Zenfolio?

[Farmer]

I did a forum search and there were some sporadic commments but nothing specifically about this service.

Does anyone have comments on Zenfolio?  I'm trialling it at the moment and so far I'm very impressed.

I realise many have their own website, but for those who use a hosted service who has experience with Zenfolio and what did/do you think?

As a trial, I've done little in the way of customisation and have only loaded up a few (literally) images while I play around with it, but I would appreciate the wisdom of the forum denizens as well as my diving in and trialling it. thefarm.zenfolio.com for any interested although there's not a lot to see and I'm changing it as I test things.

Thanks :-)

[DarkPenguin]

I'm still evaluating it.

The big complaint is that it isn't very customizable.  They say they are working on that.  But right now your site will look a lot like every other Zenfolio site.

The two default print services are interesting.  One thing I didn't like was that if I want a print available in a few different sizes I have to make different versions for each paper.  No way to "sticky" the crops for prints.  (Well, not so much crops as margins.)  I ended up standardizing on a size.  (Actually, I standardized on a size and format that looks remarkably like the brooks jensen print that arrived the same day I was trying to figure that out.)

It takes a bit to get the pricing and options stuff setup but once you do it isn't bad.

I don't have a lot to say about it.  I just started to play with it.

[DarkPenguin]

One other thing.  There is no "community" (read:forums) on Zenfolio.  So it is hard to find a single place where people discuss how to use it.

I've found more Zenfolio talk at the Canon Digital Photography Forums than anywhere else so far.  (Not that it is a lot.)

Found this thread.  (Haven't read it all but it starts well.)

Zenfolio thread at photography-on-the.net

[OnyimBob]

I did a forum search and there were some sporadic commments but nothing specifically about this service.

Does anyone have comments on Zenfolio?  I'm trialling it at the moment and so far I'm very impressed.

I realise many have their own website, but for those who use a hosted service who has experience with Zenfolio and what did/do you think?

As a trial, I've done little in the way of customisation and have only loaded up a few (literally) images while I play around with it, but I would appreciate the wisdom of the forum denizens as well as my diving in and trialling it. thefarm.zenfolio.com for any interested although there's not a lot to see and I'm changing it as I test things.

Thanks :-)
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Initial response straight off Phillip - ditch the copyright watermark or at least reduce its size and placement  drastically - it ruins the viewing pleasure. Know nothing about Zenfolio though.
Cheers, Bob.

[Farmer]

Initial response straight off Phillip - ditch the copyright watermark or at least reduce its size and placement  drastically - it ruins the viewing pleasure. Know nothing about Zenfolio though.
Cheers, Bob.
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Thanks for the information and feedback, guys.

The link to the forum thread is very useful.

Yeah, it's a little over bearing isn't it, Bob?  Still just trialling various options and need to balance things like that where ever I end up :-)

[Steven Draper]

I've had a couple of "plays" with zenfolio. The nice thing is you can open up another zenfolio account if you like to try again.

Things I really liked.

The structure system to organizing images.
The image quality.
The UI, and the ability to switch to "viewer" mode.
It is possible to set up custom sales, ie effectively using the zenfolio interface as a web agent.

Things that it needs to be my choice:

The ability to place personal html code within the text areas. I know that zenfolio provides buttons to do this which on the surface of it makes it very easy, but not customizable (as smugmug) for a more "html" confident user.

Things that would be nice.

Comments could be useful.
A bit more personalization of the "skins."


I guess watch their space, but with smugmug offering a lot of these things already, albeit with a more complex and limited gallery organizational interface, the balance for me is still with smugmug.

[JRKO]

I use it to show my pictures and then get people to email me with what they want.  Not the most advanced system I know but hey they are buying!

However it is idiot proof (great if you are like me  ) and as such is not the most individual or stunning looking site design

I used it because I could not be bothered with web hosting etc and don't aim to make to much money from photography at the moment but for $99 it was the best offering I could find.

www.jrkophotography.com

[DarkPenguin]

One other thing.  There is no "community" (read:forums) on Zenfolio.  So it is hard to find a single place where people discuss how to use it.

I've found more Zenfolio talk at the Canon Digital Photography Forums than anywhere else so far.  (Not that it is a lot.)

Found this thread.  (Haven't read it all but it starts well.)

Zenfolio thread at photography-on-the.net
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Zenfolio now has a user forum....

[a href=\"http://forums.zenfolio.com/forums/default.aspx]http://forums.zenfolio.com/forums/default.aspx[/url]

Also a zenfolio blog....

http://forums.zenfolio.com/blogs/blog/default.aspx

No idea how usefull either is but I thought I'd mention it since I listed lack of a forum as a zenfolio negative.

[Rob C]

I use it to show my pictures and then get people to email me with what they want.  Not the most advanced system I know but hey they are buying!

However it is idiot proof (great if you are like me  ) and as such is not the most individual or stunning looking site design

I used it because I could not be bothered with web hosting etc and don't aim to make to much money from photography at the moment but for $99 it was the best offering I could find.

www.jrkophotography.com
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Well no, it isn´t idiot-proof as I have just discovered!

I liked the car shots - b/w works well there - but I am not much taken with the way the site works. I assume this is nothing much to do with you, but just the way that the thing is set up.

Considering the need or otherwise for a website, I think it would still be a more viable option to settle for something unique. If one is going to do the thing, then perhaps there are no good short-cuts. To me, it just feels clunky, not at all professional.

I am not criticising you - don´t take it that way - it is simply a subjective reaction to the format.

Rob C