Overall, I like it. Thank you.

After dozens of messages and false promises, I still haven't received my payment after 25 days of waiting. I was also promised that I would receive my money yesterday, December 23rd. Your salary was definitely paid to you for Christmas. I didn't have that luck, just incompetence, inconsistent promises, and messages from a terrible photographer support team. Truly a disgrace.

Il y'a souvent des erreurs d'adresse, des shootings sur Paris alors que le client est en province.

merci

OTTIMA AZIENDA

I had a call from an Ocus representation a short while ago. That was a very positive experience. I had some issues and it was good to talk about it. Unfortunately the issue remains :(
Their way of working is very rigid and inflexible. But as a side hustle I guess it is ok the way it is

Le principe est plutôt pas mal; En tant que photographe, on shoote, on transmet les photos et OCUS s'occupe du reste... "Push the button, we'll do the rest", comme clamait Kodak aux début de la démocratisation de la photo!
Côté rémunération c'est faible ça mais permet éventuellement de combler des trous dans l'agenda pour limiter la casse dans une période creuse.
Après, c'est une plateforme en ligne; on se demande parfois si on parle avec une personne ou une IA, ou parfois on parle pas...

Very bad and super slowly service. It looks everything so complicated. Nobody cares about you.

Desde que OCUS migró a su nueva plataforma, trabajar con ellos se ha vuelto extremadamente complicado. Sesiones realizadas hace semanas siguen sin validarse, el soporte técnico no responde a ningún mensaje y existen problemas graves para vincular cuentas de pago como Payoneer.
Actualmente no hay forma de saber cuándo se cobrarán los trabajos realizados ni de obtener respuestas por parte del equipo.
Considero importante que otros fotógrafos conozcan esta situación antes de aceptar encargos, ya que la falta de comunicación y de gestión afecta directamente a nuestro trabajo y a nuestros ingresos.

UPDATE 22/12/25
I appreciate the CEO reaching out to me but I am still waiting on a resolution to the payment issue. Also as of this morning the previous unpaid invoice total has suddenly changed and no longer matches the invoice pdf (Both of which are in Euro) So I now have 2 differing invoice totals which means once the Payoneer problem is fixed I will not be able to approve the invoice. The ineptitude is remarkable!

After working with OCUS for several years the company is at an all time low. Just atrocious. I don't know where to begin. Highlights of the company particularly of late include.

Micromanaging the photographer and stripped of any autonomy.
Complete distrust of the photographer.
Dreadful communication with the company.
Unhelpful customer support.
Weak management.
Zero communication on new updates.
Process's that severely hinder the photographer's work flow.
No increase in assignment value from 2018 when I started.
A significant DECREASE in assignment payments.
Little to no travel/fuel allowances.
Continual poor customer offerings many of which do not want photography.
A new platform which is full of bugs.
NO information on the new platform.
Payment delays - CURRENTLY
You are expected to take a little selfie on each assignment. Ridiculous and surely an infringement on privacy.

When I first started with them there were little to none of these problems. However, increasingly it's just been an absolute headache working with this company. So much of my time has been wasted and it has also caused significant stress. The few 5 star reviews of OCUS makes me wonder....

Je suis photographe professionnelle et Ocus est l’une de mes sources de revenus, mais de loin la pire.
La plateforme est mal conçue : par exemple, nous ne sommes pas autorisés à modifier nous-mêmes la date des missions. Tout doit obligatoirement passer par le support, et les réponses prennent parfois des jours, des semaines, voire n’arrivent jamais.

La politique de compensation pour les missions annulées par le client est absolument dérisoire : le délai est fixé à 12 heures avant le début de la mission (comment est-il possible de combler un créneau libre dans un agenda avec seulement 12 heures de préavis ?), et la compensation ne représente que 30 % du montant de la mission — c’est un manque de respect envers le photographe et envers son engagement vis-à-vis de l’entreprise.

À titre de comparaison, l’un de vos concurrents applique une compensation à 100 % du montant de la mission lorsque le client annule moins de 24 heures avant l’horaire prévu.

Une autre politique tout aussi problématique concerne l’attribution des missions : elles apparaissent uniquement sur une carte, sans aucun système de notification. Cela signifie qu’il faut rester connecté en permanence pour espérer obtenir une mission. Il serait indispensable de mettre en place un système d’alerte lorsqu’une mission est disponible — ce serait alors la loi du premier à répondre à la demande. Ce ne serait certes pas idéal, mais nettement préférable au fait de devoir consulter une carte toutes les cinq minutes.

Un autre aspect très problématique pour les photographes concerne le délai de livraison des photos : celles-ci doivent être livrées avant minuit le jour même de la prise de vue.
Je comprends que le délai soit court, puisque l’entreprise vend précisément la rapidité de livraison, mais il serait bien plus cohérent de fixer ce délai à, par exemple, 12 heures après le début de la mission.

En l’état actuel, si j’ai une séance photo en fin d’après-midi et que j’enchaîne ensuite avec un dîner ou un apéritif entre amis, je suis contrainte soit d’emporter mon ordinateur et de travailler pendant un temps qui devrait relever de ma vie personnelle, soit de rentrer chez moi avant 23 heures afin de pouvoir livrer les photos dans les délais imposés.

Trabajo con Ocus como fotógrafo freelance y, lamentablemente, mi experiencia en los últimos meses ha sido frustrante.

Aunque la empresa trabaja con clientes grandes y atractivos, la realidad operativa deja mucho que desear. La nueva plataforma presenta fallos constantes, falta de estabilidad y, sobre todo, cero transparencia en el sistema de asignación de trabajos. Como colaborador, es imposible saber qué se está haciendo mal o cómo mejorar para acceder a más proyectos, lo que genera una sensación de arbitrariedad total.

A esto se suma un problema grave: retrasos en los pagos. En un trabajo freelance, cobrar en tiempo y forma no es un extra, es lo mínimo. Tener que perseguir pagos o esperar más de lo acordado afecta directamente a la planificación financiera y a la confianza en la empresa.

Además, muchos procesos parecen diseñados sin tener en cuenta la realidad del trabajo en campo (contactar restaurantes que no responden a números desconocidos, gestión de desplazamientos, tiempos ajustados, etc.), lo que añade estrés innecesario al día a día.

En resumen, Ocus tiene potencial y buenos clientes, pero actualmente la experiencia para los freelancers es opaca, poco fiable y mal gestionada. Hasta que no mejoren la plataforma, la comunicación y la puntualidad en los pagos, no puedo recomendarla como partner profesional

Llevo 5 años trabajando con Ocus. La comunicación con el soporte siempre ha sido su punto débil, pero desde el cambio de plataforma han surgido muchos más problemas, lo que ha reducido considerablemente mi motivación para seguir subiendo fotos.

La conexión no funciona correctamente y llevo una semana solicitando la vinculación de mi cuenta de Payoneer para poder cobrar una factura que ya está aprobada. Durante todo este tiempo no he recibido ninguna respuesta ni he visto cambios en la web.

En esta ocasión, Ocus me ha hecho un “gran regalo” dejándome sin cobrar justo antes de Navidad.