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Zenfolio or Smugmug?

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clay stewart

New member
Due to the recent apparent collapse of PBase, I find myself in need of a new hosting site. I'm now doing the trial at Smugmug, but I'm also wondering about Zenfolio.

Mostly what I've been doing for the past four years is a Photo a day, so when PBase went down a few days ago, I found my self at a loss for what to do with my daily images - sort of became a habit I guess, so I signed up for Smugmug, so I could at least continue with the PAD.

I didn't really notice anything there like the PBase PAD community though. Not sure about Zenfolio either. I sort of like the idea of being able to sell prints, as I never got that up and rolling on PBase.

Anyway, I was curious about what others felt as far as Smugmug and Zenfolio go for a PAD gallery and possible print sales.

Also, I'm wondering, if PBase gets up and going again and still has my images, for the past four years, is there a way to transfer those images to either Smugmug or Zenfolio? Thanks Clay

P.S. I tried to ask this question on the help function at Smugmug, but haven't got a response now, for a couple of days.
 
glenerrolrd

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
We have been happy with Zenfolio although the print sales can be a little tricky. The quality is typical MPIX which is fine for most inexpensive prints. The galleries are pretty nice ...but its not a blog format which is nice for PAD.
 
nostatic

nostatic

New member
glenerrolrd said:
We have been happy with Zenfolio although the print sales can be a little tricky. The quality is typical MPIX which is fine for most inexpensive prints. The galleries are pretty nice ...but its not a blog format which is nice for PAD.
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What's "tricky" about print sales? Right now I'm trying to decide between Zenfolio and Smugmug for selling prints. I'm leaning towards SM but it is more expensive and a little less clean.
 
Lloyd

Lloyd

Active member
I've been using SmugMug happily and successfully for several years now. Recommended.
 
glenerrolrd

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
nostatic said:
What's "tricky" about print sales? Right now I'm trying to decide between Zenfolio and Smugmug for selling prints. I'm leaning towards SM but it is more expensive and a little less clean.
Click to expand...
We have had friends that have had difficulty in ordering on zenfolio....I haven t checked it out as we have two sites and this was on my daughters .

I do think the presentation on zenfolio is quite good for a pre formated website.
 
Steve Fines

Steve Fines

Member
I have a Smugmug account.

Seems very customizable.

A few months ago they got a bunch of sample files (people with different skin tones, landscapes, b&w's, canvas, metallic, etc) and sent them to about 10 different printing houses around the country and then had folks rank the quality of the prints (being blinded to who printed them) as a means to choose a printer. Seems as though they've put a good bit of time into getting quality prints.

As well, on the sales side my only involvement is getting e-mails that say "You just got richer". They do the cc, packing, shipping, replacements for lost or damaged prints and so forth.

Clay - I've never had a tech question go unanswered for more than about 4 hours at dGrin - maybe make sure it was posted to the correct spot?

I have no Zenfolio experience - they are likely very good as well, but I can offer that I've been quite happy with sm.
 
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Diane B

New member
Just thought I would mention that Pbase is back up again. They say read only now--you will get the message on your profile page.
 
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woodyspedden

New member
I think it a bit sad that one crash (I have been a Pbase account holder for over three years with never a glitch until now) and every one seem to be panicing to get on to a new site.

Everyone goes through these events somewhere in their lives so I hope for Pbase to get a little slack. By Tuesday all will be well and two weeks from now no one will really remember

Woody
 
C

clay stewart

New member
woodyspedden said:
I think it a bit sad that one crash (I have been a Pbase account holder for over three years with never a glitch until now) and every one seem to be panicing to get on to a new site.

Everyone goes through these events somewhere in their lives so I hope for Pbase to get a little slack. By Tuesday all will be well and two weeks from now no one will really remember

Woody
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Yeah, I agree. I'll keep my PBase account, but I think I need to have another one somewhere else just in case. I've been at Pbase for around five years now and this is the first time it was down for multiple days.
 
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trigeminal

Guest
clay stewart said:
Yeah, I agree. I'll keep my PBase account, but I think I need to have another one somewhere else just in case. I've been at Pbase for around five years now and this is the first time it was down for multiple days.
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While neither Smugmug nor Zenfolio has had outages for multiple days if you do a bit of background searching on Smug you will see it does have regularly scheduled "downtime" and has a few unplanned outages recently. Zen has had virtually none.

In terms of ease of use my vote is to Zen, it has a clean and easy to use interface. Smug seems a bit more cluttered, but then again it's also a lot more powerful if you want to change it using html, css or java.

You can save $5 off either by using the following codes:
Smug
MjmiE0xAHBhwQ

Zen
9MS-YYH-CBP
 
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zonevt

New member
I have both Pbase and Zenfolio websites. Pbase is good for those that want to share photos with family and friends. If you are looking for a more professional site, Zenfolio offers more features to include well designed templates, slide shows, gallery structure, and the ability to make general prints for yourself or others. It has very good security features which can be changed for individual galleries. I do not use Smugmug but in looking it seems similar to Zenfolio.....same 24 meg max file size, slide show and template features. Zenfolio is less expensive for annual fees.
 
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