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1

I have a borderline question again, but it's a real problem for me.

I have noticed that the original sizes (1000px) of my older pictures on Flickr are no longer available and the biggest size is now 640px. The downsized versions of the pictures are also oversharpened.

I don't have pro account.

Is this a normal practice? Does it depend on the amount views or anything else? I couldn't find any information from their help pages nor Terms and Conditions. What should I do to avoid it?

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Going Pro would help you out. – abhi Sep 22 '10 at 15:10

4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Flickr changed their behavior regarding originals for non-Pro users a few months ago. Before, if your original upload was smaller than 1280 px on the wide side, they would not generate a large (1024 px) version and show the unedited original as the large version instead. Now, they don't do that anymore.

See this thread on the Help Forum for reference.

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Thanks for the link. The first answer there actually states that if you rotate your picture twice (say 90 degrees and back), Flickr will generate the Large size again and the good thing is that it actually works :) – Karel Sep 23 '10 at 11:42
up vote 8 down vote

What should I do to avoid it?

Host the images yourself - that's ultimately the only way to retain control over what is done to them.

Of course, it'll cost money too, but not too much. Find a host providing PHP* and MySQL and you'll have plenty of choices for Open Source image gallery software, and be able to have it exactly as you want.

(Menalto Gallery and Coppermine are both popular options, but there are plenty of others too - Wikipedia has a gallery software comparison page which lists some.)


(*of course, PHP is not the only option, but it does have the most extensive range of free software and more cheap hosting options than CFML/.NET/Python/Ruby/etc, hence why I'm recommending it.)

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2  
Sorry, but that's not an answer to my question. – Karel Sep 23 '10 at 6:34
4  
Yes it is. It might not be an answer you like, but if you're unhappy with what Flickr are doing to your images, and don't want to pay for their premium services, then you need either a different provider (whom you trust not to screw with your images), or you need to host them yourself. – Peter Boughton Sep 23 '10 at 11:59
I'm aware of different other options and use them (Blogspot, Panoramio, local ones). Flickr serves part of my needs not served elsewhere and I have no intentions to stop using it. – Karel Sep 23 '10 at 12:37
2  
That's fine - I wasn't saying you must. This is a general Q&A site, and it's a valid solution that will be appropriate for some people, so not sure why the downvotes. – Peter Boughton Sep 23 '10 at 13:19
up vote 3 down vote

If you don't have the pro account you will only have access to the following size:

  • Square (75 x 75)
  • Thumbnail (100 x 66)
  • Small (240 x 159)
  • Medium 500 (500 x 332)
  • Medium 640 (640 x 425)
  • Large (1024 x 680)

You don't have access to the original size - in your case the 1000px file - unless you upgrade to the pro account.

Flickr will also only list the last 200 of your photos. Your older photos are there, flickr just doesn't list them in your photostream. If you have the urls you can still access them.

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Thanks for your answer, but check these 2 links: 1) old picture: flickr.com/photos/kravik/3505559424/sizes/z (originally uploaded 1000px; no option for Large, even if I write /l/ directly to URL), 2) newer picture: flickr.com/photos/kravik/4764601237/sizes/l (also uploaded 1000px, there is option for Large). – Karel Sep 23 '10 at 11:25
up vote 1 down vote

Is this a normal practice?

Have you check the Flickr FAQ? You could could aslo try to contact Flickr Support. I've found them quite reactive by the past.

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