I first wrote about Pics.io (pronounced Picks-eo) about a year ago when they first introduced their RAW image browser processor. Since then, the service has grown and become a unique ad-free photo management and sharing service, with that amazing browser RAW editor, and of course, it is still built on the power of Google’s cloud.
Pics.io offers a pretty smart solution – you can put your files on Google Drive and simply connect the app with the storage. This allows you to trust your images with Google, not some silly startup that might not be around in 6 months. The beauty of it all is that you can access, manage, and process your images anywhere that you have an internet connection.
Pics.io Demo
Below you can see a nice demo overview of Pics.io and all of its features. It is a little long (about 7 minutes), but it is a great overview.
Demo Overview
- After registration user connects her Google account. This gives 15Gb storage for photos, with ability to buy additional storage as photo collection grows.
- User uploads her photos in JPG, RAW and DNG format. We’ve built a technology that allows to see previews of RAW images before upload.
- Using “Collection panel” user creates the organization she needs (date and caption, genre, etc.). User doesn’t have to do this at a computer, because she can now access photo collection on a phone, laptop, computer at work.
- There are reviewing tools that allow to separate cream from the crop: star ratings, flags and color labels. This is a concept from the serious digital assets management apps, like Lightroom and Aperture.
- User can share any of her collections with another user in a single click. Other user can access this photos just as if they were uploaded by him/her. This works great for sharing photos between family members, fellow photographers and in business use (external retoucher).
I don’t know about you, but I think this looks pretty awesome. I know that many of you out there are very wary of trusting your storage to cloud services, and for good reason. But I say this, don’t use it as a backup or mass storage solution, use it as a portfolio and on location processing/management solution.
Pics.io allows you to easily share collections, and individual images. As has been mentioned, they are also easily edited from any web browser. Seems like a great solution for both portfolio and on location needs (assuming you have access to the internet).
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What are your thoughts on Pics.io? Do you see this as the beginning of something new, or do you still prefer standard solutions such as Lightroom? Leave a comment below!
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looks good
Leave it to Google to muscle in and give it a hefty image processing feature, album design and printing service, and using Google calendar for client appointment meetings and shoot scheduling. Who needs an office secretary when the voicemail feature is already available. Only thing it doesn’t do is serve champagne at the client meeting . . . yet.
Thinking about getting a Chromebook so I can work OTG. I wonder how this would perform on there
In theory it should work great. I have a Chromebook, I’ll give it a shot and let you know what I find.
Will work as a catalog, won’t work well as an editor (yet). If you have another computer for editing RAWs, you can buy Chromebook, if not, I’d recommend to wait until we have better photo editing in Pics.io
Does Lightroom integrate with this?
No, this is a browser based lightroom alternative (essentially).
This is actually pretty nifty! I’mma have to start trying this out and getting some use out of my Google Drive space.
Hey, guys.
Team is here. If you have any questions, just ask here in the comments, please.
P.S.: last update – working on a Sync feature that will allow to add photos from Google Drive in one click.