anyone use smugmug?

[back alley]

eventually, i'm gonna make some really good scans of my 'best' photos and set up a separate website/gallery.

i have no software skills at all, none. there is no way that i could build my own website/gallery.

with that in mind i have been looking at various sites for a long time hoping that one will pop out and say, pick me!

i quite like vincent benoit's (sp?) site, as an example.

ok so, smugmug seems to have a good compromise of price and website flexibility and looks.

anyone here use them?
any comments?
i'm not looking for a trash job but some helpful comments as i will have to choose a site sooner or later.
any other suggestions?

joe

 

[back alley]

hello?

is there anybody out there?

 

[back alley]

i'm interested in how easy it is to use, what your impressions are, why did you choose smugmug, what was your purpose in setting up a gallery and does smugmug meet that purpose?

those sorts of things.
joe

 

[back alley]

thanks roland.
that's useful info.

 

[MCTuomey]

hi joe

i use smugmug for my sports work and film scans. they offer three levels of service and features: basic, mid, and pro. very easy set-up, no html or other skills required. decent print lab out of Georgia. fairly fast download speeds. simple user interface. privacy controls are pretty tight, variable to your needs. cost for basic has gone up recently, about $35 annually, i think.

one newer alternative is altphoto. different feel, more artisan-inspired.

 

[back alley]

thanks mike.
i'll track down altphoto and take a look at it too.

 

[jano]

I use smugmug, love it. Simple to use and upload pictures, very easy to understand interface for any people you have visiting the site (this was important to me, as I share family photos with mine, and my family is not very computer literate).

The more advanced features are a bit cumbersome and awkward, though (for example, setting printing options to the galleries, I don't want people to order prints of my photos (I don't upload the large versions), and I can't seem to figure out how to set that as default). It's also a bit tricky to keep nicely organized, but once you get a method going, it works well. If you'd like a test run, lemme know and I'll be happy to let you be jano for a day 🙂

 

[back alley]

thanks jano.
for now i'm just doing some research.

ultimately i want a simple site; one that i can put the address on a business card and hand to folks.

joe

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

hi joe
one newer alternative is altphoto. different feel, more artisan-inspired.

Mike thanks for the HU on this.
I just joined it as a way of perhaps increasing traffic to my exisiting site
and allows me to upload more recent work quickly.

Simon