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Author Topic: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site  (Read 10564 times)

Kit-V

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Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« on: March 09, 2014, 10:57:32 pm »

I have decided to create a website for uploading various image galleries. This site will be strictly for sharing my images with friends & family. Totally non-commercial. Although there are a wealth of image hosting services available (many of which are free), I am looking for a host that has a (1) a customizable, professional appearance, (2) a user-friendly configuration & (3) attentive customer support.

Zenfolio seems to fit the bill. Their Basic Plus package ($30/yr) seems quite reasonable for what they offer. But, that is just my gut feeling. I would appreciate the feedback from those of you who have had experience with Zenfolio.

Thank you kindly.

Kit
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Farmer

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2014, 12:38:36 am »

It works very well, good value, easy to use and integrate with things like LR and you can restrict access so not everyone can see it if you want.
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Phil Brown

Kit-V

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2014, 10:22:00 am »

It works very well, good value, easy to use and integrate with things like LR and you can restrict access so not everyone can see it if you want.

Thanks, Phil. I appreciate your thoughts.

Kit
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mvsoske

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2014, 02:06:13 pm »

I agree with Framer's comments and I use Zenfolio like you wish to do.  Easy to configure, ease of uploading directly from LR, and just looks good. I've been using Zenfolio since it launched.

Mark

Kit-V

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2014, 02:21:41 pm »

Thank you for the responses. It tends to confirm what I have been feeling about Zenfolio.

On a practical note, I noticed that Jeffrey Friedl offers a LR plugin ("Export to Zenfolio"). Does anyone know if this plugin facilitates uploading images to Zenfolio beyond using the Upload button in Lightroom 5's Web Module?

Thank you.

Kit
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Rory

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2014, 09:07:41 pm »

One thing to note about zenfolio is that you are limited to something around 1500 pixels wide and 950 pixels high for the preivews (I forget the exact dimensions).  This can be limiting, especially for portrait compositions on larger monitors. 
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Kit-V

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2014, 03:50:09 pm »

I've been using Zenfolio for a few weeks & am quite pleased. Set-up & configuration are straight-forward. And the support from Zenfolio is exceptional.

Kit
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Hans Kruse

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2014, 08:10:36 am »

Thank you for the responses. It tends to confirm what I have been feeling about Zenfolio.

On a practical note, I noticed that Jeffrey Friedl offers a LR plugin ("Export to Zenfolio"). Does anyone know if this plugin facilitates uploading images to Zenfolio beyond using the Upload button in Lightroom 5's Web Module?

Thank you.

Kit

Nobody answered you question here and I don't know if you found out by yourself. So if not.....

The plugin you mention is a publish service which has nothing to do with the web module. The plugin will logon to your Zenfolio account and you can make folders on the site and upload directly from the plugin.

Also what is great you can see directly in the folders inside the plugin folders which photos you have in the folders on the Zenfolio site. See the screen shot where you can see an example of one of my Zenfolio publish services where you can see pictures that has been reedited will be marked to be published again in which case the photo on Zenfolio will be replaced by the new version. You just drag the pictures you want in the different folders on Zenfolio into these folders insode of Lightroom and click publish and voila the pictures are automatically uploaded to Zenfolio.

In the plugin you specify the resolution and sharpening of the pictures published via that plugin service (as well as color space, quality, etc.). So if you need a different resolution for another folder, you need to create another publish service using the same plugin and simply login to Zenfolio and specify the different resolution. You may need for some folders full resolution and for others a low rez picture. You can right click on an image inside the folder and show the picture on Zenfolio. This will luanch your browser and show the picture on the website.

Pretty cool and I use such plugin publish service for Zenfolio and for my main website hosted by Smugmug.





Kit-V

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Re: Zenfolio as a Non-Business Web Gallery Site
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2014, 11:52:06 am »

Hans, thank you or the response. Yes, I downloaded the plug-in & found that it works quite nicely.

Kit
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