Zenfolio versus SmugMug

Ben_Egbert said:

I do that too, but the people who look at family pictures on a small or cheap monitor are not going to need high quality images. Some even view on a cell phone if I understood one of the above replies.

I am getting out of touch. I view my own stuff and that of other posters here. some is really high quality, and I view on a high endwide gamut monitor. I print at home with a good inkjet (Epson Pro3800). But the image never looks better than on the monitor, but it does look better than pro prints done at sRGB.

Might not matter to non landscapes, but for landscapes, especially sunsets, it does.

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Are you pursuing an answer to a specific question here? Or just replying to my thoughts as in a conversation we're having?

I similarly have a 30" calibrated monitor and an Epson Pro 3800 for my own prints, but I have viewers (mostly soccer parents and school parents) who order prints of my images via Smugmug all the time and they are very happy with the prints. So, good results can be obtained that way too.

I won't argue that a remote printing process through a remote lab that forces you to sRGB that you have no control over the details of and no ability to iterate on is better than managing top notch equipment yourself, but it still can give pretty good results when used properly.

--
John
Popular: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/popular
Portfolio: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/portfolio

jfriend00 said:

Ben_Egbert said:

I do that too, but the people who look at family pictures on a small or cheap monitor are not going to need high quality images. Some even view on a cell phone if I understood one of the above replies.

I am getting out of touch. I view my own stuff and that of other posters here. some is really high quality, and I view on a high endwide gamut monitor. I print at home with a good inkjet (Epson Pro3800). But the image never looks better than on the monitor, but it does look better than pro prints done at sRGB.

Might not matter to non landscapes, but for landscapes, especially sunsets, it does.

Click to expand...

Are you pursuing an answer to a specific question here? Or just replying to my thoughts as in a conversation we're having?

Click to expand...

Well I don't recall asking a question as my primary reason for this post. It was a comparison between services post, using my specific needs as criteria. It did get morphed into questions when I or others was either misunderstood, or when people found I had been misled.

Whats new, thats how threads go. I hope it had useful information.

jfriend00 said:

I similarly have a 30" calibrated monitor and an Epson Pro 3800 for my own prints, but I have viewers (mostly soccer parents and school parents) who order prints of my images via Smugmug all the time and they are very happy with the prints. So, good results can be obtained that way too.

I won't argue that a remote printing process through a remote lab that forces you to sRGB that you have no control over the details of and no ability to iterate on is better than managing top notch equipment yourself, but it still can give pretty good results when used properly.

Click to expand...

My comment was the result of going through Smugs calibration for prints process. I downloaded an ICC profile and tried it on one of my prints to see what I would get. Truely awful for one, but for many, not much change. My laptop is so horrible I don't use it when on the road to eval images. Just storage.

I don't do people, but I suspect they are mostly inside the sRGB gamut.

The revelation is that the only way to appreciate all the colors our cameras can produce is with a wide gamut monitor. A good inkjet print may be next best, followed by pro lab prints and finally typical monitors with brightness left at the defualt blinding level.

I am retired, one of the great advantages of that is that I don't need to be around people. That's why I choose nature photography.

I don't need to sell pictures, and if I do, it will buy more gear, to take more pictures mostly for my own amusment. Good hobby, has about the same intellectual stimulus as my job as a mechanical engineer had.

jfriend00 said:

--
John
Popular: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/popular
Portfolio: http://jfriend.smugmug.com/portfolio

Click to expand...

--
http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

Smugmug also seems to send out images faster, for whatever reason whenever i try to look at people's images posted as zen with the current slow DSL connection i'm stuck with it takes so long i give up. Maybe it is just some weird issue with where I am located, but zen just seems painfully slow.

The one thing I wish smugmug would allow is PW access to originals. Currently you have to do time consuming gallery clones and make one with originals for people you want to be able to get to those freely and a cloned gallery set to only allow say L or XL or whatever.

But I really love the viewing options smugmug provides and all the options for linking images into places like DPR and the auto downsize sharpening, etc.

I think flickr has by far he worse viewing options, I hate navigating through people's galleries there. Although flickr and pbase do seem to have much more active communities and a lot more commenting on photos and such.

Ben_Egbert said:

Pretty close call. In the end it was the larger size of a linked file that pushed me over. SmugMug allows larger than Zenfolio unless you count origninals.

The problem is, you really don't want to post full size, so you would need to upload smaller sizes for posting, just like at Pbase. But I really like being able to save full size images at the gallery and stil be able to post up to 1600 wide.

My new gallery is in my signature, a work in progress.

--
http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

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Ben_Egbert said:

I am retired, one of the great advantages of that is that I don't need to be around people.

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Me too - isn't it great!

I only ever listened to two things that my father said - and that was to travel the world and retire as young as possible. Which I did, visited about 95 countries and retired at 39, so now I don't have to be around and/or deal with all those ba$tards in society that try to control one's life

Now 53, and been taking photographs for almost 40 years.

Cheers,

KEV

I'd say that was good advice if you can swing it. I always said it's better to retire a little too early than a little too late! I know too many people who retired 'too late'. I just retired at 55 1 month ago and love it!
Regards,
Kevin
--
pBase...
http://www.pbase.com/keving54