OCUS Reviews 

Great experience

In the beginning i had good experiences, but now with the new platform it went down.
They allow unprofessionals to work for them.
The saddest part i dont know why is it good for them.
Not caring, is the worst in business.

I want to leave very positive feedback for OCUS. From the first contact to the completion of the service, they demonstrated great professionalism, availability, and care. It's good to work with companies that take quality and the customer seriously. Thank you!

I haven't been an ocus image creater for too long but I can already see that I probably won't be wasting my time with them much more. I signed up last summer and truth be told everything went well early on. The website was a bit cluncky, but I took on jobs, I got paid and any issue I experienced was outside of the control of ocus and was caused by restaurant managers/owners who doesn't have a clue about food photography.
Then came the switch to v3 and it is a disaster truly. It's astonishing how they managed to go from clunky but working website to a very basic, non-functional one. Honestly the changes are ridicolous. The v3 website is dumb, there is no two ways about it. It's so simple and so many features are missing that it looks like a very early alpha version and I have no idea how they thought this could be released. One example is to go to my invoices I need to go to the settings first? Why? There used to be a separate invoices tab, which has nothing to do with settings. Contacting them became much more difficult. Back in v2 I could almost always click on a contact us button, now I have to go to very specific menus to find one. For example I wanted to enquire about an invoice that was not submitted by them, but there was no way for me to do this, I had to go to my previous photoshoots and raise an issure through that job, which is just idiotic.

Then there is the revision of the prices, which is outrageous! When I signed up, the lowest paying jobs were paying 45 euros, which was already very low, but I figured for 6 images it's acceptable (this not accounting for restaurant owners not preparing and making you wait for dishes and 6 images taking up over an hour to shoot). But now I saw jobs for 19-25 euros! And for those I'd need to travel too, even if not too far. For 19 euros I wouldn't even take out my camera if my neighbour asked me for it, let alone travel somewhere on my expense and put in my time and effort. It's insulting to think that anyone would find this acceptable pay. The jobs in Wales are pretty much nonexistent, if I look at the map, Wales is blank and England has all the jobs, but I guess it's not ocus' fault, but it's worth mentioning.

The reason for my review is that even though the system wasn't perfect in v2 and it's outright bad in v3 at least I always got paid for the job I did, and it was something I could keep on the side when I had the time for it. But with the switch to v3 they offered a 25 euro bonus who completes a set of jobs (attending webinar, passing assessment, setting availabilty, taking on a job etc). I made sure that I ticked all the boxes and I was told that I will get 25 euro added to my next invoice automatically. The invoice was late and only appeared when I raised a complaint, but without the 25 euro bonus. I didn't athurise the invoice and raised another complaint and that was 11 days ago. No reply whatsoever other than the first automatic email acknowledging my complaint. A few days ago I called them, because now they have a phone line to call and the person on the line said she can't do anything at all. She will raise another ticket for them to sort it out immediately, but I doubt she understood my problem in the first place. I can put up with clunky websites, and even time-wasting restaurants as long as I get paid on time. As I have always completed my assignments on time, without issues. What would ocus say if I took a job and delivered the images weeks later? How is it okay for them to not pay me on time when I did my part on time. Even if I raise issues, a few extra days delays is understandable. Not ideal, but I know issues need time to resolve. But come on. Not communicating anything, keeping quiet for 2 weeks is just laughable. I will get them to pay me this invoice and I think this is it for me. For the insultingly low payouts that don't get paid on time anymore....what is the point?

I was indecisive wether to rate 4 or 3 star but since the changing the new system because of late responses as well as the getting unconfirmed assignments thus unfruitful journeys wasted and not getting compensation and feed back I gave 3 star instead of better much better rating comparing to old system. I hope it will improve in time.

The new website works much better and generates fewer errors, but I think there were aspects of the previous one that worked better and were more practical.
1. Not being able to take a task directly is a disadvantage for several reasons:
• Usually, when you call a client for the first time, they cannot give you a date for the session yet, so the task—which could have been yours—goes back into the system.
• There are clients who tell you they will call you back shortly, and when they do, the task is no longer available. When it reappears, another photographer may call and take it. As a result, you lose the task despite being the first photographer to make contact (in other words, I did the “initial work” for another photographer).
2. It is not possible to change the date of tasks.
There are clients who contact you just a few hours before the session to cancel and postpone it to another day. If you simply cancel the session, you lose the task entirely.

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.

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.
___

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

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.

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.

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

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

A lot of photosessions. But the support - sometimes is not available, there is a lot of situation that support is needed immediately and that's a problem. But in general - I really like you :)

I would give this company 1 star but I am complicit in working for them.
This company is complete garbage. It is a headache and wastes both photographers and clients time. You will probably never talk to a human being on the company side but will spin in circles with bots and low grade AI. This company is everything wrong with technology in business. On top of that they set everything up in the most moronic way.

From Paddy Boyle, PHOTOGRAPHER

Hi,

After working with Ocus for over 6 years I have decided to call it a day.
The reasons are stated in full below not that an international corporation like Ocus will take note of my statement.

I have completed roughly 1000 missions and at the beginning all was fine.
Although I was not ok with the miserly one third compensation fee for missions cancelled that were not my fault. But I lived with it.
Neither was I ok about the zero mileage for distant missions that I accepted.
Although this could be somewhat negated by organising a number of missions at the same location.
Losing copyright, normally something I would never agree too, was not an issue with me as the photography required was very low in artistic and personal merit.

I WAS annoyed by the lack of increase in photographic fees over that period.
With inflation, parking fees and fuel costs rising and the €45 fee remaining static this has meant a reduction in actual money earned and a saving for Ocus, increasing their profits.

The slow progression of stricter guidelines has also played a part in my decision to quit.
The introduction of the rating system was an insult to most professional photographers who absolutely know what good food photography is, but €45 fee does not warrant exceptional photography.
The launch of the new platform and engagement rules is a game changer for the worse.
It is mentioned in your launch statement that these new guidelines are to help the photographers.
They most definitely are NOT.
They are to minimise the costs, responsibility, risk involved and workload to Ocus whilst increasing the burden of these elements onto the photographer.
The photographer looses the right to control his/her own calendar and to re-arrange with the client directly.

The photographer is the one who has to deal with awkward clients who do not want to prepare food, lack of preparation of food on time and moaning about the waste involved.
Clients who cancel on a whim with no regard for time wasted and money lost.
Ocus have no regard for these issues that the photographer has to endure.
And please do not reply that the new guidelines are here to help, THEY DO NOT.

The final straw for me came this month when I accepted 8 missions.
One was shot with no complications.
One was shot with the client complaining about waste of food and wished to use his own photos that were not suitable, after much coaxing he complied in the end.
One was unassigned by Ocus even though I stated on the platform that I was waiting for the client to fix a time for the shoot and that he would get back to me.
Two were unassigned by Ocus because I was unable to make contact with the clients in the prescribed time.
Two were cancelled by clients who did not want or required photography in the first place.
And finally, my most recent job (still active) was cancelled by the client when I phoned up to confirm the shoot, we rearranged the shoot but Ocus REFUSED ME COMPENSATION!
So now I will no longer work for a company who has sunk to such a low level of respect for its suppliers.

So for all the reasons above I will say Adieu (Politeness stops me from being more forthright) .

Regards
Paddy Boyle Photographer

P.S. I hate the term ‘mission’. They are not that precious.