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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Photoshelter vs. Zenfolio
Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 12:29 AM on 04.04.09 |
->> can anyone here explain the pros and cons of these 2
what makes Photoshelter better?
Or for those using Zenfolio-what makes it better-or why did you chose to go there?
(http://www.zenfolio.com/zf/selling.aspx) |
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Stanley Leary, Photographer
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Roswell | GA | USA | Posted: 7:55 AM on 04.04.09 |
| ->> I like PhotoCore.us |
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Kent Nishimura, Student/Intern
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Honolulu | HI | USA | Posted: 8:28 AM on 04.04.09 |
->> Debra, I primarily like the fact that i can FTP images to mulitple site in one go. and if i lose my internet connection while in the field, then as long as i hit submit on photoshelter, then it'll send.
i had to transmit pictures to Corbis, Bloomberg, Getty, Spia, UPI, EPA, Black Star, Polaris, and Consolidated simultaneously. Photoshelter really helped me out! As a student though, $30 a month is pretty steep for me.
yikes.
however, i have no experience with zenfolio.
have you considered smugmug?
hope this helps. :-)
Aloha // Kent |
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Alan Look, Photographer
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Bloomington | IL | United States | Posted: 9:09 AM on 04.04.09 |
->> I don't have experience with zenfolio, so I'll provide a one sided response.
Customer service is outstanding with PhotoShelter. I've had calls and emails from Allen and Grover on down - for no better way to put it. It's not below anyone there to help someone.
Server redundancy. With mirrored servers on both coasts, I don't know of a better service for archiving. It would take very coincidental catastrophies to loose anything.
Those are 2 of the biggest items that have kept me at PhotoShelter since something like the 2nd day they were up and taking subscriptions. |
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Mark Scheuern, Photographer
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Grand Blanc | MI | USA | Posted: 9:43 AM on 04.04.09 |
| ->> For Photoshelter, I'll add to the above: easy customization and integration with your web site, FotoQuote integration, ease of controlling access for clients, and, in general, just extremely photographer-friendly and responsive to questions and requests. |
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Mike Brice, Photographer
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Toledo | OH | USA | Posted: 10:40 AM on 04.04.09 |
| ->> The difference is like the difference between a coolpix and a D3 - sure they are both cameras, but one is a lot more powerful. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 11:02 AM on 04.04.09 |
->> Photoshelter:
1. Customized website
2. photoquote (think that is the name for commercial estimates)
3. upload raw,tiff, jpeg, etc..
4. uses mpix for printing same as zenfolio
5. Solid back end with many options.
Zenfolio:
1. No customizing going on, you have a choice of 10 templates I believe.
2. 12% applied to the profit only after base price, shipping, and tax are subtracted
3. Their back end is very easy to use and very nice. From reports to setting up price lists. All very easy.
4. Digital Downloads now just like PS has.
5. Can upload PNG, TFF, JPEG, GIF but no RAW, DNG
6. Much much cheaper as 100 dollars per year gets you unlimited transfer and space. With PS it is around 35 dollars a month for 35 gb of space.
Both places have their pluses and minuses and both can file bankruptcy just as quickly as the other. Both are very reliable as far as I know.
I have been with zen for 2 years now and never had one issue. They are still building and improving their service. Their CS is just as good as PS. Questions get answered very quickly and their forum is active and open to ALL not just members.
I would try Zen for 14 days with their free trial before spending money on PS. I don't think they offer a free trial, but I believe they offer a free account.
If you are looking for customization PS is the way to go for now. But you will be looking at 35 dollars or more per month I believe in order to get it. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 11:07 AM on 04.04.09 |
->> I forgot to add I chose zen because in the end I loved the back end of the site. Plus again I got all the features I needed for around 80 dollars (cheaper when you are a returning customer).
Right now I have over 12,000 images uploaded to the website. All full sized jpegs. Raw's I keep on my computer on a external HD backed up to another external HD.
Again give zen a trial for 14 days and see how you like it. That is the best way. We can tell you features till we are blue in the face, but it is you that will have to make that decision. Both sites are very friendly for photographers and have excellent CS> |
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Mike Janes, Photographer
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Attica | NY | USA | Posted: 1:47 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> It depends heavily on what you're doing; selling editorially/commercially, selling prints, or both.
Prints wise I stick to Exposure Manager because it's customizable, great service, great prints, good prices, can self-fulfill, etc. I've compared them to Smuggie, Zen, Shutterfly, among others and none really matched up for my needs print wise. Also they're only 10% vs Zens 12% and Smuggies 15%. Downfalls include too high of shipping costs, no IPTC search, and there novelty products are pricey. Personally been thinking of self-fulfilling through a different company but won't endorse them till personally trying them out first, but it looks like the move would save money for me and my customers because of the options EM allows. Zen seems to have added some features EM has since I checked them out but the higher cost (12%) and non-customizable kills the deal.
Editorially though nothing compares to PhotoShelter, period! Not a huge fan of selling prints through them but for the archive they're a must.
www.mikejanesphotography.com
The youth side is all customized with Exposure Manager - $99/year unlimited storage
The editorial side is all customized with PhotoShelter - $29.95/month for 35GB
Both are still in the process of getting completed. |
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Marvin Gentry, Photographer
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Birmingham | AL | USA | Posted: 2:37 PM on 04.04.09 |
| ->> Stanley is Photocore comparable is price to photoshelter and zenfolio?? |
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Kenya Hudson, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Jackson | MS | USA | Posted: 3:54 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> I work freelance with a newspaper and currently provide a password-protected gallery that permits them to download images, which are invoiced on a monthly basis using their custom process. A few months ago, I considered moving to Photoshelter, but I got a response that if I implemented watermarks every image in the archive would be watermarked.
"...Unfortunately, the watermark setting is global. No services that I am
aware of allow you to do what you want to do. Part of the reason is that
applying a watermark in real-time is a computer-intensive operation..."
I'm looking at Photoshelter again as I make some changes to the site and just wanted to get the perspective of users. [Perhaps, I worded my question to Photoshelter in a confusing way.] Is it possible to have the watermark on in public galleries but not in password-protected client areas? If it isn't, why would Photoshelter be recommended for editorial work? |
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Craig Mitchelldyer, Photographer, Assistant
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 3:58 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> Kenya,
The watermark is only on the preview image, not when it is downloaded. Why wouldn't you want that on every gallery? You could make your watermark small and in a lower corner so that it does not distract from the image. |
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Karsten Moran, Photographer, Photo Editor
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New York | NY | United States of America | Posted: 4:14 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> Kenya,
You can also customize your own watermark on Photoshelter, which means that you can upload a 'blank' page to essentially provide watermark-free images, or you can determine how obtrusive you want your watermark to be. Here's what I came up with -
http://pa.photoshelter.com/img-show/I0000kR8G59LnJc4 |
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Kenya Hudson, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Jackson | MS | USA | Posted: 4:20 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> Why wouldn't you want that on every gallery? You could make your watermark small and in a lower corner so that it does not distract from the image.
I would want it on every public image. I just wanted to make sure that the newspaper could download images from a password-protected gallery without the watermark. Otherwise, it makes it more cumbersome to use not less. (If the downloaded images were watermarked, they would still have to contact me to send images without the watermark.) Thanks. I guess I'll try some test-runs. |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 4:56 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> Kenya-
It's always a good thing to create a "dummy" client account so YOU can see the exact same things that the client sees before you roll it out to a client. We even go as far as completing the sale to make sure that delivery and customer service is up to par. |
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Mike Janes, Photographer
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Attica | NY | USA | Posted: 4:59 PM on 04.04.09 |
| ->> Kenya, the watermark is not on the downloaded images unless you only tried to download the preview which is a small watermarked image. That's usually just so the paper can check if it fits there space and then they can download the full one without the mark. That way if you're billing them by download they can make sure it works before downloading the full res file and thus getting billed. |
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Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 9:06 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> as of now, I am not so much looking at these 2 sites to sell images.
What I really want to be able to do is upload images to a site that my clients can then see and chose which they like. To give them the option to download it is fine but not necessary
I already have my own website so I do not need to have another one on either Zen or PS-whichever I decide to use.
Does this change how anyone feels about either place? |
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Carl Auer, Photographer
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Eagle River | AK | USA | Posted: 10:05 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> Debra,
Photoshelter is not meant to be another website. It is meant to be an additional tool for you to use. You can use it as a archive storage site, sell from it, integrate it into your existing website, use it for clients to view and select images, and so much more. I like the fact that from my SS page or my youth sports website, you can search for image in my PS archive. I am starting to remodel my web site to utilize Photoshelter a lot more.
I suggest you sit down with Grover or Allen and throw at them what you are wanting and I think PS will be just what you want. It is not for everyone though. I know nothing about Zenfolio, but when Photoshelter added fotoquote, I did not bother looking anywhere else for options. |
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Konstandinos Goumenidis, Photographer
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San Francisco Bay Area | CA | USA | Posted: 10:32 PM on 04.04.09 |
| ->> I you want to save money and don't care about watermarks but can still sell and just store stuff take a look at Fotki.com I have had no problems with them at all. They are always updating things and have new features every year. They allow you to have clients download, you can password protect it and customize your site however you like it. You can even make it look just like your website. I pay about 25 a year since it seems to have a sale for a membership every time I need a renewal but you can buy 3 years for 45 at the moment. Unlimited storage TIFF, JPEG, and a few other formats are allowed to be uploaded... I think I have about 100 gigs on there... there is also a tagging system to where you can find your photos fast. when they do maintenance online they usually do it at night at your geographical location. Granted they are not photoshelter or corbis but it does its job very user friendly and good if you have a tight budget. Their prints are decent as well as cheap 9 cents for a 4x6 |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 11:35 PM on 04.04.09 |
->> Carl, I'll respectfully disagree with your statement "Photoshelter is not meant to be another website".
From the PS page here is the first point they list:
Instant portfolio websites
Choose from our templates & flash slideshows — or plug our features into your existing website.
http://pa.photoshelter.com/tour |
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Mike Janes, Photographer
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Attica | NY | USA | Posted: 11:48 PM on 04.04.09 |
| ->> Looking at your site I would choose PhotoShelter every time, that's an archive I'd want on a site like that because of it's strong search results. I get a lot of emails from new clients who find my images through search engines that show PS results. It's why I'm adding my old archives to it - so my site is making me money and PS helps that. |
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Carl Auer, Photographer
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Eagle River | AK | USA | Posted: 1:12 AM on 04.05.09 |
->> Delane,
you are right. I miss spoke/typed. When I set up my customized page and did the CNAME customization it suggested archive.yourdomain.com and when I read "archive" it was in my head that it was my archive and that was the intent of PS. You have a website and you have a PS Archive and you can combine both using PS for all of your images.
But you are correct, with all the templates PS does give you the option to have it as a website, and a very good one, but I really like the integration into custom designed websites seamlessly. That is what stands out to me. Bottom line, PS allows you the ability to use their services in numerous ways that best work for you. |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 10:33 AM on 04.05.09 |
->> "...I already have my own website so I do not need to have another one on either Zen or PS-whichever I decide to us..."
Deb,
What you need is ImageFolio Pro (www.imagefolio.com). Rather than subscribe to another service, this PERL script is pretty darn powerful. It is fully customizable so you (or a web designer) can integrate the look and feel into your site. I've used it for the past five years for online editorial and commercial image distribution as well as online proofing. Clients love it, I have never felt the need to go to one of the paid services because it is very robust, and it paid for itself in six months.
You can contact the company and they will happily give you a trial version to use to see if you like it. If you have questions about it feel free to email me offline. |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 10:38 AM on 04.05.09 |
| ->> One more thing that I left out....the application has a ton of features. Some to note are; 1. fully searchable IPTC, 2. the ability to create your own templates or modify existing templates, 3. you can upload any picture format, pdf, swf, or any MS office files, 4. you can password protect galleries for individual or groups of clients, 5. allow instant downloading, and more... |
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