The possibility, as described above, that the sharpness of the image in storage in the cloud may be decreased but when downloaded will be the same as the original file before being uploaded, has been mentioned by two other posters also. I had been looking at the files stored in the the cloud, Amazon Photos, and seeing the difference in sharpness there. Before posting this query I had not thought of looking at the files after downloading from the cloud, as suggested.

I've now done that, downloading the test file that I uploaded earlier today as described in my original post, and the sharpness of that file is the same as the original file before being uploaded to Amazon Photos, as one poster stated was his direct experience with Amazon Photos. The dimensions and MBs appear to be the same in the original file, the file stored in the cloud, and the file downloaded from the cloud. So apparently the degredation in sharpness seen in the images on Amazon Photos is due in some way to how they are treating the uploaded files, even though they don't seem to be compressed. Thus, I have been concerned needlessly since what matters is the sharpness of a file after I have downloaded it from the cloud, not how sharp it is in cloud storage.

Thanks to all for your help. If anyone has any further thoughts as to what Amazon Photos is doing to the uploaded files it would be interesting to know. At least now I don't have to be concerned about changing internet providers!

Recently I began trying Amazon Photos cloud storage since it is free to Amazon Prime members, which I am, with unlimited storage. However the images from files stored there consistently show substantially diminished sharpness. Other image features are not negatively effected. My initial thought was that this might be due to my internet connection, which is by satellite as I live in a very rural, mountainous area in Colorado and satellite is my only option.

I called Amazon Photos customer service and they felt the satellite internet connection might be responsible but the representative had never heard of this before and was not certain. I next called my satellite internet provider, Viasat, and they did not think their service was responsible but they did suggest I change my browser from Chrome to their own browser, which they said would work faster and might solve the problem (the uploading of files to Amazon Photos is agonizingly slow with my system). I am trying the Viasat browser but it has not made any difference in the sharpness degredation in Amazon Photos, and very little if any difference in the uploading speed.

If anyone has also experienced this with any cloud storage provider and/or has any suggestions, I would be very grateful. It would seem the next step would be to try a different satellite internet provider but I am still under part of a two year contract with Viasat and a penalty would presumably result if I cancel. TIA for any suggestions.

Recently I began trying Amazon Photos cloud storage since it is free to Amazon Prime members, which I am, with unlimited storage. However the images from files stored there consistently show substantially diminished sharpness. Other image features are not negatively effected. My initial thought was that this might be due to my internet connection, which is by satellite as I live in a very rural, mountainous area in Colorado and satellite is my only option.

I called Amazon Photos customer service and they felt the satellite internet connection might be responsible but the representative had never heard of this before and was not certain. I next called my satellite internet provider, Viasat, and they did not think their service was responsible but they did suggest I change my browser from Chrome to their own browser, which they said would work faster and might solve the problem (the uploading of files to Amazon Photos is agonizingly slow with my system). I am trying the Viasat browser but it has not made any difference in the sharpness degredation in Amazon Photos, and very little if any difference in the uploading speed.

If anyone has also experienced this with any cloud storage provider and/or has any suggestions, I would be very grateful. It would seem the next step would be to try a different satellite internet provider but I am still under part of a two year contract with Viasat and a penalty would presumably result if I cancel. TIA for any suggestions.

I just have to ask since I do not use the cloud WHY use It With hard drive and solid state drives so cheap ... a 4 terabyte hard drive by seagate is around $89.00 to $120.00 @ walmart . You can get a Samsung 860 SSD 1 terabyte at Office depot for $130.00 and install it in your Apple Mac computer ....Storage hasn't been cheaper . If you have a PC get a SSD in a portable case for not much more , I'm sorry but I will never use the cloud . I do not trust it , for apparently your reason and I keep hearing about other cloud options and a year or 2 later tell you SORRY we are shutting down YOU need to remove your stuff in the next 3 months ... no thank you !!!!

Sorry, but though I understand your distrust (you are not alone), they are based on misinformation.

1) no major cloud provider has ever gone Belly up. If Amazon, Microsoft, ZHoogle, Apple and IBM go belly up, you will have lots bigger problems to worry about. Only one minor player (Nirvanix) has gone under, and when they did customers were given plenty of advance notice to move their data.

2) the reason people use the cloud for disaster recovery is (a) it is orders of magnitude more reliable that any single drive, and (b) they keep multiple copies of your data at different geographic locations to prevent data loss during any physical disaster. You cannot possibly approach this level of reliability at home.

I just have to ask since I do not use the cloud WHY use It With hard drive and solid state drives so cheap ... a 4 terabyte hard drive by seagate is around $89.00 to $120.00 @ walmart . You can get a Samsung 860 SSD 1 terabyte at Office depot for $130.00 and install it in your Apple Mac computer ....Storage hasn't been cheaper . If you have a PC get a SSD in a portable case for not much more , I'm sorry but I will never use the cloud . I do not trust it , for apparently your reason and I keep hearing about other cloud options and a year or 2 later tell you SORRY we are shutting down YOU need to remove your stuff in the next 3 months ... no thank you !!!!