Canon is shutting down Irista

[Jasonmc89]

I can only wonder why Canon didn't promote the site better, e.g. insert a card saying 'come to our cloud photo service @ http://whatever/' into every camera box, or pop up an ad when installing the software from the accompanying CD.

Over the past decade or so I've owned five different Canon cameras, and this is the first I've heard of Irista.

Same

 

[Jasonmc89]

Ask Nikon, I guess you do.
I own Canon so I never really cared because I went with a consumer friendly company with a superior product line.

Buuuuurn

 

[AlanF]

When you install DPP having put in the serial number of your camera in the past couple of years, the software has told told you about Irista. So, those who have never heard of it have either not bought a Canon recently or haven't tried to install DPP.

 

[justawriter]

I checked in, seems I uploaded one photo in 2015 to see how it worked and never logged in again. With a pro account on Flickr I really didn't need it.

 

[Michael Clark]

When you install DPP having put in the serial number of your camera in the past couple of years, the software has told told you about Irista. So, those who have never heard of it have either not bought a Canon recently or haven't tried to install DPP.

I use DPP all of the time and install every update when it is released. I've never noticed any notification for Irista. Maybe I told it to "never show this again" way back when?

I have seen prompts for "Canon iMaGe Gateway" which sounds like it is very similar.

 

[LDS]

It is true Canon seemed to have different systems with overlapping features and slightly different targets - none of them really promoted.

Image Gateway offers some direct-to upload functionalities and is also used to act as a proxy to send images to other web services. Irista looked an ibrid between cloud storage (but with no direct upload from cameras) and some display/printing features. Probably Canon should have integrated the two products into a single one and promote it better.

BTW, even some functionalities of Image Gateway has been discontinued in September for some cameras - they no longer can transfer images via wifi directly to other services through it:

CANON iMAGE GATEWAY

ps.ciggws.net

That includes the M3 and M10.

 

[[email protected]]

When you install DPP having put in the serial number of your camera in the past couple of years, the software has told told you about Irista. So, those who have never heard of it have either not bought a Canon recently or haven't tried to install DPP.

If you were trying to make a cloud service fail, you'd tie it to A) an obscure registration process and B) search high and low for the least liked piece of software. Check & check.

Back in 2013, when they were likely developing the cloud system, it was all the rage to create these things because it seemed like the thing to do. The more users they had, the more expense, yet I never did hear of a mechanism by which there would be a revenue benefit to Canon. I wonder if they thought they needed it as a hardware product feature to check off, like a wifi connection app, etc. - another disastrous category of camera manufacturer software.

Hardware companies' software creations often suffer from product management that is focused on the hardware cycle, rather than thinking of software as a product in and of itself that requires investment and marketing. It's pretty typical. In sitting here thinking for a minute about a piece of software that a camera company made that was any good, I can't come up with anything other than Capture One.

 

[uri.raz]

Hardware companies' software creations often suffer from product management that is focused on the hardware cycle, rather than thinking of software as a product in and of itself that requires investment and marketing.

Exactly. I'm using Microsoft's OneDrive to backup my photos to the cloud, because I got it as part of a subscription that includes MS-Office. I want a cloud backup, I want MS-Office, if I can get both in a deal, all the better.

Perhaps Canon could have made a profit on a commercial versions of DPP & co. E.g. a paid version of EOS utility could be setup to backup the photos as they are taken to Canon's cloud service.

It's pretty typical. In sitting here thinking for a minute about a piece of software that a camera company made that was any good, I can't come up with anything other than Capture One.

Probably because it has a price tag.

 

[Cochese]

I was in on the beta of this service, I can't remember the name of it, but it went pretty smoothly. Once it went out of beta and they named it Irista, I had that very feeling of dread that it was going to die a quick death. Companies need to stop naming their products ridiculous names. Irista... I get it, but it's not odd or catchy enough to be memorable. After a year or so, I forgot all about it as I started to back my photos up to a local cloud.

 

[AlanF]

I was in on the beta of this service, I can't remember the name of it, but it went pretty smoothly. Once it went out of beta and they named it Irista, I had that very feeling of dread that it was going to die a quick death. Companies need to stop naming their products ridiculous names. Irista... I get it, but it's not odd or catchy enough to be memorable. After a year or so, I forgot all about it as I started to back my photos up to a local cloud.

It gets confused with Jrista, our astrophotography expert.