Thu Oct 27, 2011 6:08 pm
I too am a bit frustrated with the current default size situation, partly due to actual sizes available and more importantly the quality between the different sizes. I feel the default size of large could be a little bigger and since most DSLRs have a sensor size ratio of 3 to 2, I think multiples of that should be incorporated into the different viewing sizes, ie. 600x400 for medium, and 900x600 for large. Small can be 200x133. If Pbase is going to maintain its current 800 pixel size limit for large, I think that there should be an account setting for members to set default size that loads up when guests visit. Some users might want the medium size to show by default, others might want large, and still others might want the original size to show by default.
A more important issue that needs to be address is the difference in quality between the large default size and a larger original size that is uploaded to PBase. An impressive feature of rival SmugMug is that the quality of an image that is displayed, even though it is smaller than the ‘original’ size that is uploaded, is very high. There is very little difference between in qualitly of the images of different sizes. The same CANNOT be said for PBase. If I upload a 900x600 image, the quality of the image degrades when it is automatically resized to the default resolution size of 800x533. The default ‘large’image is noticeably more blurry compared to the original. To me that has always been an irritant. I think it is absolutely silly that I and many other users have to post on our galleries to tell visitors that “ ‘original’ size provides the best viewing image(or words to that effect),” when we upload images even just a bit larger than the 800 pixel limit.. That makes Pbase look a bit ‘unprofessional’ and makes it less user friendly for visitors who aren’t photographers and don’t have accounts with PBase. PBase wants to be ‘THE’ photographic website I presume. As a photographer I want to show the BEST possible images to whomever might visit my galleries, even if they have to reduce the image size to view them on a smaller display such as a laptop. PBase does not show the best possible image, IMHO.
Currently on SmugMug, if someone uploads a rather large image (let’s say 3600x2400) it gives 7 different sizes to view- the original and 6 other sizes. Each of the other sized images is high quality, meaning they show a lot of detail. If PBase could show a total of 5 sizes of equal quality to those on SmugMug, that would be what I expect. Having the ability for each user to set the default size that visitors see is also what I expect from ‘The’ Photographers’ website. I choose to display my images on PBase, I have to get more serious about how my images look to people whom I ask to visit. Most of them will not be fellow PBasers.