"Most attractive to users with Nikon Cameras
but open to everyone"
but open to everyone"
Nikon Image Space, previously (prior to Jan 28, 2013) my Picturetown provided by Nikon are offering users two free accounts. The most basic of these accounts offer 2GB of free storage space with archival and sharing. The 'basic' account as it's called is open to everyone regardless of their make of camera, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, or whatever brand one uses to create their MoJo ... All are welcome ...
The second account would be of interest or is strictly for owners of Nikon cameras. This account called the 'Special' account offers a respectable 20GB of free storage with it's media archiving and sharing. I soon found upgrading my account was a relatively painless process. To upgrade to the 'Special' account all Nikon require is we provide proof of ownership, any model Nikon assuming the camera can connect via USB. A download, Nikon's camera 'verification' software will be provided to facilitate the upgrade.
The online archival and photo sharing business at this juncture in time is very competitive. With an ever increasing and varied amount of choices, features and options to choose from. Many even have online photo editors amongst many other photo centric 'toys' for the lack of a better word to play with. It goes without saying making a wise choice as to which is best for one person to the next is getting harder as more services all vying for our 'user' name come online.
Therefor my attraction to Nikon Image Space was in part due to being a Nikon owner with my D90 and it became clear the 20GB of free storage would be very tempting and hard to resist. Therefor I signed up right away for the basic account with the intention of upgrading to the 'Special' account soon after.
Another feature to attract, Nikon Image Space does not limit or modify my images therefor keeping my image 'resolution' and 'colour BIT depth' as I created them. However this applies only for archival and backups of our images. If for example an image or images are to be posted on a Website, Forum, or any of the popular Social Networking Sites these images will be confined within certain limits.
The images sizes available for those of us with 20GB accounts are Small, Medium, Large and HD (original size). However for our non Nikon friends with only 2GB accounts Small and Medium are their only choices which would limit WEB usability by displaying only the two smaller image sizes.
After upgrading to the 'Special' account users will also have access some additional features not provided with the 'basic' account. Quoting Nikon "Special accounts also offer more advanced functions, including the
ability to apply a password when sharing images, and a function that
restricts image download".
Unfortunately individuals with cameras other than a Nikon model are limited to puny 2GB of free storage with it's photo sharing and they do not get the additional options. Therefor it's easy to see why Nikon Image Space would be most attractive to those who own Nikon cameras. For those looking for more online storage space there's no word if Nikon is going to offer it's users paid accounts.
Unfortunately individuals with cameras other than a Nikon model are limited to puny 2GB of free storage with it's photo sharing and they do not get the additional options. Therefor it's easy to see why Nikon Image Space would be most attractive to those who own Nikon cameras. For those looking for more online storage space there's no word if Nikon is going to offer it's users paid accounts.
No word if Nikon Image Space is going to offer users paid services.
The online archival and photo sharing business at this juncture in time is very competitive. With an ever increasing and varied amount of choices, features and options to choose from. Many even have online photo editors amongst many other photo centric 'toys' for the lack of a better word to play with. It goes without saying making a wise choice as to which is best for one person to the next is getting harder as more services all vying for our 'user' name come online.
Therefor my attraction to Nikon Image Space was in part due to being a Nikon owner with my D90 and it became clear the 20GB of free storage would be very tempting and hard to resist. Therefor I signed up right away for the basic account with the intention of upgrading to the 'Special' account soon after.
Another feature to attract, Nikon Image Space does not limit or modify my images therefor keeping my image 'resolution' and 'colour BIT depth' as I created them. However this applies only for archival and backups of our images. If for example an image or images are to be posted on a Website, Forum, or any of the popular Social Networking Sites these images will be confined within certain limits.
The images sizes available for those of us with 20GB accounts are Small, Medium, Large and HD (original size). However for our non Nikon friends with only 2GB accounts Small and Medium are their only choices which would limit WEB usability by displaying only the two smaller image sizes.
Bad: As a disclaimer I would claim the following as growing pains of a new service which hopefully will improve as the service matures.
"One does not make a consensus"
However it's curious but after some reading some user comments at 'Nikon relaunches' I soon discovered (disregarding the trolls) I'm not the only one experiencing some of the same issues. Nevertheless as this is only a user review, one users review and as such I'm fully aware one does not make a consensus.
Observations and discoveries ...
- The user interface I thought was easy on the eyes with it's pleasing light on dark appearance and the application is useable even with the following concerns. Regardless the interface was painfully slow loading and simply moving around the different functions I also found slow moving. I also felt the upload speed was bit slow but I tend to load big files. Although the time needed to display an image was reasonable.
- With respect to image file type support I was disheartening to discover only JPEG and Nikon's NEF (RAW) file types are supported. I can honestly respect restricting file types only to images but limiting to only two in my opinion just silly and I don't think my expectations are unreasonable. Therefor I think it reasonable most of the more popular image formats should also be supported.
EULA: It was never my intention to discuss the Terms of Service for Nikon Image Space. However the good news by what I read Nikon make no ownership claims on our uploaded content.
Conclusion: None of the issues I found where a deal breaker. The service certainly will be replacing my Photobucket account for new content. My archival and sharing requirements are rather meager but being a Nikon camera owner I certainly like the 20GB of FREE storage hook and there are no third-party advertisments. And as sweet as the amount of free storage is the fact this service doesn't shrink my uploads is to put it mildly, pretty cool.
"Nikon Image Space is a good deal for Nikon camera owners"
But not all is perfect in Nikon Land as the user interface is pleasing in appearance but it certainly could, MUST be improved with the overall slow speed being the main issue. As for supported file types we're only given support for JPEG and/or Nikon's own NEF (RAW). Therefor I think Nikon might be a bit more generous by offering support for most of the more common image file formats.
I would also suggest they offer more within the 'basic' account to make the service more attractive to our non Nikon brothers and sisters. Might it or at least look better not making a distinction between a Nikon and non-Nikon user by giving everyone access to the better 20GB accounts?
I would also suggest they offer more within the 'basic' account to make the service more attractive to our non Nikon brothers and sisters. Might it or at least look better not making a distinction between a Nikon and non-Nikon user by giving everyone access to the better 20GB accounts?
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More Information:
- Nikon Image Space - Home Page
- Signing up for Nikon Image Space - Help and Information
- Nikon News - Nikon's image sharing and storage service is reborn
- my Picturetown - Notification of Termination of Service
- Nikon relaunches - Image storage and sharing site © dpreview.com
There you have it Nikon Image Space
Update: Having used Nikon Image Space for well over three months I have yet to see any improvement! The one thing I would liked to have seen is boost in overall speed as the service it still painfully slow. As for my choice I had in good faith intended to use Nikon's photo sharing service over Photobucket's but my opinion has now changed, I have signed with Flickr, my Photostream.
If Nikon Image Space and it's few issues are the "deal breaker" have a look at Flickr, apparently they have upped the ante by offering a FREE terabyte of storage at full-res although this service is AD based, but it's much faster. Be that as it may there are quite a number of FREE photo sharing services especially within the social networks that offer unmodified file uploads and unlimited storage again making a choice not as simple as one might assume.
To conclude I don't think a poor-little-camera-corporation like Nikon can compete against the resources available to information power houses such as Google, Yahoo and the social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Instagram and all their wannabes. However if your need is to get away from the prevalent ad-driven photo-sharing options which are about as safe a pointing a loaded gun at your head your choices are severely limited unless you are willing to PAY for your place in the Clouds!
Update: Having used Nikon Image Space for well over three months I have yet to see any improvement! The one thing I would liked to have seen is boost in overall speed as the service it still painfully slow. As for my choice I had in good faith intended to use Nikon's photo sharing service over Photobucket's but my opinion has now changed, I have signed with Flickr, my Photostream.
If Nikon Image Space and it's few issues are the "deal breaker" have a look at Flickr, apparently they have upped the ante by offering a FREE terabyte of storage at full-res although this service is AD based, but it's much faster. Be that as it may there are quite a number of FREE photo sharing services especially within the social networks that offer unmodified file uploads and unlimited storage again making a choice not as simple as one might assume.
To conclude I don't think a poor-little-camera-corporation like Nikon can compete against the resources available to information power houses such as Google, Yahoo and the social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Instagram and all their wannabes. However if your need is to get away from the prevalent ad-driven photo-sharing options which are about as safe a pointing a loaded gun at your head your choices are severely limited unless you are willing to PAY for your place in the Clouds!
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| Image © Trey Ratliff |
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