Zenfolio or Smugmug

Was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on either. It seems to be pretty much

fifty-fifty. I have been getting alot of requests from people to start taking

portraits. I want to be able to brand my services with the best possible tool.

I am just starting out and only do this as a side job.

 

Any tips or recommendations would help.

If there are other sites that do it all with a clean classy look I would

appreciate. I just do not want the site to look like it came right out of the

box. I know that I will have to tweak it.

 

THanks in advance.

Mike

Mike, I used to have SmugMug but then switched to Zenfolio. Main reason for me was about half the money per yr (at the time).

 

Customization wise, smugmug pro is better as only thing you change in Zenfolio is themes for now. But making changes in Zenfolio is much easier. Zenfolio doesn't allow digital downloads which smugmug does.

 

Zenfolio offers self fulfillment while smugmug doesn't. SmugMug also charges 15-25% more for prints than Zenfolio.

 

Both of them don't offer the option of packages. Zenfolio does offer discount coupons while SmugMug doesn't.

 

But both these sites are mainly for some one selling pictures online. If you want a web site to show what you offer and a way for clients to see the online proofs, I would go with some flash based web site of your own.

<p>Have been looking into both of these and would like to know if anyone knows of a service that offers higher quality printing. I would like to be able to store 16bit tiff images for the original and have prints made from that as opposed to just an 8bit jpeg image. </p>

<p>Vishi, you CAN absolutely download original files with Zenfolio and their system is polished. I usually setup private folders for my clients with that option. You can have password protection or not. The menu is deep.</p>

<p>I really just have the site as a showcase and receive many compliments. It has served my purposes very well. Personally, I like the look on ZF much better than Smugmug. </p>

<p>Michael, I have the unlimited plan and it's a great deal. Use my code for a $5 discount if you like. They also credit the referrer $5. YM2-K2M-7FR.<br>

Good luck with your choice.<br>

<br /></p>

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<p>I would NOT recommend making your own site in Flash, because that format cannot be seen on mobile phones like the iPhone. My own site is and I am in the midst of converting it to a more universal format. More and more folks are turning to handheld mobile devices for their email and web browsing.<br>

This would be moot once Adobe and Sun come up with Flash and Java formats compatible with the iPhone, of course. <br>

FYI I use Smugmug and it converts to an iPhone friendly format automatically. Looks nice too. No experience with Zen so cannot compare two.</p>

<p>My ZF site comes up nicely on my iPhone as well...</p>