How can I send 1.47 GB worth of photo's with a minimum amount of hassle?

[Dman8777]

We had some family photos taken when my parents visited recently and I purchased a cd from the photographer. There are ~300 photos amounting to 1.47 GB and I would rather send them over the internet than shipping the cd.

Is there some easy to use online service for this which doesn't need to be downloaded? Can I use google drive or something like it? I'll be sending the photos to my parents and the less work involved the better. As soon as they have to download and install something, we're already in a trouble area...

It would be great if I could send them a email with a link in it and all they have to do is click the link to download the files.

 

[Fardringle]

Honestly, by far the best, fastest, and easiest way is to simply mail them a copy of the CD, particularly if they are not computer proficient.

While you could use Dropbox or Google Drive to host the files, you would either have to zip them up (and then have your parents go through the steps to unzip the archive after downloading), or give them links to each individual image file and have them download all 300 photos separately. And then you and they both will have to deal with the frustration of waiting for the files to upload (from you) and download (to them) over whatever Internet connections you have at your locations.

It's far simpler just to send them a copy of the CD.

 

[WelshBloke]

Stick them on a photo sharing site and share the album?

 

[John Connor]

If you don't want software you're gonna be pretty limited. I have used the software copy, but people couldn't download my file. You can give it a shot though. https://www.copy.com/home/

 

[BrightCandle]

A CDR holds 700MB, it wont fit 1.47GB of photos on it. You would need a DVDR for that amount or 3 CDRs.

Transferring that over an internet connection upload assuming 1Mbit/s of ADSL2 would take about 3.5 hours. If your on cable then it might be twice that or more.

 

[smakme7757]

I would burn it out to a DVD. Nearly any computer built in the last 7 years will be able to read a DVD.

I send a lot of photos home to Australia (From Norway) and that's how i do it, for large amounts of photos. For just single photos they download them directly from my webserver.

 

[Bootleg Betty]

Dropbox could work. They give 2GB for free, an at least on the upload side, they should take car of the integrity and connection reestabilithing and stuff, that you're going to need because of slow upload.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd use a storage site. Unless one of the parties is on 56k, it's the fastest, easiest way. If you need one, troll AT for a referral code. That usually gets both parties more storage space.

 

[jaqie]

really?

...really?

send them an old USB memstick with the files on it. Even an old SD card since most computers have SD card readers built in.

 

[corkyg]

jaqie makes a good point. Flash media is easily mailed 1st class in a small padded bag, and if both sender and recipient are in the USA, it should arrive in less than 4 days.

 

[MrColin]

I would make an sfx archive that unpacks to "My Pictures\whatever" and opens the folder afterward. Put that up on a webhost and email an ftp link to them to download. with instructions to "click the link, choose "open file" and come back in a half hour."

You could also use a mass upload tool for picasa, FB, or MS Live and they could just browse the photos.

 

[Dman8777]

Thanks for the suggestions and excuse my brain fart there with the cd and 1.5 gb of data. It obviously must be a dvd.

I'll probably just ship the dvd. I live in Germany and my folks are in NH. It'll probably only cost 2-3€ anyway.

I haven't done any file sharing or FTP stuff for years and I was hoping that these days with "the cloud" it would be all simple and easy, stupid me!

 

[shortylickens]

We had some family photos taken when my parents visited recently and I purchased a cd from the photographer. There are ~300 photos amounting to 1.47 GB and I would rather send them over the internet than shipping the cd.

Is there some easy to use online service for this which doesn't need to be downloaded? Can I use google drive or something like it? I'll be sending the photos to my parents and the less work involved the better. As soon as they have to download and install something, we're already in a trouble area...

It would be great if I could send them a email with a link in it and all they have to do is click the link to download the files.

Upload to picasa, send family a link to that picasa album.

They can download photos as they like.

 

[jaqie]

I haven't done any file sharing or FTP stuff for years and I was hoping that these days with "the cloud" it would be all simple and easy, stupid me!

That's like expecting an abandoned '53 ford will be better if you come to look at it 10 years later.

It just isn't going to happen until the basic operating principles of the net have changed (which is not going to happen), because of one really important thing you stipulated: no software on client side.

 

[lxskllr]

What's hard about sharing files online? You start an account somewhere, upload the files, and give someone a link. The only way it could get easier is magic.

 

[Gillbot]

Dropbox or one of the other MANY various file sharing sites out there.

 

[sswingle]

wetransfer.com

Just zip them up and send. They do up to 2GB at a time free

 

[Carson Dyle]

That's about 5MB per photo. What is the file format? Some type of RAW?

 

[AFurryReptile]

mega.co.nz

It's the new version of Mega upload. Just upload, send the link to your pictures, and download the files.

 

[stlcardinals]

Surprised no one has mentioned flickr yet. 1TB of free storage. It's made for sharing photos.

 

[John Connor]

You also could download Filezilla server and host the files. Just tell them to use the Filezilla client to download. You will have to forward port 21 in the router.

 

[WelshBloke]

Upload to picasa, send family a link to that picasa album.

They can download photos as they like.

If you want easy this is probably the way to go.

 

[sswingle]

That's about 5MB per photo. What is the file format? Some type of RAW?

5MB per photo is nothing nowadays. My D800 takes 16MB JPGs

 

[oynaz]

I can't believe that people in here are suggesting snail mail

Here is my suggestion: Pigeons! Get a homing pigeon and tie an SD card to it ;-)

Seriously though, Dropbox allows you to link to your files, so the recipient does not have to use a Dropbox account. Very easy and free.
There are many other online alternatives (google Drive is another), but Dropbox works for me.

 

[mikeymikec]

That's about 5MB per photo. What is the file format? Some type of RAW?

That's not massively out of the ordinary these days. My Canon PowerShot A640 is a 10MP camera and produces photos that are just under 5MB apiece (JPEG format, 3648 x 2736 pixels). I re-save them in XnView and the result is 1.4MB photos (no resizing or tweaking otherwise).

A mobile processor is only so cheap, powerful or battery efficient. People want digital cameras that quickly take pictures.