gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

What’s your Dropbox experience? Relatively painless? We’re having a family reunion and I’ve been tasked with sharing my photos for just viewing or downloading and printing. Is there a file size limit? Most folks won’t be doing much more than 4x6 or 5x7. Your experienced advise would be appreciated.

Toby

It works well but I prefer WeTransfer. Has a size limit but usually sufficient for most needs.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

First, respect your family's needs. Do they 'need' full-sized images? Or, will an effort to resize to 2048px on the long-side create more useful images to their viewing / sharing needs, files roughly 1 to 2MB each?

Dropbox has a 2GB limit so you might place almost 2000 x 1MB images completely free if the images are resized prior to upload into the Dropbox.

Coming back to your family needs, will placing a large number of individual images be the best approach? Or, at least, should you merge them into a single ZIP container for the simplicity of downloading 1 file and extracting the contents on their end? JPEG is already compressed so the ZIP doesn't save any storage space, it just makes sure all the images are received together in one download effort.

RonMe Loc: San Antonio

I have been using Dropbox for several years and find it to be easy to use. I like the fact that I can put all of the photos I want to share in one or more folders and then simply drag the folder(s) into the Dropbox app. Sharing is very easy. I often share photos with friends and relatives that aren't tech savvy and to date nobody has had any issues downloading files from the links that I share. This is a really big deal to me...kind of like frustration-free packaging! I highly recommend Dropbox.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

To me, Dropbox is absolutely seamless. Several photographers and I use our various DB's to share images that we are mutually working on. Just set up a folder and invite others, via email, to share. And, I shoot with a D850, so my images are HUGE, and I have never had a size limitation problem.

morkie Loc: Simi Valley CA

Suggest you look at WeTransfer. All the family member need to do is open an email and click on a link. Easy Peasy

fosis Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

If you're willing to spend a little, Dropbox will take you to at least 1Tb for $100 per year. But the point is, that could be a one-time expense if your relatives will download what they want to their own PCs, so you can take the Dropbox back down to 2Gb afterwards (free). And no need to downsize the files.

LeeinNC Loc: Morganton, NC

As a photo correspondent for the local newspaper, I depend on DB to send my editor my photos. I find it easy to use and very user friendly. When DB says my capacity is near its limit, I simply delete old file photos. It's free and works very well. What more can you ask for in anything these days?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I rarely use DropBox for sharing photos, although I sometimes use it for videos or if someone specifically requests it. Google Photos works for me. When I'm finished sharing with DB, I empty it.

marycar53 Loc: Tuscumbia Al

I volunteer as a photographer for several charities and do photography for a weekly newspaper have a dropbox folder for each, and just drag and drop photos into each folder as needed.

Verryl

I have 9 computers in 5 locations (2 states), and all are connected to Dropbox. I can start some work (a file, email, anything) on one and move to another computer and open the file and continue work. I can also transfer large photos in a folder by creating a new folder, loading photos and/or other files into it, then have DB email a link to one or many people--no need to zip compress and use a phony file extension to fool Gmail. DB used to be slow to download, so that I would have to wait 8-10 hours or overnight to open a file on the second remote computer, but it must be faster now, because I have never seen this problem the last few years. Everything I save automatically goes to DB and to the computer I created it on (or another if I move to another of the 9 computers), so I never forget to backup. I pay $100/year for lots of storage, business and personal. I use an old but very large version of Peachtree Accounting and all my business work is on it. My son has taken over the business work, and he uses it also--2 of the computers are "his;" he can work in our downstairs office or from his home across town (Sedona, AZ), and I can access or create anything when I am in my second home in CA 460 miles away.

Verryl

BudsOwl Loc: Upstate NY and New England

You have received a number of responses touting Dropbox and I will second their comments. I have been using it for over 15 years and have shared thousands of photos with hundreds of people - soccer moms and dads, curling competitors, family and friends, etc. I started with 2gb free service which grew to 15gb of free service, which I recently replaced with 1tb of paid service. I just email a link to the appropriate people for the photos they are interested in and they can then download and save any one they want to their computer. It’s a great process.
Bud

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

Load them on a laptop and take it to the reunion. One place, unrestricted size, available to everyone interested enough to attend the reunion.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

I use it, very handy for sharing and my storage needs.

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

I've used DB for more than 10 years. It's worked flawless. DB also creates a mirrored folder on your local drive so you can work on your files without an internet connection. When you reestablish your internet connection, DB updates the files all your computers, in the background. Totally transparent. Accessing it is no different that accessing any other folder (directory) on your local machine.

To allow others access to any folder, you have DB generate an access code. Then you just copy and paste that access code into an email and the recipients have instant access to that selected folder.