Early Morning Stonehenge

Early Morning Stonehenge

by Leah

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RAW images are very large in file size so sending them as email attachments doesn't work with gmail/yahoo because they have file size limits. This gets even more difficult when sending 50+ images at a time. What's the easiest way to deliver RAW images to a client so they can download them?

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Put them on your website, in a password-protected directory. You do have a website, don't you? You should. –  Fake Name Jan 9 '12 at 21:51
This doesn't answer your question, but I still send plain old burned DVDs in the mail of originals to clients. I mean, if they are paying the typically large amount to obtain the RAW images, they should also receive a hard copy, at least I think. Many people aren't technically savy enough to even know how to save files long term. I give the option(earlier then I send the DVD) to download the originals, and if you watch the stats on that activity, at least I see a poor conversion rate. –  dpollitt Jan 9 '12 at 21:56
Curious. Why are you sending RAW files to a client? Are they specifically going to be doing the post processing? –  Nick Bedford Jan 9 '12 at 22:15
If the client pays for the work under terms where they will own the rights to the work (work for hire), they really should get all work product. –  Skaperen Jan 9 '12 at 22:53
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5 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

I have created privately shared folders in Dropbox, which works very well. If your customer also has a Dropbox account, the folder shows on his account view as well.

You can also use a temporary file share service like Dropsend, which I use frequently when an image is larger than the Gmail limit.

Both of these services have free as well as paid options. If you pay in either, you can store/send larger files.

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My first reaction was also Dropbox. It's free and awesome :) –  Mike Jan 9 '12 at 21:34
this looks to be the best solution offered, but so others know CloudApp which lets you drop files and automatically creates a link, which you can add a custom domain too, works really wonderfully to. However, to get the best from the service you really need the $5 per month plan. –  trying_hal9000 Jan 10 '12 at 2:37
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You could use services such as YouSendIt (free options with limited size). Personally, I really like the Egnyte File Server service. I've been using it at work for almost a year now and it's very good. You can choose to just email your large files to your clients from Egnyte or you can set them up as users on your server (very easy) and have them download and manage their files. There is a ton of options , backup, smart phone app, cloud, etc.

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All those new fangled kids and their fancy "solutions"... What's wrong with a simple FTP server? Provide the customer with an account, which has security set so they have read-only access to a specific directory containing their data. Quick to set up, easy to use, and can be rapidly automated by both you and the customer for accessing the system.

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DirectConnect (with your own private hub) or private torrents.

Checksums verity, resumeable downloads

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I am using minus these days, because they offer you 10GB for free, no applicable file size limit, you can get up to 50GB space by referring your friends and most of all - Minus allows direct linking to the image files which can save your client from lots of annoyance :)

I am happy with minus. I am not affiliated with it, neither I have shared a referral link here :)

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