Smugmug Photo Sharing Review

As a novice to the world of photosharing I did a fair amount of reading on the various options available.

The three most commonly discussed options amongst the pros and novices alike were:

Flickr, Smugmug and Zenfolio.

Each of these options have there various pros and cons, and in this review I'll talk about each of them.

Flickr

Briefly at 24.95 this is an extremely affordable service that offers many benefits. The first is the large community. If you are a semi-pro or new DSLR owner you'll naturally want to show off your pictures and Flickr offers something there that is hard to beat. A community of like minded individuals who are prepared to offer their opinions on your pictures. You can easily upload photos using a variety of plug ins in various photo editing programs or simply upload them from a web browser.

The main disappointment of Flickr in my opinion is the way the photos are organised. I think they did a very poor job of displaying the photos, and the "sets" are hard to navigate. Try sending a link of your pictures to Peru to your non tech savvy friends/family and you will see what I mean.

Flickr

Smugmug

This was my favorite photo sharing site. Fast, easy to use and configure this website even lets you display videos depending on which option you purchase. But at $30 for the unlimited photo sharing option (the lowest plan they offer) it's competitive with Flickr (plus you can get a further 30% off the plan).

The main beauty of this site is you can customize your themes with the click of a button and if you have html knowledge you can completely redesign the site to make it look like you want it too.

It's easy to just send your friends/family a link and have your pictures display in a photo album style. They simply click on the pictures to enlarge them and you can set up the thumbnails for them to browse through.

My main gripe with this site was really the lack of ability to organize photos in folders like you would on your home computer. Instead you must pick from a set of gallery labels, which can't cover every possibility.

If you'd like to give it a shot they have a 14 day trial period which you can sign up for without any credit card details.

FOR 30% off any plan at SMUGMUG:

To get the deal, click on the following link:
1. Copy and Paste this code under Email/Coupon: SmUg30
2. Click here to activate it

If the above doesn't work then, use this code for a further $5 discount on any plan: MjmiE0xAHBhwQ


Zenfolio

Also a very good option, but the downside is it does not include any video sharing options. May not be a problem if you are a DSLr user, but most point and shoot cameras these days do have video options.

This is also slightly less competitive in price, with their medium option offering unlimited photosharing at $40 making this slightly more expensive then either Flickr or Smugmug.

Pictures load fast on this site, and the built in themes seem a bit more elegant then Smugmug. I also liked the ability to arrange photos in folders, similar to how it would be done on a personal computer.

For $5 off for the life of your account I found this code: 9MS-YYH-CBP

This also has a 14 day trial so I suggest trying it out before you make your decision.

Zenfolio