Fuji has launched SeeHere, an online photo sharing site set to rival the likes of Flickr and Photobucket. Other ex-film companies have tried this, but Fuji's offering looks to be a nice alternative to the current big names.
Why do you care? Well, as a Gadget Lab reader, you probably use a digital camera, and we're guessing that your pictures languish on a hard drive somewhere, never seen or heard from again. Fuji's schtick with SeeHere is twofold. One, the uploads and storage are unlimited. With Flicker, unlimited space and bandwidth is a for-pay option -- you need to sign up for a pro account.
Second is something you might expect from Fujifilm -- prints. While other sites let you print photos on demand, it's not really an easy option. With SeeHere, you just drag the pictures you want to print into on-screen trays labeled with the different sizes available. The cost is updated as you go.
Right now, the downloadable software is Windows only, but I got a nice surprise when I went to the online upload page with my Mac: The small Java program which runs on the page actually peeks inside your iPhoto directory, showing the album structure therein, and lets you pick photos directly. Nice. It doesn't offer any options to upload smaller sized photos, but then, if you are going to be making prints, you want the largest files possible.
Editing options are limited, and nowhere near what you get with Flickr. In fact, a function to import from Flickr would be a great addition.
The site slowed Safari to a crawl once or twice, but didn't actually kill it. Once the photos were in, I tried ordering some prints, using the sign-up offer of 50 freebies, although without putting in my credit card details I couldn't actually check to see if the service ships worldwide or is US-only.
It's interesting to see that Fuji's business model here is the sale of prints. Of course, that's just what you would expect, but it's possible that this is already to late. Today, I see nearly everybody showing photos from the screen on the back of the camera. The more savvy photographers upload or email their pics, but hardly anybody actually buys prints. Not even me, and I love prints -- I used to spend hours in a wet darkroom. That said, Fuji has the brand recognition to make it work. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, you have space to keep and share all your photos online, for free.
Product page [SeeHere]
Press release [Imaging Resource via the RAW Feed]
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