View Camera web site

[steve simmons]

We continue to be criticized for our web site but I am not sure I understand the problem. We upgraded and simplified it in late July. It is now easier to find the free articles, the subscribers' section, the submission guidelines, etc.We add new material to the subscribers' section after every issue and have even pulled old material and added it to the free section to help beginners get started. We modeld the site after a magazine called Art on Paper which was recommended to us by a gentleman in another discussion group.

Can someone explain the problem (I am hoping for a suggestion more than just "More free stuff!").

steve simmons

[Brian Ellis]

I believe the criticism to which you refer didn't come from this forum but rather came from participants in rec.photo.equipment.large-format. So why ask people in this forum to explain the problem when the criticism came from people in another group? They are the ones who can explain the problems they see, how are we supposed to know what those problems are and then explain them to you? If I'm wrong and the criticism to which you refer came from people who participate only in this forum, then why not ask this question by private e mail to them, not to a bunch of people who didn't make the criticisms to which you refer.

This forum has been blessedly free of the incessant arguments, name calling, and general childish bickering involving you and your magazine that has plagued rec.photo.equipment.large-format for years. It would be nice to keep it that way.

[Gem Singer]

Hi Steve.

The problem that I have is the need to use the password included on the magazine package label. The wrapper, with the label attached, usually gets thrown away when I receive the magazine. It's a PITA when I have to sign-in every time I want to access the subscriber's section and I don't know my password, since it changes with every issue. I understand the reasoning behind the method, but I wonder if it is an absolute necessity. It must be a PITA for your staff when subscribers call to ask for their password.

Perhaps the time has come to include an open discussion forum on the View Camera website. Perhaps, the inclusion of this forum, Maybe this entire website? I'll bet Tuan would be open to negotiation.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I have to agree with Eugene about the password issue. It's enough of a barrier that I don't even bother with the website, though I suspect there is something interesting there. Is there a way that we could use the password from the label once and then set up some sort of long-term password, perhaps linked to the length of the subscription so that the password expires when the subscription expires?

[QT Luong]

The View Camera website has improved. However I agree about the password problem. What David suggested can easily be implemented with a number of relatively inexpensive software packages that can be found on the web. For instance I manage subscriptions on my web site using Dreamaccount from http://www.dreamcost.com/ I don't necessarily recommend that particular software. It works mostly OK, but there are bugs. My point is that there are a number of ready-made solutions that would take less than a day to install and customize.

Eugene, we have worked hard to move away from photo.net in order to have a non-commercial site. Even though View Camera is much better matched to our interests than photo.net, I don't think a "move" to viewcamera.com would be welcome. However, we would certainly appreciate it if View Camera reciprocated the link that largeformatphotography.info has to the viewcamera.com site.

[David R Munson]

Really, my only complaint about the site at this point has to do with the password issue, as others have noted. It just seems that there should be a more intuitive, elegant solution out there.

[tim atherton]

all I can say is ditto regarding the password issue. It's a pain in the butt and quite annoying.

I've brought it up with Steve before and he just dismisses the complaint every time and says - oh just email or call us...

Two months in a row my subscription from a subagent in Canada had no passowrd. This month I thought - ah there it is on the back of the envelope must write the down. Only my ever so dear partner threw that "old empty envelope" out before I could...

I can't think of one other site I use which has passwords which adopts such a cumbersome and annoying system, including a new password every two months. I've had an easier time getting into secure sections of the Ministry of Defense system...

My subscription ended with this issue I think, and quite frankly, Steve has just lost a subscriber. I think the money is going to PDN this time around.

[Henry Ambrose]

Another who agrees about the password being a problem although I wonder if its a good idea to require a password at all. I've not seen anything you've put up since calling you months ago to get my password which was tossed with the plastic wrap. My current password does not work and its not worth the hassle to call again.

So, how about just putting the URL at the end of each article when you have extra stuff and let people view it for free. To cheat you they would have to go to the bookstore, read the mag, copy the URL, don't buy the magazine, and then go home to view it - sounds like way too big a hassle to me. I think anyone who is going to cheat will do so anyway. I could give my password to someone and I guess you'd never know it! (I wouldn't) Perhaps you could make the extra web stuff into a great come-on for the print issue. That might spur sales of magazines and subscriptions.

As long as I'm telling you how to run your business (grin) I do suggest you give more free stuff! Post previews to upcoming articles. A few paragraphs and a pic from more than one article might prompt a purchase at the newstand or through subscription. The "sample taste" you are giving away is not enough in my opinion. You have a few books but not enough. Your site does not reach "critical mass" When I walk into a camera store and they have nine different point and shoots, four 35mm SLRs, an old broken view camera with no lens and a few rolls of film on the shelf I don't feel like I've walked into much of a camera store. Contrast that with the experience of walking into a store where you could look at and handle almost any camera you ever read about and buy any accessory or film off the shelf. Which do you think most folks would prefer?

Write me off list if you want, I have more ideas.

[Brian Ellis]

That seems clear enough. The problem is the password.

[Ryan M]

I am a subscriber to CameraArts and ViewCamera and I would just like to say that I really enjoy the issues - even when they don't pertain to the way or what I like to shoot. I used the website for ViewCamera for the first time last week and I actually had the plastic package for the issue. The only problem was that the password was not on the label. I had to email for the information and was promptly replied to in a few hours.



I read the website and was somewhat impressed - being the American consumer that I am though, I wanted more to the web site, Maybe articles that show how a photographer captured a certain shot, not just the equipment used, but the thought process to placement, lighting and decision on what subject matter - the real craft to the image making process. This could be in the form of dissecting a shot. I am sure some people would be bored silly with this, but I am not.

Overall, I want to see more images. This is the one reason I subscribe to Lenswork. The issues are very well done, images are reproduced very very well, and I tend to pick up the issues all the time just to view the pictures again. However, no website like viewcamera though. I do pick up viewcamera over and over, for different reasons though. I check out the articles more for information on processes, gear, ads, and certain photographers' portfolio articles.

The password issue, I think, is the biggest problem with the website though