Photoshelter Offers Space, A Lot Of It

For some time, Photoshelter’s been keeping images safe and warm in redundant bliss with their tiered storage service, which ranges from free to $49.99 per month. Plans allow anywhere from 50MB to 100GB of remote hard disk space. But even 100GB might not cut it for some professionals, especially those who’d like to keep their entire portfolios and digital histories locked away locally and conveniently accessible through the Web in the event that they find they’ve accidentally mistaken External Drive A for External Drive B while 10,000 feet above the ground on a transcontinental flight. In that case, Photoshelter’s got just the solution.

Say you’ve gone for the $29.99-per-month storage plan. It’s the standard, giving you plenty of options once those precious shots are uploaded; the 20GB/month transfer allotment isn’t bad, either. Or, perhaps you’ve sprung for the $49.99-per-month primo package, which pretty much gives you the same stuff Photoshelter’s 'Standard' plan provides, just more of it. But you need more space.

Photoshelter has now introduced options for those willing to fork over $600-1000 per year: 500GB-1TB of space. If you’re looking at the space offered for $30-50, you’re probably thinking that’s a big jump. Well, it is. But is it worth it?

Well, maybe not. 100GB for $50 every month may prove sufficient for your needs. 1TB is where serious consideration comes in.

If you want a storage solution you can absolutely trust that does its magic over the Web, Photoshelter is the way to go. We’re sure there are plenty of reputable services out there that do the trick, but if you’re a pro photographer (or avid amateur) with a massive collection, you probably don’t want to experiment too much with those bits, even if they’re backed up on a big spindle or a simple raid back at home base. Tried and true Photoshelter is.

You can use Photoshelter’s services to get yourself a simple drop bucket to throw all your memorable (and some not so memorable) prints. But as long as you pay the slight premium, you get to customize a lot of stuff. Look at Bill Frakes’ and Vincent Laforet’s websites to get a feel for what Photoshelter can provide at the backend. If you don’t know those two photographers, that’s okay. You just need to know that Photoshelter does the most important grunt work at each respective webspace.

If you’re just casual with your shutter, Photoshelter probably isn’t for you. But, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably no novice when it comes things like f-stops and macro tricks. You continuously fill up the Compact Flash and SD cards, and you’re buying and renting zoom lenses - those prized 14mm and 50mm especially.

For those already using Photoshelter (or planning to do so), don’t mind putting down thirty to fifty dollars every month for premium services, and would do really well with 500GB-1TB of remote, redundant security, consider the $600-1000 annual investment. You’ve probably already gone way past that figure on lenses and bodies or top-notch Leicas and/or Hasselblads anyway. For all intents and purposes, it’d be money well spent.