Yahoo's Flickr Gets Major Design Overhaul, 1TB of Free Photo Storage Space

[Razeus]

I've never used Flickr and I'm concerned about privacy: can anyone tell me if one's photos are safe and not data mined (a la google) or tagged (a la Facebook)? When deleted, is it permanent? Sorry, but I've never been inclined to upload personal data, but the 1TB deal is tempting for backup etc.

You don't want to use Flickr for backup. And yes, like ALL online services, you're being data mined.

It's no secret that Yahoo wants Flickr users on the free account, enticed by the 1TB storage. The paid options are damn near buried in the interface. They WANT you on the ad based tier. Yes, when you delete a photo, it's permanent.

 

[HeyGreggie]

You don't want to use Flickr for backup. And yes, like ALL online services, you're being data mined.

It's no secret that Yahoo wants Flickr users on the free account, enticed by the 1TB storage. The paid options are damn near buried in the interface. They WANT you on the ad based tier. Yes, when you delete a photo, it's permanent.

Im currently using Dropbox's cloud backup and mac sync.. I have 100gb's there.. should I just stick with that? The thought of a flickr app with its own camera made things a little bit easier..

 

[Glassed Silver]

"Pro members, your subscription remains the same."

SUCKERS!

Not really, the old pro accounts are a million times better.

Too bad I didn't renew my pro account last time, because now I won't ever get to get one again because they stopped selling them yesterday.

500px seems super interesting now.

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[Razeus]

Im currently using Dropbox's cloud backup and mac sync.. I have 100gb's there.. should I just stick with that? The thought of a flickr app with its own camera made things a little bit easier..

I keep all my photos on Dropbox (100GB paid account) and use that to upload to Flickr my more "pro" photos. In Dropbox I have a folder my personal photos (family, hanging out with friends, etc) and "pro photography" style photos. I have a folder structure that I use that online services can't seem to replicate.

I like flickr because their links are easy to use when posting to forums. I use Dropbox as my backup and getting groups of photos to other people. Flickr is really just a social network for photos, nothing more. If you ever need to retrieve your photos from Flickr, it's a PITA because you can only do one at a time and each one takes 5 clicks to do.

It really depends on what you want to do. Using flickr so potential clients can see your work or sharing to other social networks or within the Flickr community itself. Dropbox is the actually storage and backup of the photo files.

 

[gorbok]

I am sad,to see that iPhoto still has deleting privileges that i cannot turn off. Once you use iPhoto to upload the photos to Flickr, if you delete a picture from iPhoto it will be deleted from Flickr as well. I want to make space on my laptop by removing photos that are stored online but I can't do that from iPhoto.

This put me off using iPhoto for a while, but in the end I gave up because it was the easiest way to back up my photos to Flickr. But, I live in fear everyday that iPhoto will just delete everything.

 

[dgalvan123]

As a pro user, I have been paying $25/year for unlimited storage.

Now in the "new and improved" version, I can either:
a.) continue to renew my pro membership, in a "grandfathered in" sense.
b.) pay $50/year (twice as much) for 1 TB of storage.
c.) pay $500/year (twenty times more) for 2 TB of storage.

It would be a no-brainer except I'm not even sure I want to keep my flickr account. Maybe I'll just drop down to free.

 

[jollino]

My Pro Account still has Stats?

That's exactly the reason I'm most frustrated.
If you are Pro and stay Pro (at $25/yr) you retain stats, unlimited stuff and no ads. If you ever convert to free, stats are gone for good. You may go ad free for $50/yr, but stats are not coming back.
However how can I be sure that in a week they won't just turn stats off even for Pro accounts?

 

[jollino]

The real question is what isn't wrong with it.... On the technical side of things,
1., Performance is abysmal. The new Flickr immediately crashes my iPad and phone, and causes Firefox and Safari to hang and occasionally have to be force quit on my C2D Mac mini.

It is slow. And I'm on a quad-i7 2012 Mini. It's mostly due to the fact that everything is loaded via AJAX, so it's way slower than "embedded" content. Moreover, if anything regarding the javascript call goes wrong, you're stuck at the swirling balls (and they're not the only ones swirling). It would make more sense to pre-load the first few pictures and then, when you scroll down, dynamically load the rest. But noooo, let's make everything dynamic. This web 2.0 cr@p is getting out of hand, and I'm a web developer myself.

4. All of the EXIF data has been removed. When I was starting as a photographer I liked to look at others data to see how to set up my camera, now no one can do that.

It's been buried down, together with the map and the rest.

This photo of mine which has everything set up (geolocation, tags, etc.), but you wouldn't tell right off the bat with the new interface: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jollino/8704364212/
On the right sidebar under the photo, you can see the map if you click on the location name — and you may just have no idea what "Chieti, Abruzzo" is about if you miss "IT" for Italy —, and you can access exif info if you scroll down to "More info", click "show more", and then click on the Settings link. Sure, you could always add "/meta" to the URL yourself, but so much for hiding what is indeed one of the most valuable assets on Flickr. A few months ago they had made that Settings bar appear straight in the sidebar so you could get a quick glimpse at shutter speed, aperture, focal length and ISO, and it was quite a nice thing compared to having to click on the link on top as it was before. Talk about being disappointed now...

 

[Gaspode67]

It's been buried down, together with the map and the rest.

This photo of mine which has everything set up (geolocation, tags, etc.), but you wouldn't tell right off the bat with the new interface: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jollino/8704364212/
On the right sidebar under the photo, you can see the map if you click on the location name — and you may just have no idea what "Chieti, Abruzzo" is about if you miss "IT" for Italy —, and you can access exif info if you scroll down to "More info", click "show more", and then click on the Settings link. Sure, you could always add "/meta" to the URL yourself, but so much for hiding what is indeed one of the most valuable assets on Flickr. A few months ago they had made that Settings bar appear straight in the sidebar so you could get a quick glimpse at shutter speed, aperture, focal length and ISO, and it was quite a nice thing compared to having to click on the link on top as it was before. Talk about being disappointed now...

The EXIF Information used to be through clicking on the "Actions" button and was there on the menu that popped down. Now if you go to the bottom of the picture and click on the three white circles, it's there as an option on the pop-up menu. Not too much difference. I know that basic information used to be there on the older layout, but I would suggest not enough to be really useful. I *like* this change. Giving more screen area to the photo is good, and if you want to find out the technical details behind it, you can get to that easily. After all, the primary reason for Flickr is to share the image. Let that have dominance on the page.

 

[jollino]

The EXIF Information used to be through clicking on the "Actions" button and was there on the menu that popped down.

No, the basic exif info (focal length, shutter, aperture, iso) were visible on the right sidebar in exactly the same fashion as what's buried into the 'show more' at the bottom. Clicking on that led to the full exif page with /meta at the end of the url. Until a few months ago there was no quick exif, but you could access it easily by clicking on the camera name that appeared on top (which then started taking you to a search for that camera name).
The quick exif info always available was VERY useful.

Giving more screen area to the photo is good, and if you want to find out the technical details behind it, you can get to that easily. After all, the primary reason for Flickr is to share the image. Let that have dominance on the page.

Yes, but that's to the expense of the comments area, which was one of its most powerful assets...

 

[Gaspode67]

No, the basic exif info (focal length, shutter, aperture, iso) were visible on the right sidebar in exactly the same fashion as what's buried into the 'show more' at the bottom. Clicking on that led to the full exif page with /meta at the end of the url. Until a few months ago there was no quick exif, but you could access it easily by clicking on the camera name that appeared on top (which then started taking you to a search for that camera name).
The quick exif info always available was VERY useful.

Sorry, I should've been clearer. I was agreeing that the basic EXIF info was on the main photo page. I just found it more useful to look at the full info to know what priority settings, etc, the camera was set to, So I would go straight to the full EXIF data if I wanted.

Yes, but that's to the expense of the comments area, which was one of its most powerful assets...

But the comments are still there! Surely scrolling down isn't so time consuming?!? I really think people are making a mountain out of a molehill here... The info is all still there, just laid out a bit more logically to my mind. Part of what I use Flickr for is to share images with friends/family. They don't want to see the extra info. For friends who do want it, it's still there, easily accessible.

 

[vanzantapple]

It looks awesome and one Terra Byte of storage is a great plus. I signed up as soon as I read about this. Way to go, Yahoo!

 

[Macist]

Apple should probably buy Yahoo if the price is right. Yahoo's a mixed bag of quite strong parts and parts that could just be binned.

Flickr rebranded as 'iPhotos' would be good, and Yahoo Mail, while the hacker's preferred target at least doesn't go down as much as Apple's cloud services. Yahoo news is also relatively significant.

 

[Fatboy71]

What happens to those of us with current Flickr Pro accounts? Are we automatically updated to the ad-free paid account?

The below is from this page:
http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/#150470666


"As of May 20, 2013, we are no longer offering Flickr Pro subscriptions to the majority of our members. Some things to be aware of (with more details below):

Recurring Pro members currently have the ability to continue renewing at the same price.

Eligible Pro members can get a prorated refund for a limited time.

Eligible non-recurring Pro members can purchase a recurring Pro subscription.
The “Gift of Pro” will no longer be available for purchase.

Pro users will no longer appear with a “Pro” badge beside their name or buddy icon.


Your Pro pricing remains the same and your benefits have improved:

Those who remain Pro will retain all their original benefits.

The photo and video size limits will be upgraded to those offered with our new free account.

If you are on a recurring Pro subscription, your payments will remain as is. To see what your current subscription costs, see the previous payment on in your order history.

Pro members will never be automatically transitioned to an Ad Free or Doublr subscription".

 

[GR33NIE]

Long overdue update but they've done a great job. The iOS App has come on leaps & bounds too...we just need an iPad App!

 

[TyPod]

Long overdue update but they've done a great job. The iOS App has come on leaps & bounds too...we just need an iPad App!

I agree, I didn't know if I was just being an idiot and didn't see the iPad app in the App Store or what. Does anybody know of any progress on the iPad app? Flickr for iPad would be really nice. Hopefully in iOS 7.

 

[Boris A]

Yeah you can? The option is "Same as original".

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Yahoo are setting them selves up to really get in bed with Apple.

I really like yahoo as a company so this is great.

This is incorrect, the option is greyed out.

 

[fsck-y dingo]

Apple should probably buy Yahoo if the price is right. Yahoo's a mixed bag of quite strong parts and parts that could just be binned.

Flickr rebranded as 'iPhotos' would be good, and Yahoo Mail, while the hacker's preferred target at least doesn't go down as much as Apple's cloud services. Yahoo news is also relatively significant.

That would be nice. Or Apple could give people some storage allotment separate from iCloud for photo hosting like they did when iDisk was around.

 

[firstrev360]

I've been using flickr for years and this is excellent news!