Up to 90 seconds of video can now be uploaded to the Flickr photo sharing site. The storage limit on video will be 150 mb from any recording device. Each individual video uploaded is limited to 90 seconds in length. The videos can be organized and shared just like photos. Tags, geotags, sets, privacy settings and copyright terms can be set as in regular photos. Videos can be searched in various ways, just like photos. Yahoo, owner of Flickr, surveyed 2,000 internet users and found that over 40% of those between 18 and 44 years old record video clips with their digital cameras. The Flickr news release is at this link: http://blog.flickr.net/en/2008/04/09/video-on-flickr-2/.
I am a paid member of Flickr and it is a wonderful site for storing and sharing photos. The site will allow you to order prints of various sizes and there are other value added options available from their third party partners. I welcome this video uploading news and expect the limits on each video will probably expand at some point down the road. Youtube will still be the place to go for those hard core enthusiasts who shoot long videos with digital video recorders. Still, I think it’s a nice addition to my Flickr membership.
Additionally, the size of individual photos that can be uploaded has been increased from 10MB to 20MB for members and to 10MB for those with free accounts. If I recall, my Pro membership account was $23, an annual fee. This entitles me to unlimited photos and unlimited storage. Flickr was launched in February 2004. Yahoo purchased Flickr and it parent company, Ludicorp in March 2005. I was a member of Yahoo Photos which was discontinued. Yahoo migrated us over to Flickr with free accounts in July 2007. I liked the site so much, I signed up for a Pro account.
There are other photo sharing sites besides Flickr, such as: Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, Snapfish, and Photobucket. A review of these sites by the Mossberg Solution’s Katherine Boehret is at this link: http://solution.allthingsd.com/20070801/how-the-big-photo-sharing-sites-stack-up/.
April 10, 2008 at 7:59 am
What took Flickr so long to finally add the video feature?! I thought they were talking about that a few years ago… Anyways, in the meantime I have been sharing on zoomin and pixamo.
April 10, 2008 at 8:33 am
It will be interesting to see how Flickr evolves if Yahoo and AOL combine. Yahoo is trying to avoid being acquired by Microsoft. I think Flickr’s future would fare better under a Yahoo/AOL combination.
April 11, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I don’t get it. I mean there are various websites that offer all this for free, with no limits to sizes or number. In fact http://exposureroom.com offers Videos (HD videos included), Photos & Music.
The quality of videos is also incredible.
April 11, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Well, like I said in the post; it won’t appeal to the hardcore enthusiasts. I have a digital camcorder but have only uploaded 2 short videos to YouTube. I just prefer photography. I wouldn’t have opened a YouTube account if Flickr had this capability earlier. Flickr’s move is designed more for AVI video from digital camera’s and cell phone’s than the higher definition video from camcorders. If one has a good camcorder then one would probably want the site you suggested instead of Flickr.
April 12, 2008 at 1:44 am
Oh, ok I see. I guess everybody is going down the video route (Amazon with their video reviews and a host of other websites).
IMHO, a site such as Flickr should concentrate on what their forte is and try and widen the gap between them and their competition by doing more for their members. There is so much more they could be doing just in the photography arena. Not so in terms of adding features but more in terms of doing more for their members.
April 14, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I agree. It’s like all the musicians I follow want to be actors and all the actors think they can be singers. The grass is always greener on the other side I guess.