A warning to Flickr & Aviary users

[Hogboy]

I have been using Flickr since the beginning, so far i have around 36k of images stored.
The majority of my editing takes place in Aviary, it works well for me, and i realise i may be in a minority here?
A while back i noticed that once an image had been cropped, or slight adjustments made, the file size was reduced rather dramatically.
From a 20mb file at 7360 x 4912 pixels, the Aviary cropped version ended up at 822 x 540 and pretty much useless.
Original

Aviary crop

I posted this in a thread on the 'Help forum' and was met with denial, and that i was mistaken.
Yesterday i spotted a post mirroring my experience, so i posted a few examples, finally the moderator
agreed and suggested i contact customer support, after a lengthy report with image samples i received a response from Flickr
confirming the issues.
All well and good so far, but the solution was for me to post on their 'User voice' forum.
Now Aviary is an integral part of Flickr, and surely it is down to them to sort this issue out, not mine ?
Anyway sorry to waffle, but can anyone suggest a file host where basic editing is available, and that does not
destroy your images ?

 

[mickledore]

I'm struggling to see why the cropped image is pretty much useless. Always assuming that the crop is your own doing.
There is a school of thought that says you should only upgrade low resolution images to flickr to stop your images being pirated.
Flickr is only a hosting site. If you are trying to sell goods through there that may be the wrong place to host your images.

 

[Hogboy]

Take a look at the original image, the camera is crystal clear, the crop is terrible, take a look at it enlarged

 

[steveo_mcg]

Sounds like Aviary has the jpeg quality turned down lower than you do on the camera. I doubt there is an option to reduce the compression and I'd be surprised if any other online editor has that kind of control.

 

[mickledore]

But you're not showing the enlarged imge on flickr!
I'm struggling to see what all the fuss is about.
It's a routine image of a camera in a shop display. It won't win any prizes - before or after the crop.
Unless you are using flickr as a sales aid I still strugle to see what you are complaining about.
Unless, of course, you are pixel peeping.

 

[Hogboy]

Sounds like Aviary has the jpeg quality turned down lower than you do on the camera. I doubt there is an option to reduce the compression and I'd be surprised if any other online editor has that kind of control.

But until a few months back, this did not happen to Aviary edited images, so it was possible

 

[Hogboy]

Here is the original image cropped on a pc
Surely the difference is obvious
The camera image is being used purely to illustrate the issue

 

[steveo_mcg]

I agree it looks guff but unless there is a setting to reduce the compression you'll just have to suck it up and change tools.