Discussion
I'm looking to migrate some of my photos to a self-hosted gallery, since I already pay for web hosting and have spare capacity.
I've used Gallery3 and Coppermine in the past, but both look pretty naff tbh - they look dated, they're clunky, and they are a pest to maintain and organise photos in.
Lychee looks quite interesting, as does Piwigo. I might have a play with them.
Update: Lychee is a little too basic. But Piwigo shows promise, and there is even a Flickr2Piwigo plugin that uses the Flickr API to import all photos from your Flickr account to Piwigo.
Update2: Flickr2Piwigo brought over 1139/1142 photos, and all metadata including upload time and keywords, and created corresponding albums that mirrored the Flickr ones. The only deficiency is that for some reason it didn't bring over the album descriptions. But apart from that (and the 3 files which failed to transfer) it did a pretty good job of migrating a Flickr account. Obviously user comments, faves, and view counts don't come over.
Note: Albums come over flat. If you use Flickr's Collections to effectively create a hierarchy of albums, then this doesn't come across. But once in Piwigo, you can make albums sub-albums of other albums.
I've used Gallery3 and Coppermine in the past, but both look pretty naff tbh - they look dated, they're clunky, and they are a pest to maintain and organise photos in.
Lychee looks quite interesting, as does Piwigo. I might have a play with them.
Update: Lychee is a little too basic. But Piwigo shows promise, and there is even a Flickr2Piwigo plugin that uses the Flickr API to import all photos from your Flickr account to Piwigo.
Update2: Flickr2Piwigo brought over 1139/1142 photos, and all metadata including upload time and keywords, and created corresponding albums that mirrored the Flickr ones. The only deficiency is that for some reason it didn't bring over the album descriptions. But apart from that (and the 3 files which failed to transfer) it did a pretty good job of migrating a Flickr account. Obviously user comments, faves, and view counts don't come over.
Note: Albums come over flat. If you use Flickr's Collections to effectively create a hierarchy of albums, then this doesn't come across. But once in Piwigo, you can make albums sub-albums of other albums.
Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Saturday 3rd November 19:19
eltawater said:
Just use the official request my data option under account settings!
I moved from Flickr when photobucket started charging last year. At the time the option to download an album as a zip file would always fail. The only way I got it to work was via an Azure host VM with a 1Gb connection.It might be more reliable now, but last year it was broken.
This is so sad really, I haven't used Flickr in a long time but I've got over 11,000 pictures there going back over a decade so it's a nice easy way to have a little trip down memory lane once in a while. All my pictures on Flickr are websized low resolution so no great loss personally but as an archive, not just of my stuff but everyones photos, this strikes me as borderline cultural vandalism.
It seems to provide more evidence that we may live in the most photographed period in human history but in a 100 hundred years it's likely there will be fewer pictures around depicting life today then there are now of life 100 years ago.
It seems to provide more evidence that we may live in the most photographed period in human history but in a 100 hundred years it's likely there will be fewer pictures around depicting life today then there are now of life 100 years ago.
Reading the comments elsewhere on the web is quite amusing. So much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and chest-beating.
The 1000 pic limit is historical. It always used to be that way. If you wanted more, then you paid $24.95pa for Flickr Pro.
Then they abandoned Flickr Pro a few years ago and gave everyone 1TB, which frankly was totally insane.
Now the free lunch is over, and they are re-instating the 1000 pic limit, and people are losing their s
t over it. I don't mean people here on this thread - it's been quite laid-back here, I'm talking about elsewhere.
I don't think these people realise quite how much storage and bandwidth costs these companies. Giving everyone 1TB was utterly ludicrous, and I don't know what they thought they were doing there. Not only was it costing them money, but it also meant that Flickr Pro wasn't really worth paying for unless you valued the statistics it gave you. Then they even dropped Flickr Pro for a while. So they not only incurred lots of extra costs, but cut off their income stream too. Madness.
I think $49.99 is a little steep, but it's not excessive. However, I will be reviewing my Flickr accounts (I actually have three - two Free and one Flickr Pro. I forgot to mention the other one earlier).
The 1000 pic limit is historical. It always used to be that way. If you wanted more, then you paid $24.95pa for Flickr Pro.
Then they abandoned Flickr Pro a few years ago and gave everyone 1TB, which frankly was totally insane.
Now the free lunch is over, and they are re-instating the 1000 pic limit, and people are losing their s
t over it. I don't mean people here on this thread - it's been quite laid-back here, I'm talking about elsewhere. I don't think these people realise quite how much storage and bandwidth costs these companies. Giving everyone 1TB was utterly ludicrous, and I don't know what they thought they were doing there. Not only was it costing them money, but it also meant that Flickr Pro wasn't really worth paying for unless you valued the statistics it gave you. Then they even dropped Flickr Pro for a while. So they not only incurred lots of extra costs, but cut off their income stream too. Madness.
I think $49.99 is a little steep, but it's not excessive. However, I will be reviewing my Flickr accounts (I actually have three - two Free and one Flickr Pro. I forgot to mention the other one earlier).
Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Saturday 3rd November 12:48
I must admit that I don't think $50 USD per year is unreasonable for unlimited hosting, and Flickr are currently offering 30% off that fee until the end of November.
I can understand their reasoning behind doing it, it will get rid of a lot of unwanted crap, plus of course they have a business to run, and ultimately hosting costs money. If you don't like it then Google is there as an alternative!
Most folks on here probably have an iPhone and quite happily pay for increased iCloud space without chuntering, and I dare say that most professional photographers spend substantially more than that on 'kit' and the daily coffee.
Be realistic, it's $50 USD per year, not per month!
Edited to add: Pixieset is one alternative, but the monthly costs rise quite dramatically once once you exceed the free 3GB/1000 photo quota.
I can understand their reasoning behind doing it, it will get rid of a lot of unwanted crap, plus of course they have a business to run, and ultimately hosting costs money. If you don't like it then Google is there as an alternative!
Most folks on here probably have an iPhone and quite happily pay for increased iCloud space without chuntering, and I dare say that most professional photographers spend substantially more than that on 'kit' and the daily coffee.
Be realistic, it's $50 USD per year, not per month!
Edited to add: Pixieset is one alternative, but the monthly costs rise quite dramatically once once you exceed the free 3GB/1000 photo quota.
Edited by rich888 on Saturday 3rd November 23:35
rich888 said:
Be realistic, it's $50 USD per year, not per month!
True, but it's more than double what I was previously paying for Flickr Pro, so represents somewhat of a hike. But, as you say, it's still fairly reasonable all things considered. Still, at least it's not the "basically f
k off" price that PhotoBucket initially wanted to charge for people to continue to deep-link (you needed to buy their top tier premium at $LOTS$, although having just checked their prices I see they have relaxed their stance and allow deep-linking on even basic plans now, which seems far more sensible). Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Sunday 4th November 00:04
Piwigo has worked out really well for me. The Flickr2Piwigo plugin slurped up all my Flickr files via the Flickr API, including all metadata.
The "request your data" from Flickr is terribly slow - it takes days and days. A much quicker alternative is Flickrdownloadr, which again uses the Flickr API.
The "request your data" from Flickr is terribly slow - it takes days and days. A much quicker alternative is Flickrdownloadr, which again uses the Flickr API.
There are a few different angles with Flickr I think:
(1) Pro photographers using it to showcase their work / promote their business.
(2) People using it mainly for upload and hotlinking to forums etc.
(3) Amateurs who use it as a community to share and interact with other photographers and learn new things.
For (1) the annual cost is probably low enough not to think twice about. But will it still be worth it too many amateurs leave Flickr for something else?
For (2), I think PH is the only forum I use which doesn't do image upload and hosting itself as part of the basic forum functionality to be honest. And there are obviously some other alternatives to look into. But all the broken links from years of previous forum posts would be a PITA.
For (3), that established connection is probably the hardest thing to replace somewhere else? And maybe the biggest source of inertia they are relying on. I guess you might not mind your older photos disappearing with a free account if thats what you use it for though.
(1) Pro photographers using it to showcase their work / promote their business.
(2) People using it mainly for upload and hotlinking to forums etc.
(3) Amateurs who use it as a community to share and interact with other photographers and learn new things.
For (1) the annual cost is probably low enough not to think twice about. But will it still be worth it too many amateurs leave Flickr for something else?
For (2), I think PH is the only forum I use which doesn't do image upload and hosting itself as part of the basic forum functionality to be honest. And there are obviously some other alternatives to look into. But all the broken links from years of previous forum posts would be a PITA.
For (3), that established connection is probably the hardest thing to replace somewhere else? And maybe the biggest source of inertia they are relying on. I guess you might not mind your older photos disappearing with a free account if thats what you use it for though.
GravelBen said:
For (3), that established connection is probably the hardest thing to replace somewhere else? And maybe the biggest source of inertia they are relying on. I guess you might not mind your older photos disappearing with a free account if thats what you use it for though.
Totally. The followers, view count, comments, and other engagement is what will keep me on Flickr Pro for my main account. I could move away from Flickr, but I would lose all of that. My two free accounts get very little engagement, and I have already trimmed both of them down to below 1000 pics now. I could easily lose either or both of those accounts, if needed.
I think that's where Flickr (ie. SmugMug) could come unstuck. How many of these free accounts are going to upgrade to Flickr Pro, and how many are going to go "sod it. Ah well"?
Silver Smudger said:
rich888 said:
I must admit that I don't think $50 USD per year is unreasonable for unlimited hosting, and Flickr are currently offering 30% off that fee until the end of November.
Not if you already pro - Just doubled the price - Thanks for your custom ...There must be a fair few users on Flickr abusing the system and I guess this is one way of deleting the unwanted dross.
You would have thought they would have learned by what happened to that other photo hosting site that shall remain nameless.
rich888 said:
Ouch, well I didn't realise that was the case.
I've long suspected that nobody reads even half of my posts. 
Clockwork Cupcake said:
For the past 4 years I have paid $44.95 for 2 years Flickr Pro. I notice that when I click on "Manage my subscription" it now says "1 year $49.99". That's a bit of a hike! 
Clockwork Cupcake said:
The 1000 pic limit is historical. It always used to be that way. If you wanted more, then you paid $24.95pa for Flickr Pro.
GravelBen said:
For (2), I think PH is the only forum I use which doesn't do image upload and hosting itself as part of the basic forum functionality to be honest. And there are obviously some other alternatives to look into. But all the broken links from years of previous forum posts would be a PITA.
Well, there's the Thumbsnap image upload on here, which works reasonably well in many cases. I lose track of which of these hosts ruin photographs as part of their bandwidth-saving, but a lot of images on general PH aren't affected by that. Maybe in this specific forum it's a downgrade.Silver Smudger said:
rich888 said:
I must admit that I don't think $50 USD per year is unreasonable for unlimited hosting, and Flickr are currently offering 30% off that fee until the end of November.
Not if you already pro - Just doubled the price - Thanks for your custom ...RobDickinson said:
work in progress :
http://link.photo/
This looks interesting though.http://link.photo/
Clockwork Cupcake said:
rich888 said:
Ouch, well I didn't realise that was the case.
I've long suspected that nobody reads even half of my posts. Clockwork Cupcake said:
For the past 4 years I have paid $44.95 for 2 years Flickr Pro. I notice that when I click on "Manage my subscription" it now says "1 year $49.99". That's a bit of a hike!
Clockwork Cupcake said:
The 1000 pic limit is historical. It always used to be that way. If you wanted more, then you paid $24.95pa for Flickr Pro.
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