Sony Mavica Digital Camera, circa 1999
I got my first digital camera in early 1999. It was a Sony Mavica with a floppy disk inside with a whopping 0,8 megapixel lens. If I remember correctly, each floppy disk held about 20 pictures which was awesome. The camera actually got stolen about 6 months later so the $700 investment didn’t go that well.
From the first day it was a challenge to store and backup these photos. Everything from putting the floppy disks into the same shoebox as the 35mm films and printed photos till buying some external hard drives.
I started buying space online for photos in 2005 but the features and user interface where always underdeveloped. Now I have finally found a solution that I like. It is Google Photos.
Google Photos is based on a program called Picasa that changed into Google+ and now it is a standalone package.
So what is it that is so great? There are two things that make the difference. First it is the Unlimited storage space. Yes, unlimited. The other one is the ease of use, the photos automatically get uploaded.
The only limitation in the size of the photos. The app resizes huge photos down to 16mb (hardly ever needed) and videos down to 1080p (hardly ever needed).
Google Photos app icon
The upload is done by installing apps on your phone and on your computer. The system uploads all your photos and even catagorises them after dates, locations and such. The system also creates some videos and slideshow from events that sometimes are actually quite nice. Mostly they are a little bit annoying, especially when there is a slideshow with 25 slides from a roadtrip and 3 of them are from a different month.
Then you can view your photos in the mobile app, iPad or computer browser. Very convenient.
So don’t hesitate and start your backup today. You will regret it if you delay it until you loose your phone or your hard drive crashes.
Comments are closed