Question re: Flickr Pro account

[junglebear]

Well I've reached 172 photos on Flickr and it's telling me that I should upgrade to a pro account soon. How thoughtful of them.

My question is: if I upgrade, can I then re-download the original versions of old (already uploaded) photos? I've 'misplaced' some of the originals and would like to have them again on my new computer.

I'd also be interested to hear anyone's pros/cons of upgrading, or suggestions for an alternative.

Cheers

[Chip]

I'm not sure about the downloading, but the things I like about the pro account are:

1) The statistics you can get about views, traffic and things like that. Strangely addictive. and

2) Unlimited uploads for photos.

These 2 things alone make the cost well worth it. My 2 cents.

[BCampbell]

You should be able to download your own photos with a non-pro account. Try "all sizes" from the photo page, "original", and there should be a download link.

There are tons of benefits to going pro. It's pretty cheap, so I think it's worth it. You'll have more organization options, you can replace photos (so if you edit a photo you can keep it on the same page with comments and hits, etc. intact), and junglebear said you have access to stats (though most important is referral data, I don't put too much stock in raw hits), you don't have data limits on uploads... I don't see why you wouldn't.

[junglebear]

Originally Posted by BCampbell

You should be able to download your own photos with a non-pro account. Try "all sizes" from the photo page, "original", and there should be a download link.

There's only a 'Download the Large Size' option. I normally upload the original which will be something like 3600x2700, but it gets resized automatically to 1024x768 and I can't download the original. I was wondering if it would still exist or if it gets resized and then that's the only copy stored.

[BCampbell]

Yep, if it was resized that's all you get. I don't remember flickr automatically resizing my photos, but it's been a long time since I had a basic account.

[wulf]

According to the Flickr help page: "...the originals are saved in case you upgrade later" - that is part of the incentive to upgrade. The first few images I uploaded were less than 1024px wide so I can't easily confirm but I am pretty sure that is the case.

Wulf

[kirbinster]

The Pro account is worth far more than the $25 a year. Think of it this way, for $25 a year you are getting unlimitted off-site backup, not to mention everything else. That alone is worth it for me, as I have over 8,000 full size images safely backed up on flickr.

[theArchitect]

I agree with wulf - I remember reading somewhere that they keep the originals.

Stats is the main reason I upgraded - it is quite useful for knowing where your hits are coming from. I found it quite suprising the proportion of hits that came from search engines - I assume they were all from Flickr.

It's also quite nice not to be limited to 10 groups.

[junglebear]

Originally Posted by wulf

According to the Flickr help page: "...the originals are saved in case you upgrade later" - that is part of the incentive to upgrade. The first few images I uploaded were less than 1024px wide so I can't easily confirm but I am pretty sure that is the case.

Wulf

Cheers Wulf, that's what I was looking for. I had a suspicion I'd heard it before but just wanted to double check.

I think going by the comments here and from what I've heard elsewhere, I'll be upgrading soon

[lputman]

Originally Posted by junglebear

Cheers Wulf, that's what I was looking for. I had a suspicion I'd heard it before but just wanted to double check.

I think going by the comments here and from what I've heard elsewhere, I'll be upgrading soon

Yes, the original size uploaded will be there and available once you upgrade to pro.