jeepmedic46
Expedition Leader
I'm currently using photobucket. Was thinking of switching to smugmug. Wondering if anyone uses smugmug or any other site and if they like them.
Photobucket vs Smugmug
- Thread starter jeepmedic46
- Start date
FLYFISHEXPERT
LivingOverland.com
I have a photobucket account and a Picasaweb account.
The Picasaweb is nice for our blog, as it makes it easy to add pictures to the postings.
The Picasaweb is nice for our blog, as it makes it easy to add pictures to the postings.
RusherRacing
Adventurer
Photobucket is great for forums but it does lower the quality of the photos.
I have switched to flickr and have been very happy.
I have switched to flickr and have been very happy.
4xdog
Explorer
I've used SmugMug for six months or so. Generally satisfied.
I like the fact that it saves full size images. Organizing galleries and photos takes some getting used to, but seems to be capable of everything I've asked. The default settings try to make pix available to Google searching, general browsing. One can lock photos and galleries with varying levels of unlisted to internet, unlisted to SmugMug, unlisted, and password protected, but that too takes some experience.
Smugmug has a third-party uploader tool that works as an add-in to the operating system of the PC, and allows one to right click and upload to SmugMug from any view in Windows Explorer. Very useful. Uploading is kind of slow -- the price to pay I guess for uncompressed images.
SmugMug has a nice "get a link" option to obtain a URL for the image with varying sizes from really small to really large, which makes inserting links into ExPo (for example) easy and flexible.
I'd have no problems recommending SmugMug to someone who was interested in it. They often have discounts to the annual fee -- check online or with someone who has an account who may be able to forward a discounted invitation.
I like the fact that it saves full size images. Organizing galleries and photos takes some getting used to, but seems to be capable of everything I've asked. The default settings try to make pix available to Google searching, general browsing. One can lock photos and galleries with varying levels of unlisted to internet, unlisted to SmugMug, unlisted, and password protected, but that too takes some experience.
Smugmug has a third-party uploader tool that works as an add-in to the operating system of the PC, and allows one to right click and upload to SmugMug from any view in Windows Explorer. Very useful. Uploading is kind of slow -- the price to pay I guess for uncompressed images.
SmugMug has a nice "get a link" option to obtain a URL for the image with varying sizes from really small to really large, which makes inserting links into ExPo (for example) easy and flexible.
I'd have no problems recommending SmugMug to someone who was interested in it. They often have discounts to the annual fee -- check online or with someone who has an account who may be able to forward a discounted invitation.
JackW
Explorer
I use smugmug and it's great - see some of my galleries here:
http://solaros1.smugmug.com/Land-Rover-Events
You can use this coupon code to get a $5 discount: sLLlYcdNcsg8Q
Smugmug is vastly superior to photobucket especially if you're shooting high resolution pictures.
Plus it helps support advrider.com which is one of my other favorite web sites...
http://solaros1.smugmug.com/Land-Rover-Events
You can use this coupon code to get a $5 discount: sLLlYcdNcsg8Q
Smugmug is vastly superior to photobucket especially if you're shooting high resolution pictures.
Plus it helps support advrider.com which is one of my other favorite web sites...
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jeepmedic46
Expedition Leader
I think I'll switch over to Smugmug. Now I'll have to figure out how to move everything over.
photoman
Explorer
I have used Smugmug for several years and love it. It is trully a system developed for photographers of all levels.
Some people may complain that their system is limited for full website customization but it is far superior to any other storage systems out there. I have not only my main page but I also have hidden pages with customer URL's for family pages and my son's photos.
Since they allow full size images and even videos it also works as a backup system. I have external hard drives at home but I also load anything I want to safely secure on the site. I have only a limited amount of images available to be viewed by the public but have almost 50gigs of photos stored on my account.
You can also print directly from the site through two different labs. Prints are very reasonable given the customer service the labs provide. Smugmug also has great customer service. They also have a support section on their forum dgrin.com - http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27
Some people may complain that their system is limited for full website customization but it is far superior to any other storage systems out there. I have not only my main page but I also have hidden pages with customer URL's for family pages and my son's photos.
Since they allow full size images and even videos it also works as a backup system. I have external hard drives at home but I also load anything I want to safely secure on the site. I have only a limited amount of images available to be viewed by the public but have almost 50gigs of photos stored on my account.
You can also print directly from the site through two different labs. Prints are very reasonable given the customer service the labs provide. Smugmug also has great customer service. They also have a support section on their forum dgrin.com - http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27
photoman
Explorer
4xdog- the hierarchical system is pretty easy. It works like windows folders
Category
---sub category
------------ ----galleries
For examples:
Family
-----Jones Family
-------2010 Reunion
-------2010 Xmas ...etc.
or
Landscapes
------------Utah
------------------Bryce
------------------Zion
------------------Moab
How you choose to use the system is up to you but it is simply a three tier system.
If you have any questions you can PM me or check out the support section on their forum. http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
As the last few members have posted, Smugmug is pretty much the cat's meow when it comes to having all your images in full res. stored on an off-site system ad have them backed up without having to worry about them.
Their customer service is 2nd to NONE!! You can send them a question and expect to get an answer back within the hour.
I love that I can upload all my images I want to keep, and if people want to order them, they have 100's of options to have them printed and if you leave the default prices, it's probably cheaper than having family and friends go get them printed themselves.
This is what I do for my family members when we go on vacation together. I simply shoot the entire vacation, upload everything to a Password Protected Gallery and set the default prices. They can then order prints and I dont have to worry about anything, which makes everyone happy
Their customer service is 2nd to NONE!! You can send them a question and expect to get an answer back within the hour.
I love that I can upload all my images I want to keep, and if people want to order them, they have 100's of options to have them printed and if you leave the default prices, it's probably cheaper than having family and friends go get them printed themselves.
This is what I do for my family members when we go on vacation together. I simply shoot the entire vacation, upload everything to a Password Protected Gallery and set the default prices. They can then order prints and I dont have to worry about anything, which makes everyone happy
Antichrist
Expedition Leader
Does Smugmug use a lot of Flash?
I've been using Photobucket for a few years and liked it for random stuff, but they switched to a Flash interface sometime last year and now it utterly sucks. I used to be able to find an album and upload a photo in 30-60 seconds. Now it takes several minutes just to navigate to the folder I want.
I've been wanting to look for another site.
I've been using Photobucket for a few years and liked it for random stuff, but they switched to a Flash interface sometime last year and now it utterly sucks. I used to be able to find an album and upload a photo in 30-60 seconds. Now it takes several minutes just to navigate to the folder I want.
I've been wanting to look for another site.
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
A friend of mine just got the iPad and we were all sitting around at a dinner party. She pulled it out and started browsing my Smugmug galleries to show some friends a few photos I had recently posted of us out on the boat.
It was pretty awesome to sit around and watch the gallery scroll like a slide show on the iPad screen. I'm thinking I might just have to save up for one of these to bring around and use as a display.
With Smugmug, any gallery can be viewed as a slideshow which is pretty cool. I actually have a friend who says that while at work, he picks one of thelarger galleries and just uses it as a screen saver while he sits at his desk
It was pretty awesome to sit around and watch the gallery scroll like a slide show on the iPad screen. I'm thinking I might just have to save up for one of these to bring around and use as a display.
With Smugmug, any gallery can be viewed as a slideshow which is pretty cool. I actually have a friend who says that while at work, he picks one of thelarger galleries and just uses it as a screen saver while he sits at his desk
Lost Canadian
Expedition Leader
One caveat to that being that each file has to be smaller than 24 megabytes. Ask me how I know. Smugmug isn't perfect but for the price, it does offer an exceptional value, and is light-years ahead of any other mass photo sharing site. Smugmug also just recently switched from flash to what I think is HTML5 for their slideshows which is sweet for ipad and iphone users.
