full size image hosting

[Rhys]

I notice people talk about wishing to be able to post full size images and was wondering how much people would be prepare to pay for that (I suspect the real answer is $0.00 although people will claim to be willing to pay more).

I have my own personal website that I pay for but because I'm limited to 2GB per month bandwidth, I'm not going to post full size images anytime soon. I'm happy with 500mb disk space for $30 per year.

Given that a RAW image could be 12mb and a top notch JPEG could be 7mb, I wouldn't be able to get many on my site before I'd have to pay for a bigger allocation of webspace and more bandwidth (neither of which I'll do anytime soon). As many people have said in the past I spend money only where it's necessary :p

How much would you pay for a gigabyte of unlimited bandwidth?

[KurtB]

Let's see...

The hosting company that I use gives me 5 GB of disk space (it defaults to 2, but it is expandable to 5 gig as long as you are not using more than 1 gig for email storage).

They also allow me 400 GB of bandwidth per month.

All this for $6.95 (usd) per month.

So back to your question, how much would I pay for 1gb storage, Unlimited bandwidth? Nothing.

[Rhys]

So spill the beans. Who is your host?

[KurtB]

Lunarpages - www.lunarpages.com

I have been with them for 3+ years. Great service, and very fast 24/7 tech support (with a toll free phone number :) ).

[ktixx]

www.godaddy.com will give you 50gb of space and 500gb/month transfer for $6.29/$5.59 per month (1yr/2yr contract). You could also get a smaller plan (similar to Lunar Pages) of 5gb and 250gb/month transfer for $3.59/$3.19 per month (1yr/2yr contract). I am not trying to say anything bad about LunarPages, but you can get 10x the space and 100gb per month more of transfer and still save about $3.60/$16.32 (1yr/2yr contract) each year.
Ken

[Vich]

Those are great tips.

At Smugmug (http://smugmug.com/aboutus/limits.mg)I pay $30/yr (current sign-up prices are $40/yr) for unlimited disk space and 6GB per month of downloads.

I currently have 2.7GB of space used because I typically load full sized photos if I want to order prints, or a friend may order prints (like for a wedding or birthday party).

I've had 4,700 photos viewed for a download bandwidth of .5GB used so far in June.

I get a graphical statistics page showing what galleries get big hits for each pre-sized category (thumbnails, 800x600, etc). For example; I know that "Pierson's Birthday Party", someone downloaded 56 originals, accounting for most of my bandwidth this month.

Further, they pre-size reduced shots for Internet links that are of negligable size, and I can restrict (password protect or require special links for access) to different items (and I think sizes).

Someone could mess me up by downloading a lot of originals in which case I could restrict downloading Originals (but still allow full sized prints). If that becomes a problem, I can either upgrade to double the limits, or start setting restrictions. So far, it's not even come close.

Your survey was right, I'd pay $0.00 for what you described because I already have one. I'de love if they had it for $10.00 because we could recommend it to others.

I've thought of setting up my own server at home for these links, so download wouldn't be a problem - since I have an always-up server. My DSL company doesn't restrict bandwidth usage.

[Rhys]

I keep wondering about setting up a server of my own. I'm using a roadrunner cable connection that's rarely down. Heck, I could redirect all my websites to my own server and save a bundle.

[Vich]

I keep wondering about setting up a server of my own. I'm using a roadrunner cable connection that's rarely down. Heck, I could redirect all my websites to my own server and save a bundle.
Just get a decent firewall and keep good backups! You're sure to get hacker attempts sooner or later. Some companies keep a secure replica and push the copy out to a less secure server. Depends a lot on whether you have database changes (like orders) that cannot be wiped clean periodically.

I think those guys get their money for a reason, but for simple photo hosting it could be a plus. My main barrier is that it's not worth the risk of having some knucklehead deleting all my photos, messing up my server, and generally causing havoc so I save $30 a year. Besides, the Smugmug support and software would be tough to beat without a lot of effort.

Like I said, a simple link under tight firewall restriction, no problem if you're savy enough to set it up securely without spending.

[Rhys]

If I did something like that then I'd run SME Server on an elderly PC with maybe 500 GB of drivespace portions of which would be rented out to people annually for $5 (after tax and paypal costs). I figure if I could charge that for 500mb with no restriction on bandwidth I could probably make a profit. Of course, users would have to make their own backups.

[jeisner]

Go with the new google image hosting service...

You get 6GB of space for $25...

[some guy]

For photo hosting I use iciclelanding.com. It's free. Not as advance as pbase or smugmug though but it's unlimited disk space. Not like I put everything online anyways.
My photos are 'undownloadable'. So people would have to contact me for each pic. That gets the ball rolling.... ;)

[Esoterra]

Actually, as a current member of smugmug, after using Iciclelanding I think its pretty effective, although having to upload each picture 1 at a time is bothersome, I like how people cant download your pictures without your consent...a feature that you have to pay $159/year for with smugmug. I think I might start using iciclelanding.

[Vich]

Actually, as a current member of smugmug, after using Iciclelanding I think its pretty effective, although having to upload each picture 1 at a time is bothersome, I like how people cant download your pictures without your consent...a feature that you have to pay $159/year for with smugmug. I think I might start using iciclelanding.
On the "Customize Gallery", click "originals No". It'll block the casual thief.

However, the protection is pretty weak. It's easy as pie to circumvent using their "External Link" naming convention of ".....-O.jpg".

Wierd, you'd think they would block it. Actually; they do on their pro account.

Even on the Pro account, they block YOU from seeing the original too! They don't seem to care that you're logged on, they still don't let you see your own Original. Weak.

Edit: I stand corrected (by Mr. Smugmug himself no less). I had to delete my cookies and offline content (or try it from a different computer) before my test was valid. I had reported this to Smugmug Help with this link. So then, their help desk has responsive humans as well :).

[some guy]

Wow I'm surprised. But if someone really wanted the pic, they can always do a "Print Screen" and paste it somewhere.
There's also this zenfolio.com.

[Vich]

Wow I'm surprised. But if someone really wanted the pic, they can always do a "Print Screen" and paste it somewhere.
There's also this zenfolio.com.
That's a tiny resolution for printing though. Also, the Pro version of SmugMug allows blocking "large", so the biggest they get is about 500 x 300. They'll also watermark it for you during upload.

If they really want it that bad, for some commercial purpose, they'll probably just pay you for it.

I think other Pro sites do a better job (I wouldn't really know) but they are far more expensive and restrictive. Like only allowing about 2 or 3 GB storage, only 1 year archival, stuff like that. Smugmug's the cheapest with Pro features I could find. Be happy to find others.

[cdifoto]

10,000MB is 10GB right? If so, I get 10GB of storage and unlimited bandwidth for $40 a month, including a service plan for eBay integration with my store website. It's more of an enterprise type package though but even so I don't think it's too bad.

[Rhys]

10,000MB is 10GB right? If so, I get 10GB of storage and unlimited bandwidth for $40 a month, including a service plan for eBay integration with my store website. It's more of an enterprise type package though but even so I don't think it's too bad.

Errm. No. This is how it goes:

4 bits = 1 nibble
2 nibbles = 1 byte
1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte
1024 kilobytes = 1 megabyte
1024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte
1024 gigabytes = 1 terabyte
1024 terabytes = 1 petabyte
etc

For $40 per month you can pretty well pay for a cable connection and install your own server. Why be hosted when you can host yourself?

[cdifoto]

Errm. No. This is how it goes:

4 bits = 1 nibble
2 nibbles = 1 byte
1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte
1024 kilobytes = 1 megabyte
1024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte
1024 gigabytes = 1 terabyte
1024 terabytes = 1 petabyte
etc

Ok, so I have 9.76GB. Close enough.

For $40 per month you can pretty well pay for a cable connection and install your own server. Why be hosted when you can host yourself?

You obviously didn't read my entire post, which really wasn't that long. :rolleyes:

[andy99999andy]

On the "Customize Gallery", click "originals No". It'll block the casual thief.

However, the protection is pretty weak. It's easy as pie to circumvent using their "External Link" naming convention of ".....-O.jpg".

Wierd, you'd think they would block it. Actually; they do on their pro account.

Even on the Pro account, they block YOU from seeing the original too! They don't seem to care that you're logged on, they still don't let you see your own Original. Weak.

Hi, I'm from SmugMug and I wanted to clear this up.

1) if the gallery owner has Originals blocked (a choice they, as the photo owner, can make), then a viewer or visitor will *not* be able to view the originals, either on the SmugMug site or via an external link here in a forum post (also a user setting, to allow or not allow, external links). Here's an example:

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/photos/32115284-L.jpg
and you can try to change the -L to -O, and you get this:
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/photos/32115284-O.jpg

I hope this helps clear things up!

[Rhys]

Ok, so I have 9.76GB. Close enough.


There's been a class action law suit over this with one of the major memory manufacturers losing the case because they decided to define 1gb as 1,000,000,000 bytes.

You obviously didn't read my entire post, which really wasn't that long. :rolleyes:
No. I read it all. If you host yourself then you can put whatever services you want on your own server. Also a decent cable connection means you won't have to worry about bandwidth. Of course, if your traffic goes over the bandwidth of your cable supplier then you're probably making enough money to afford a major cable such as T1 or T2.

[cdifoto]

There's been a class action law suit over this with one of the major memory manufacturers losing the case because they decided to define 1gb as 1,000,000,000 bytes.

No. I read it all. If you host yourself then you can put whatever services you want on your own server. Also a decent cable connection means you won't have to worry about bandwidth. Of course, if your traffic goes over the bandwidth of your cable supplier then you're probably making enough money to afford a major cable such as T1 or T2.

:rolleyes: You can't begin to understand so I won't try to explain. Let's pretend I never posted here. I shouldn't have. My fault and I accept it.

[Vich]

Hi, I'm from SmugMug and I wanted to clear this up.

1) if the gallery owner has Originals blocked (a choice they, as the photo owner, can make), then a viewer or visitor will *not* be able to view the originals, either on the SmugMug site or via an external link here in a forum post (also a user setting, to allow or not allow, external links). Here's an example:

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/photos/32115284-L.jpg
and you can try to change the -L to -O, and you get this:
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/photos/32115284-O.jpg

I hope this helps clear things up!
I deleted offline content and cookies. After that, it worked properly.

No matter what, I could not gain view of ORIGINALs from a gallery when they were marked as "blocked".

So; my mistake, Smugmug does indeed offer that security. I'll modify my original post.

[Rhys]

The real value of smugmug is that their printing is handled inhouse. Personally though, I'd rather do the CC processing myself and use some online service to get the prints made.

[aparmley]

I have no idea why people would pay $15-30 a year or $4-6 per month for a site that gives them 6GB of storage. . . LOL I can not make sense of that one. If I store all my images that mean anything to me on smugmug I will not be charged any more than if I store 500MB of images - plus I don't have to worry about backing up all my images if I don't want to - if I stay on top of uploading my images - Smugmug will mail me DVD backups of my gallerys for a small fee - Thats a pretty nice feeling.

Printing at Smugmug has let me down because of their cheap packaging that does not properly protect your images - Shutterfly as well - After printing from MPIX - yes I forced myself to order despite their ridiculous order process - The images came packaged in a way that shocked me! First class packaging. I mean they came in a thin paper envelope that was shrink wrapped to a sturdy piece of cardboard and that was wrapped securely with bubble wrap and that too was shrink wrapped. All of that was then stuffed inside a very rigid thick cardboard box. . . Sure beats the cheap thin cardboard envelopes of these other places. . . :D

I wouldn't pay a dime for the OP poll and I know I'll be satisfied with SGMG for a long time to come.

[aparmley]

The real value of smugmug is that their printing is handled inhouse. Personally though, I'd rather do the CC processing myself and use some online service to get the prints made.

Smugmug handles the order process but they outsource their printing to a place called EZ-Prints in Georgia - You can also just go to EZ-Prints to order prints if you want - but I will agree its nice being able to upload your images to one place for both online gallery viewing and printing - Now if they would just hire me to implement a packaging scheme that would not let down their customers and implement a few other print sizes like panoramas they'd be set!

[KurtB]

I have no idea why people would pay $15-30 a year or $4-6 per month for a site that gives them 6GB of storage. . . LOL I can not make sense of that one.

If all I was looking for was a picture host, I would probably wonder why I was paying for it as well. I was not looking for just a "picture host" but rather a complete "web hosting service". That service, for the small cost that is involved, gives me complete flexibility on the way the sites I design look and operate.

For those people wondering about running their own web server via their Cable or DSL connection, I only have 2 warnings...
- Check you upload speed (That is the speed that you visitors will be using when they view you site). As an example, on the basic plan, Comcast cable in the Chicago area has a download speed of 4 Mbps download, but only a 348k upload speed.
- Check the Terms Of Service for your connection. Most of them have restrictions on running your own web server. But it is rarely enforced until they notice a lot of "upload" traffic flowing from your connection.

Kurt

[KurtB]

www.godaddy.com will give you 50gb of space and 500gb/month transfer for $6.29/$5.59 per month (1yr/2yr contract). You could also get a smaller plan (similar to Lunar Pages) of 5gb and 250gb/month transfer for $3.59/$3.19 per month (1yr/2yr contract). I am not trying to say anything bad about LunarPages, but you can get 10x the space and 100gb per month more of transfer and still save about $3.60/$16.32 (1yr/2yr contract) each year.
Ken

I have a few issues with Bob Parsons (the founder of GoDaddy) that would prevent me from using their services, but that is not an item for discussion on a Photography board.

That item aside, I find it interesting that GoDaddy tells you nothing about their network infrastructure and backbone to the internet. For me at least, those are the two most important thing to a web hosting company. A solid network would indicate less downtime. A solid, multi homed, backbone will prevent outages due to factors beyond their control.

I also could not locate a toll free support phone number for GoDaddy, only the toll call to AZ (which is not really a big deal, untill it is needed).

Kurt

[Pomaric]

site5.com is a good host, i've had them for a while, its real cheap for what you get :D