Quote: in this case, already registered and connected users must again type another password to get the full hi-res image
Please review again the article on user rights: http://www.zenphoto.org/news/an-overview-of-zenphoto-users
You must give the user permission to see the full image if you do not want him to need a password.
Quote:3 - More : the protected mode puts a watermark on the hi-res image even if this is set to "none" in the original image options.
Review your image options again. There is a specific option for watermarking for `full images` different from the standard image display.