Comparing slideshow hosting

I have used four services to host slideshows and thought I would do a comparison here between Picasa, Flickr, Smugmug, and Smilebox

Picasa



Pros

• easy to use
• lots of free storage

Cons

• can't view full screen - clicking on the slideshow leads to the picasa site
• even in picasa, images are smallish

Flickr



Pros:

• easy to upload
• easy to organize photos within the site
• nice full screen option

Cons:

• free version didn't allow me to upload all my photos
• I couldn't figure out how to upload lower res (but it might be available)

Smugmug

Click here to link to full screen version



Pros:

• nice filmstrip interface

Cons:

• extremely hard to figure out how to embed slideshow
• couldn't figure out how to allow full screen version
• odd blank space in blog post
• clicking on photo takes you to smugmug opening screen - very strange
  

Smilebox

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pros:

• music
• full screen option
• lots of style options (most of them are irritating)

Cons

• Hate it!!! - they constantly ask for pro sign up (=spend money) and the program hijacked my computer and added all kinds of stuff and I'm still not sure I got rid of it.
• huge con - no way to show all of photos with vertical orientation
• very difficult to work within their programs
• irritating constant asking to buy pro version
• ads in free version
• full screen takes you to new website

Bottom line
My favorite - Flickr, but I need to pay for a pro account.

Comparing photo hosting services

I have been playing around with picasa, flickr, and smugmug trying to decide which is best. Last time I looked it seemed like flickr photos were duller in color so I thought I would do a test here. I will embed the same photo from each service so we can compare.

Picasa


Flickr


Smugmug


Interesting - picasa photos have more color intensity, don't you think? Flickr and Smugmug seem about the same.