[John Spear]

My own preference is to merge Backup (as opposed to Sync) with sharing. If the backup service doesn’t provide some obvious value to the customer, they are unlikely to keep it up. If they get something more (like backup + easy sharing/using) they are more likely to keep adding to the backup site.

For the cloud, I focus on how they want to consume collection daily. Do they have any digital assistance devices with screens? (Google Home, Amazon Echo). Do they want a daily ‘these are your photos from today in the past’ prompt? Google, Amazon, OneDrive, and some others do this very well. Apple may, but I don’t know. SmugMug is pretty awesome for this if they use Lightroom Classic to keep it updated with new photos and want to sync back comments family members may add. Lightroom CC’s web interface is also good, though a little spendy.

For pure backup, Backblaze is excellent, but they won’t be interacting with the files there.

[John Spear]

While not the most user-friendly method, there is one command-line utility ExifTool that can read & update both jpeg and “XP” comments entered by Windows Explorer: ExifTool by Phil Harvey.  Using this tool, a script could be created to read the XP comment and write it out to the proper IPTC field. Then you could continue in your organizing tool of choice with the XP comments properly visible.

[John Spear]

One of the benefits of a digital archive means it no longer matters who owns the ‘real’ photo. Everyone can have at least a high-quality version available.

[John Spear]

Long ago I started to consider the contents of the PC to be ‘disposable’. What I focus on is having the documents directories synchronized with a service that holds multiple versions (such as OneDrive or similar). This way I have a constant backup with multiple versions available if I need to go backward for some reason. For my photos, I have a more extreme version, where that is stored on 4 different services, along with a couple of versions in the house. Backblaze has this as an option as well.

The old days of being concerned with restoring your PC back to a specific state really isn’t important, now that we load so few pieces of individual software.

This started because, as part of my work at Microsoft, I was changing PCs about once every two weeks. After that, I started to recognize what I needed to be concerned about, rather than having a full system backup.

[John Spear]

Google’s photo scan app deals with this by taking multiple overlapping photos at each corner, then using math to get rid of the glare areas.

You might be able to accomplish this manually by taking different photos while rotating the photo so that the glare ‘moves’ to a different part of the image. Then, when you are doing your stitching in Photoshop, add in the different versions, align them, then reveal only the ‘good parts’. I did something like this with a series of photos my wife took of a family photo that was in a domed glass frame that couldn’t be removed. It took more work than it should have, but I did get a final photo without glare, reflections, and whatnot.

Perhaps not helpful, but a possibility.

[John Spear]

I found Museum Glass from Art to Frames, through Amazon.

[John Spear]

Hello!

Since no one has jumped in…

I have no experience with the LAMU product, but their website has a bunch of red flags.

• No backup strategy beyond placing everything on one drive.
• The drive appears to be super cheap. The software by itself costs the same price as the smallest drive. Price jumps appear to cover only minimal increases in drive prices as the size goes up. I would be concerned about the longevity of the hardware.
• Only accessible by other systems on the same Wi-Fi network, and then only via a web browser. This isn’t very user friendly and covers a very basic user experience.
• Requires installation on a Windows computer, which must be running at all times for even the minimal access by other devices to happen.
• Appears to be dependant on digital files that already have date/time/location metadata included. No help with pictures outside of the digital realm.
• No support for any high-quality file formats (TIF, RAW, etc.)
• No support for Apple computers

So, if your client only has digital photos and does not want to access them outside of the home (except using already existing cloud accounts they may have), then the product might do a small version of what you offer, but it’s a long ways off from something that is full service.

Many thanks!

[Author]

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