So the important question is, if I select 'original' but then upload photos from my 13MP Nexus 6, will they be counted? I suspect yes, as it's not just resolution. They're probably also compressing further :(
As I understand it, "Original" just uploads and keeps the photos as they are. No downscaling to 16MP, no compression. It has also been this way with Google+ photos.
They compress them at "almost no quality loss" . This kinda ruins the unlimited part. No compression and limited storage would be better for anyone that actually cares. No 4k for video is not ideal either but even 1080p is a lot and some might go crazy.
I do not like this tradeoff but a lot of companies do this sort of thing. At the end of the day you're better off backing up to a PC with a secondary HDD.
Then again most smartphone users won't know or care. They'll go unlimited yes please and that's the end of it, additional compression be damned.
Same sentiments here but this is a very good dilemma to have. We just have to know how much compression it applies. My images max out at 4.7MP. Google should exempt my images from compression. :)
The major caveat to the unlimited storage is probably not the 16MP resolution limit, but the fact that images are compressed when uploading using the unlimited option.
I did a couple of tests myself, uploading a fairly complicated 13MP photo, then re-downloading from web. Original picture was 5.6MB, uploaded one was converted to 2.8MB (same resolution). A 40MP panorama was downscaled to 16MP.
The difference for the panorama is obvious, but admittedly, when examining the normal photo at 100% zoom on my desktop computer, it's really, really hard to tell which is the original and which is the compressed one. You can tell that a few pixels are different (mostly at dark areas), but I'm not sure I could safely tell them apart.
There are 2 modes high quality and original quality while uploading pictures. HQ lets you save unlimited photos whereas photo upload using original quality will be counted against your google drive storage (15 gb free)
So not much of a difference luckily let apart panoramas, good to know. I tested myself at a 100% crop a photo and they seemed exactly the same, the only thing I really noticed was the different size lol (2.1 vs 1.2 MB). I think that it might be a sort of backup along with other services of course. I'm yet to test videos but I think they'll be in youtube-like quality because they show up with a youtube player in the web version. If it is like youtube the colors will be less vivid and shiny. A clear example is watching a video made recording the iMac screen and you can see the differences between the original.
There is so much churn at Google and their services. . . Google-this, Google-that. . . why didn't they just stick with Picasa and improve it? There is no vision or consistency there, just throw stuff against the wall and see if it sticks, if not, move on. . .
I just uploaded a 2.5MB 13MP jpg. It uploaded as a 1.1MB 13MP jpeg. So it keeps the resolution, but heavily compresses. I'm really surprised they didn't use their own image compression, WEBP... That would have saved them 10-20%... I'm guessing they just didn't want the publicity of storing in a weird format
Images do get compressed, but honestly I find it almost impossible to tell the difference from the original, even if I zoom at 100%. Even so, I don't think the "High Quality" setting is meant for true cloud backup for your photos.
Still a great service for organising and quick access to your photos, though. And if you truly care about 100% original quality, you can still upload using the "Original" setting and use your storage quota. Google storage is cheap, to be honest.
Thanks for the tests and I agree with all. That is my dilemma, Google storage is cheap but having it free is also very nice to have. I guess, I have to try it out myself as I have high quality 4.7MP images that don't won't to be compressed anymore.
I'm wondering if photos taken from a phone will sync back to a Windows desktop computer. Right now that is what I find myself doing most often. Trying to manually get photos from the phone to the computer.
Not sure they'll sync per se, unless you go thru Drive instead, but you can surely redownload on desktop... Not the most efficient way of doing things tho, lot of bandwidth waste and recompression involved.
I wish they would set a filesize limit rather than resolution limit. What's the point of recompressing a 900KB 4MP image when some 4MB 16MP images get trimmed to 3MB?
Agreed. Technically though, its good for them as it maximizes efficiency for all uploaded photos. I have seen Medium Format photos at 80MP and 4MB sizes and still look great.
Yet, personally I would like my photos exempted as the max size is only 4.7MP or usually less than 2MB.
I'll never trust photo services with my photos as a sole storage location. Photos are my most treasured possessions that are irreplaceable. Anyone who entrusts all their photos to a cloud service without independent backups is a complete fool.
Apparently it's part of what Picasa was. I just went to google photos and all my Picasa photos are on there and the new URL is google photos. But I can also still upload to Picasa it seems, and it will be on google photos too.
So the article says " Since many devices give away 1TB of free Google Drive storage". Besides the ChromeBook Pixel, anyone know of any? Most of the ones I see are 100gb.
It's too bad they couldn't have instead made the max size a lot lower, instead of 16MP, but not compress them any of they're below that. I might use this for my crappy phone pics just to get some space back on it, but not for my any important pics, which I take with a real camera.
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shashankj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
So there's no size limit just resolution limit right? Google photos won't differentiate between a 700Kb or 5 mb version of 16 mp photo?syxbit - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
So the important question is, if I select 'original' but then upload photos from my 13MP Nexus 6, will they be counted?I suspect yes, as it's not just resolution. They're probably also compressing further :(
Jimios - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
As I understand it, "Original" just uploads and keeps the photos as they are. No downscaling to 16MP, no compression. It has also been this way with Google+ photos.jjj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
They compress them at "almost no quality loss" . This kinda ruins the unlimited part. No compression and limited storage would be better for anyone that actually cares.No 4k for video is not ideal either but even 1080p is a lot and some might go crazy.
jjj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Here https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791?p...You can choose compressed and unlimited or use your existing Google storage for uncompressed.
Alexvrb - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I do not like this tradeoff but a lot of companies do this sort of thing. At the end of the day you're better off backing up to a PC with a secondary HDD.Then again most smartphone users won't know or care. They'll go unlimited yes please and that's the end of it, additional compression be damned.
zodiacfml - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Same sentiments here but this is a very good dilemma to have. We just have to know how much compression it applies.My images max out at 4.7MP. Google should exempt my images from compression. :)
jjj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
This is ok but nothing that shouldn't have been done long ago by everybody and the big problem is that it's cloud based.Jimios - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
The major caveat to the unlimited storage is probably not the 16MP resolution limit, but the fact that images are compressed when uploading using the unlimited option.I did a couple of tests myself, uploading a fairly complicated 13MP photo, then re-downloading from web. Original picture was 5.6MB, uploaded one was converted to 2.8MB (same resolution). A 40MP panorama was downscaled to 16MP.
The difference for the panorama is obvious, but admittedly, when examining the normal photo at 100% zoom on my desktop computer, it's really, really hard to tell which is the original and which is the compressed one. You can tell that a few pixels are different (mostly at dark areas), but I'm not sure I could safely tell them apart.
All EXIF metadata is kept as is, filename too.
Adding-Color - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Very useful, thanks.shashankj - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
There are 2 modes high quality and original quality while uploading pictures. HQ lets you save unlimited photos whereas photo upload using original quality will be counted against your google drive storage (15 gb free)cad0p - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
So not much of a difference luckily let apart panoramas, good to know. I tested myself at a 100% crop a photo and they seemed exactly the same, the only thing I really noticed was the different size lol (2.1 vs 1.2 MB). I think that it might be a sort of backup along with other services of course. I'm yet to test videos but I think they'll be in youtube-like quality because they show up with a youtube player in the web version. If it is like youtube the colors will be less vivid and shiny. A clear example is watching a video made recording the iMac screen and you can see the differences between the original.Bob-o - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
There is so much churn at Google and their services. . . Google-this, Google-that. . . why didn't they just stick with Picasa and improve it? There is no vision or consistency there, just throw stuff against the wall and see if it sticks, if not, move on. . .syxbit - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I just uploaded a 2.5MB 13MP jpg. It uploaded as a 1.1MB 13MP jpeg.So it keeps the resolution, but heavily compresses. I'm really surprised they didn't use their own image compression, WEBP... That would have saved them 10-20%... I'm guessing they just didn't want the publicity of storing in a weird format
Jimios - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Images do get compressed, but honestly I find it almost impossible to tell the difference from the original, even if I zoom at 100%. Even so, I don't think the "High Quality" setting is meant for true cloud backup for your photos.Still a great service for organising and quick access to your photos, though. And if you truly care about 100% original quality, you can still upload using the "Original" setting and use your storage quota. Google storage is cheap, to be honest.
zodiacfml - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Thanks for the tests and I agree with all. That is my dilemma, Google storage is cheap but having it free is also very nice to have. I guess, I have to try it out myself as I have high quality 4.7MP images that don't won't to be compressed anymore.pixelstuff - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
I'm wondering if photos taken from a phone will sync back to a Windows desktop computer. Right now that is what I find myself doing most often. Trying to manually get photos from the phone to the computer.Impulses - Thursday, May 28, 2015 - link
Not sure they'll sync per se, unless you go thru Drive instead, but you can surely redownload on desktop... Not the most efficient way of doing things tho, lot of bandwidth waste and recompression involved.Aritra Ghatak - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Does the uploaded images gets automatically deleted from the device?dbolot1 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Will the previously uploaded pictures at low resolution from desktop at 2.8 megapixels be reuploaded at 16 megapixels?Zoomer - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
I wish they would set a filesize limit rather than resolution limit. What's the point of recompressing a 900KB 4MP image when some 4MB 16MP images get trimmed to 3MB?zodiacfml - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Agreed. Technically though, its good for them as it maximizes efficiency for all uploaded photos. I have seen Medium Format photos at 80MP and 4MB sizes and still look great.Yet, personally I would like my photos exempted as the max size is only 4.7MP or usually less than 2MB.
Zak - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
I'll never trust photo services with my photos as a sole storage location. Photos are my most treasured possessions that are irreplaceable. Anyone who entrusts all their photos to a cloud service without independent backups is a complete fool.celestialgrave - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Available for Windows but no love for Windows Phone? Phooey on you google.v1001 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Apparently it's part of what Picasa was. I just went to google photos and all my Picasa photos are on there and the new URL is google photos. But I can also still upload to Picasa it seems, and it will be on google photos too.izdlang - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
So the article says " Since many devices give away 1TB of free Google Drive storage". Besides the ChromeBook Pixel, anyone know of any? Most of the ones I see are 100gb.velanapontinha - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
The cast button is gone in this new version of the app. It was a great feature of the previous version, what are they thinking?Slickone - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link
It's too bad they couldn't have instead made the max size a lot lower, instead of 16MP, but not compress them any of they're below that. I might use this for my crappy phone pics just to get some space back on it, but not for my any important pics, which I take with a real camera.