Zonerama

I recently came across a gallery hosting site named Zonerama that offers free unlimited storage of photos that are displayed in album format.  (One can choose whether one wants a given album to be Public, Hidden, or Shared.)  Attracted mainly by the words "free" and "unlimited," I decided to give it a try.  I found it fairly easy to register (the site sends a link to the user's email address for verification purposes) and set up what few controls were needed to get started using my own name for both the gallery name and its URL.  I then uploaded roughly 20 photos I had shot last month at the NYC Japan Day Parade to create my first album.  The upload went fairly quickly - these were all web-sized images - but I noted that the photos did not appear in the same order as in the folder on my hard drive from which I had taken them.  True, there is a gear icon for each image that allows the user to, among other things, move or delete given photos; but I didn't feel a pressing need to establish a particular order, at least not on a non-pro site.

When one registers for Zonerama, one is informed that photo uploads will proceed more quickly when using another Zoner product, Zoner Photo Studio X; but it was only after installing it that I learned this app, unlike Zonerama, is definitely not free after the expiration of its 90-day trial period.  (Yes, my fault no doubt for not having read the fine print more carefully.)  As a quick look at the app showed it to be, as far as I could tell, little more than a poor man's Photoshop, and having no desire to spend $5.99 per month (or $59 per year), I quickly uninstalled it.

Getting back to Zonerama, I would suggest before using it one check out the Frequently Asked Questions, though these need to be updated.  From reading them I learned that if one wishes to prohibit viewer downloads from a given album it's necessary to click on the gear icon on the title bar above an opened album, go to "Show Controls," and then select "Hide Downloads" before choosing the selected settings as the default for future albums.

It's also possible to upload and store videos on Zonerama in a variety of formats, though length is limited to five minutes.  I haven't yet had a chance to use this feature but intend to start uploading certain of my videos in MP4 format very soon.

All in all, I'm fairly well satisfied with Zonerama as another venue on which to display my photography work, especially as albums can be shared on Facebook and Twitter as well as via email.  Certainly the price is right.