Upload, Sort and Share Seamlessly
March 03, 2017
Upload, Sort and Share Seamlessly
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Cumulus (legacy product)
Overall Satisfaction with Canto
Cumulus is used as the primary photo database for the Division of Strategic Communication, the communications and marketing arm of the university. While individual colleges and schools may keep their own databases, any photos that are shot by our staff are stored on Cumulus. The service is a reliable alternative to offline storage, like discs, and makes sharing much easier and quicker.
- Our clients (faculty/staff and students) number close to 50,000. Cumulus' online database allows us to share photos and place any restrictions we deem appropriate, like password protection or print permissions.
- Cumulus' dashboard is really easy to navigate. There are two sections on the left rail (categories and filters), and approximately 10-40 photos per page, whichever you choose. There's a rollover function that enlarges the pic, and the tabs to download or compile is underneath.
- Cumulus' search is pretty precise. Our photo data base is 300,000 photos deep, and it was once twice that amount, with many photos falling into the same categories.
- While the rollover feature is helpful, it tends to stick and lag. The enlargement is only twice the size of the thumbnail, which, for pictures with great detail, can be useless, forcing the user to download it and open it up Photoshop.
- The slide feature to increase the size of the photos in the catalog should make the photos larger than they are. For photos with detail, or photos that have a lot of black or dark colors, it's difficult to see, especially on a laptop.
- When a photo is in the basket, the "preview" function, much like the rollover, provides a small photo that's no larger than the thumbnail. What's strange is that sometimes the function will provide a much larger preview, but there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason for it. It's completely random.
- Instead of burning photos to a disc and sending them out via campus mail (or hand-delivering them), Cumulus has shaved considerable time from the sharing process. We simply build a basket and email it.
- The ability to search for photos through Photoshop (Adobe Drive) has saves time, too. Especially when working multiple jobs, like design or web, on a tight deadline.
- The most significant ROI is the ease with which were able to share photos across campus. The photos are easily downloadable and are 300DPI and large files, so clients have high-quality photos for print jobs. We're now able to control the photography used for all of our print and online marketing pieces by making our service faster and better, which gives us more creative control of our brand.
We've used Cumulus through my five years here, and have gone through a pair of upgrades. Personally, I've used Dropbox to share photos, and I've considered Dropbox Business. Dropbox doesn't have nearly as much storage or as clean of a layout as Cumulus, and the upload process is much faster with Cumulus.