What Online Proofing site do you use?

<p>Hi Folks!<br>

     Can you please be so kind as to share your recommendations for a proofing site? I am interested in some of the following features:<br>

-Ability to upload many images at once <br>

-Individual & password protected album/links (that can be personalized idealy)<br>

-Slideshow capabilities (that can be linked via social networking sites i.e. facebook)<br>

-Watermarking (if not I can do this during PP but would like it)<br>

-NO fees for individual albums etc (since I wont be printing thru them & I know some sites like to make xtra this way)...<br>

Maybe some of you use Zenfolio, SmugMug etc? Can you give me your pro/cons on these? Anything you wish you had known about these prior to joining?<br>

While potentially very helpful in the future, currently I don't need the ability for my clients to ORDER (and/or purchase their actual prints) off of this as I am currently living in the Philippines and doubt both the willingness of these studios to ship here, and probably most importantly, the ability to receive these packages here...our mail tends to be a lil on the corrupt side and I don't want to have to bribe customs officials every time I get the prints :)<br>

 <br>

Any and all suggestions are much appreciated!!<br>

Best,<br>

Heather </p>

<p>Just going to throw in my vote for Zenfolio (I am using the third of four tiers of capabilities). I'm not the most experienced user because I've been using it less than a year, and I've never used any other major similar sites. But it does all those things, and is very easy to use. You can watermark, password protect all galleries, and easily customize your page to look like you want. I'm not sure if slideshows can be exported to Facebook but you could always just link to the gallery. You pay a yearly fee, which I think is very reasonable. Uploading is super easy -- I just drag and drop from Aperture. It resizes the images, which is also really easy with Aperture, but it's just one less thing to do.</p>

<p>I currently use PhotoReflect. The cost is $9/month, easy to learn and easy to use. I was with Smugmug for two years, but found that many people couldn't view my smugmug pages because websense (a filtering program used by many companies) prevented access because it classifies smugmug as 'personal data storage'. Even though I like smugmug best, I want my customers to be able to see my site wherever they want to look at it (even if it's at work!) I also like that I pay monthly and can cancel at anytime.</p>

<p>I use smugmug and in general, I'm very happy with it. I have two complaints (1) Very bad customer service. No phone support at all. You can only communicate via email, so by the time you get your response, ask follow up questions, get their follow up responses, etc., it may easily take several days before your issue is figured out. Luckily the software is well designed and intuitive so there shouldn't be much need for support. (2) It's a little expensive ($150/year) for a "pro" membership.</p>

<p>I use Zenfolio and am quite pleased. The one drawback I've had is that I haven't been able to create my own pages to provide informational materials such as rate card, packages, etc. BUT, they have just recently corrected that (last week) and I will now be able to do that.<br>

I love the quality of the fullscreen slideshow option and they are easy enough to use, i.e. uploading, creating protected galleries, unlimited file space, etc. I'm at the next to top price tier at $100 a year - the Zenfolio logo is replaced by my own and I can sell from the site (although I understand you aren't interested in that function).<br>

Zenfolio is always trying to improve and I appreciate that as a business model. Customer support via e-mail is responsive and has always worked well. No complaints. </p>

Darkroom.com, going on 10 years now.

<p>Thank you all for taking the time to add your response! Really appreciate this site and all of the helpful members!!<br>

Best,<br>

Heather</p>

<p>I've been with SmugMug for 3 or 4 years with no complaints. They recently added print packages and coupons, which are great, they use BayPhoto for prints, which is a great pro lab, and their e-mail support is very good. Compared to Pictage at $50/ month, SmugMug is a great deal.</p>

<p>I use Bay Photo for most of my printing and the software LabPrints. The software makes it very easy to build albums, order prints and do online proofing. Through the service you can set up your own online store with unlimited storage. There is a monthly fee, but what you sell each month to customers more than makes up for it. It's an awesome way for you do everything in one place on your computer and then have a site up for proofing/ordering. It's definitely worth a look.</p>