Flickr Vs. SmugMug micro.maiquemadeira.com

@vincent SmugMug owns Flickr now. It's not even about the price alone, I wonder about feature set and whatnot. For a little over Flickr one can use a custom domain, that would be cool, and I've never tried the service. People have high praise for them and, as I said, I'm just thinking out loud, and wondering if anyone here has experience with SmugMug.

@maique I was hoping after SmugMug bought Flickr that there's be some sort of bundle offered but nothing yet. I see them as different. Flickr is for sharing via a "Photostream" with comments, groups, albums, etc. SmugMug is better suited (IMO) for creating curated galleries for display. Both can probably be used equally as a backup of everything. I still have both because I like the nicer galleries of SmugMug but the easy sharing and feed aspects of Flickr. :/.

@vincent @maique SmugMug is more about making your own photo website and selling your stuff, whilst Flickr is mostly used for the social side of things. At least from the broader, public perception.

Then you can look at possibly VSCO or 500px. I think there are others but these four are the most prominent Instagram alternatives.

I've never used SmugMug and barely used Flickr. TBH if I had the money right now I don't know what I'd do, since I'm not sure how strong the photography enthusiast communities are for each service, especially as compared to just using your own site.

@jack Thanks. And yes, we've talked about going back to Flickr in the past, and I keep waiting for that to happen. But, sadly, at the moment I'm using it mostly as archive, and have a bunch of "sets". What got me wondering is exactly what you talk about: the curated galleries, the nicer looking site. If the archiving (uploading, taggins, sets, etc.) works just the same, I could easily move over.

@simonwoods The community is the thing here: it used to be great at Flickr, but Instagram took that away, most of it. Users on SmugMug usually say it's great, and Flickr users (myself included) wish it was still pre-Instagram, as far as community is concerned.

I do have a website, but it's not the same. I need the archiving part, and the website is not great for that.

@maique Makes sense. For me, the choice will always be SmugMug and Flickr or just Flickr. My heart will always be with Flickr, I think.

@maique ahhh, I didn’t know that they own them haha! Well, just giving you my non educated opinion ✌️

@vincent 🤣🤣🤣 They do, yes. They bought it, to prevent it from dying, and then raised the prices a bit to make sure they could run it a bit better, and stop it from bleeding millions of dollars. Everyone was quite happy at the time, because it meant Flickr was in good hands, since SmugMug is respected as photography lovers, and not just another big company, with no interest whatsoever in photography.

@jack Yeah, I get it. Flickr is where it all began for me, it has a special place in my heart as well.

At the moment I'm also using Pixieset to share a couple of galleries with clients, and SmugMug seems like a nice alternative to that as well. Flickr is a bit rough around the edges for that...

Decisions, decisions...

@maique I had both flickr pro and SmugMug for many years. I just recently closed my SmugMug account and went strictly flickr. I have no need to sell prints, so many of the SmugMug features are not something I need. I am still honestly a bit confused concerning their offerings between the two. I knew I didn't want to pay for both any longer so flickr seemed like a better fit for my photography.

@maique To my great shame I did not know that you were for sure better informed than me about this. Sorry for assuming otherwise!

TBH that even pros and enthusiasts are torn on which service to choose makes me feel a little better about my own indecision. 😅

@Burk Thanks for the input. Selling prints, at least there, is not on my immediate plans either. SmugMug’s offer seems very complete, but I never used them. Kinda wanted to give them a try, but I’m left feeling I’d reach your take on it, as well as @jack’s.

@simonwoods No, no, I appreciate it very much. Everyone is always debating and considering other services, and it’s impossible, or close to, to have full knowledge. I always enjoy listening to everyone’s opinion, many times in the past I’ve changed my mind about something, because my opinion was already formed based on a lot of preconceived notions. I thank you.

@maique @simonwoods @jack @vincent @burk I have never subscribed to Smugmug - never had a reason to since I'm a lousy photographer anyway (even my mom won't buy my photos! haha). Flickr has always been where I keep my photos. The community over at Flickr needs CPR from Smugmug to get it going - if it ever wants to regain its pre-Insta glory. I am trying to use Flickr more and posting links to it here and on Twitter.

@rom @maique @simonwoods @jack @vincent @burk If I may chime in... I was on Flickr since 2008 or something... I used to like them but then came Yahoo and now SmugMug... Flickr didn't evolve as much as I thought it would following their latest acquisition. Sure, on the surface they made some changes but there are so many things in need of some love... there is no decent macOS client, their apps on mobile device really is barely left untouched... most of the groups are ghost towns...

I'm now on 500px since 2019... I'm kind of happy but I'm still not fully content with the offerings.

@numericcitizen @maique @simonwoods @jack @vincent @burk yeah, almost ditched Flickr when Yahoo! owned it. Smugmug is very slow to improve Flickr. Been asking for a revamp of their iOS app (which will eventually be running on the Mac), too.

@numericcitizen @rom @simonwoods @jack @vincent @burk Agree. As far as improvment goes, it's been slow. I would love for the community to be vibrant again, but seems like a bit of wishful thinking.
It works for me, as far as archiving goes, and that's what I would be trying to improve by moving to SmugMug.

@rom The iOS app need a LOT of improvment.

@rom @numericcitizen @maique @simonwoods @jack @vincent It's been slow but I can't even imagine the levels of code shit that has to be gone through given the years of code build up over all the owners and conflicting priorities. 😬😱

@Burk “we use tabs”… “we use spaces, 2 of them”… “we convert tabs to spaces”… “we are talking about old code!” 😂😋

@maique at each update, I tell to myself: that’s the big update, let’s see what’s in it... then... nothing.

@numericcitizen It never is... Also something the got me in this state of mind.

@Burk It cannot be easy. But something has to be done.

@maique they recently added support for iOS 14 widgets but with no option to set the images source 🤷🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

@numericcitizen Yes, I saw that. You get Explore and that's it. For someone who NEVER visits Explore, that's as good as not having widgets.

@Burk @numericcitizen @maique @simonwoods @jack @vincent exactly. According to Smugmug - that's what they're fixing, after fixing the backend infrastructure. Here's a thought - what do you guys want to see on the iOS app? ;)

@rom I’d like a refresh of the visual language... less boxy, more approachable.. use of tabbar UI elements instead of the current vertical one... support for iOS / iPadOS tap-and-hold for popup menus, etc.

@rom @Burk @numericcitizen @simonwoods @jack @vincent I would love to have some galleries available offline, a decent organizer, and yet I would be happy if the swipe left and right for back and forward worked, instead of scrolling endlessly up to find a tiny icon to press.

@maique @Burk @simonwoods @jack @vincent amazing quick feedback from you and @numericcitizen - I wish we have smugmug here, too.

Personally, I also would want the communities highlighted, maybe a way to peg it as your front page or something.

@numericcitizen Maybe it's time to move away from these services and find a more long-term solution.

@rishabh yes! Some reflection is needed too.... why use on online service? For backup? for social networking? both?

@numericcitizen Those are all good questions to ask. 👍🏼