Anyone using Pictage or similar service?

Is anyone using Pictage or a similar company to post your wedding

images online? I am considering giving it a try for several

reasons. First, I shoot film, and I am looking for a way to

maximize sales by getting a larger viewing audience. Since I

deliver the proofs to the client in an album, I suspect only a few

of the guests in attendance at the wedding will get to see and

potentially order photographs. I'm interested to see what you

think. If you currently use a company like this, what type of

orders are you getting? Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

Duane

There are many many previous posts on using pictage,printroom

and mpix Good Luck!

Yea I think online proofing is a good idea to increase sales of proofs to a wider

audience for sure. Like Kim said there are many posts about online proofing in the

archives and even a little ways down on this forum. Cheers

T - Some things to think about from someone who won't use online proofing. <p> 1. Having personal experience with my husband's nieces wedding I found looking on-line at proofs to be time extrememly consuming. Many people still use dial up. <p>2. I would never let my photos go to customers without checking the color, density, contrast etc. <p>3. I've been very unhappy with what I've seen in the quality of online proofs and where a lab would color correct or lighten or darken a perfectly good proof -- online it actually can look like a photograper error. <p>4. In giving couples no time limit to order -- my couples visit friends and family over the year with their proofs and come back to me with plenty of reprints in the order boxes of the proof books... <p>Just food for thought -- although I seem to be in a minority in my experiences.

Duane. I have been using PicTage as my digital lab for over a year.

Since I prefer to use Leica's and film, digital post-production has been a time saver. That is the basic benefit of using Pictage. You can limit the amount of time that the event is online. Pictage recommends 3 mos/with a sliding scale discount to generate sales. It is important that the bride let everyone know about PicTage and how to access the site. Pictage uses this list to mass email when the event is online. Many photogs hand out cards with the log in info to as many guests as possible. That is the basic theory. My experience has been that most brides do not want to bother to help you make print sales. The prints are of high quality. The customer service for photogs and brides is exceptional. I have ordered and used their "hirez" scans to create albums which you can also design on their site. Hope that helps...your mileage may vary.

Thanks to everyone for their insight and advice. Peter, I appreciate your input as a Pictage client. I am looking to streamline my workflow and create a digital bridge so to speak. I like the fact that they use the same paper, Endura, that I currently use. The test prints I received are incredible, color, density, everything. It takes alot of time to get the order ready, take it to the lab, pick it up, pack it up, and ship it. My time is very valuable to me, as I'm sure it is to everyone. Their service will free up alot of time for me to market my business. I also like the album designer software. Are you using the Leather craftsman #300 album? It looks like a great album. Also, what company do you use to ship your negs to Pictage? Again, thanks to everyone for their advice.

 

Duane

I use the Leathercraftsmen 3500 series "digital design" and "bind only" albums exclusively. The 300 is a great flush mount style. All the people I have come in contact with at Leathercraftsmen are very professional. Good turn-around time and a quality product. Can't say enough about them. I have been using FedEx next day to ship my uncut negs to Pictage.

I just started using Pictage 2 months ago. I now save allot of time when there is online ordering instead of me going to the lab and getting prints or enlargements. I just ordered my first Leathercraftsman 300 Album, I'm awaiting the results.

 

Question for Peter - using Leica here myself, but Nikon with digital. Are you shooting with R or M camera? Looking at getting the R system soon because of the digital R back.

Chris...I use 3 M6TTL bodies with 28/2, 35/1.4 and 50/1.4 lenses. Just switched from Kodak Portra to Fuji film since it is "balanced" to the Fuji Frontier Lab that I am now using. You can view the results at my web site: www.petersilvia.com.

Peter,

which fuji film do you prefer in the 160 speed? I mainly use Portra, but I really like NPH if I'm shooting an outside wedding. Thanks for the info on Pictage.

 

Chris, let me know how you like your 300 series album.

 

Thanks, Duane

Peter, are the Pictage statements easy to understand? Do they list individual orders from customers? This will probably make sense once I apply, but I'm wondering how I will enter the customer orders into my accounting program to keep my records in order.

 

Thanks,Duane

To be honest Duane, I am really dissatisfied with the service at pictage. Though I have not been with pictage long, they have managed to bungle, misship, and misbill each of my three orders placed with them. Their customer service desk takes up to a week to respond to your problems, and often doesn't address the issue you emailed them with in the first place at all. The invoicing system is unclear. The amount of time it takes to process your prints is always longer than they promise. And the interface they use is confusing and counterintuitive.

 

The actual products (prints)themselves are okay; but the service and the other billing/executing orders thing is a serious problem. Forget about getting help with an order once it has been placed, or once they've sent it to the wrong address. (I don't know, maybe they've outsourced their customer service to India?)

 

And yet, you are still supposed to pay $250 for the priviledge of being able to upload pictures (which they'll charge you for as well--$.20 a print for digital) to their site?

 

They do work to do a bit of promotion for you (if your studio is "active" enough you get a free studio listing on their site as well as at www.weddingchannel.com). But I'm not sure it's worth the cash or the headaches.

 

d

This is an actual letter from customer service I recieved when I wrote them about an order that was supposed to go out to the bride. Because of the way the ordering system works, I had to place TWO orders (since they can't have items of different types on the same order form sometimes). I had requested when the order was placed that they be consolidated into one. As far as I can tell, right now, it has not been consolidated; one order has been shipped to the bride, the other to my studio; and I've been charged $9 shipping for each order, even though one was just a CD.

 

I'm out of town and can't get to my studio mail for awhile; the whole reason I had everything shipped to the bride in the first place.

 

Here's what pictage had to say about the missing cd, the shipping costs, who the goods had been shipped to, and consolidation of my order *one* week after I wrote them:

 

Hi Danee,

 

We try do our best to consolidate your orders for you. However,

please keep in mind that this is not a service we can guarantee due to the custom nature of our products and their varying turnaround times.

 

 

Pictage Customer Support

Pictage, Inc.

1580 Francisco Street, Suite 101

Torrance, CA 90501

www.pictage.com

 

Doesn't address the issue at all.