As the family historian, I spend a lot of time taking family pictures and video clips of the kids. I have looked at several different solutions for pictures and videos to help manage our family archive.
Equipment
iPhone – Like most people, I take pictures via the iPhone. I have a 16GB phone, so not a whole lot of storage, especially since I do play around with lots of apps.
Digital Camera – I have a DSLR for special occasions but for the most part, I have a small digital camera (Canon Powershot).
Eye-Fi Card – I use the Eye-Fi card with the cameras so I can wirelessly upload my pictures.The Eye-Fi card also has social features that allows you to automatically upload to various online services.
My Online Service of Choice: SmugMug
The reason I choose SmugMug is because it allows me to deal with both photos and videos in one place. I don’t have to spend a lot of time to upload photos to one place, then videos to another. Quite often, I took both pictures and videos from one event and then upload to a single gallery. I spend $60 a year for SmugMug’s Pro version, which allows me to use my own domain, have more control over site designs, and to right-click protect my images. If I didn’t care for those things, I can save $20/ year and go with the SmugMugBasic. I cannot emphasize how wonderful it is to know that all our family’s photos and videos are stored on the cloud. There is nothing to worry about losing or degrading of quality as with physical photos and it is much more easily organized and shared. I originally found SmugMug to be a great alternative for my wedding photos since it allows people to print and purchase prints easily and inexpensively, but since then SmugMug has grown a lot more. Pros:
- More customizable than competing services.
- Lets you buy prints and photos.
- Full screen slideshows.
- Attractive new gallery themes.
- Easy to organize by drag and drop
- Has both Mac and PC solutions or plugins
Cons:
- No free accounts.
- Almost no community features.
- No Face tagging.
- Social media sharing is not so robust.
- No creative common designations.
- RAW files require SmugVault using Amazon Web Service for additional fee.