Want to use iCloud photos, I have questions.

[Natzoo]

Since my device is currently at 90/128GB, I was thinking of offloading my photos to iCloud photos but I have never used that system before.

If I turn it on, what happens to the photos on my mac and Ipad? Will it duplicate or will it delete the ones that were not on my phone? I have around 8k photos and don't want to deal with duplication. Or should I just try to get the 256GB model, even tho I am paying for the 200GB plan for iCloud?

Can anyone also answer if using a high amount of local storage will slow the device? I am fine with my device being close to full but once it reaches 100GB, I can then turn on iCloud photos.

 

[w5jck]

You can set which devices use the iCloud service and which data gets used with that service.

On each device, go to Settings —> Apple ID (very top where your name displays)—> iCloud —> Photos —> turn it On/Off as desired.

The free storage space isn’t much, only 5 GB, but you can get 50 GB of storage for $0.99/mo plus tax. To change how much storage space you have, go to Settings —> Apple ID (very top where your name displays)—> iCloud —> Manage Storage —> Change Storage Plan.

 

[dk001]

One recommendation I always give out is to get a dongle that handles mSD cards.
This makes a quick way to backup photos.

You can also look at other Cloud services for photo backup.
Google Drive
Amazon
OneDrive
DropBox
lots of others out there. Pretty much anything you can hook to Files works and is pretty easy.
Here is a site I have learned a good bit from on iOS and photos: https://iphonephotographyschool.com/photo-storage-app/

You have a lot of options.

 

[w5jck]

You might want to create shared albums which are stored on the iCloud, see this link. Quote from that Apple support article:

Shared Album storage limits​

A shared album can hold up to 5000 photos and videos. If you reach your Shared Album limit, you need to delete some photos or videos before adding new ones. The photos and videos you share (and the comments or likes associated with those photos) stay in iCloud until you or the contributor delete them manually, or until you delete the shared album completely.

The photos and videos in your Shared Albums are kept in iCloud, but they don't count against your iCloud storage limit.

If you have a newer iPad with USB-C port, then a dongle and flash drive or SSD drive will work to save photos and other files too, but you will need to have same with you to view those files. A lightning port also works, but is much slower.

Shared albums require an internet connection to accesss, so either WiFi or cellular connection.

 

[dcp10]

Photos uploaded to iCloud exist is both the cloud and on the device, but they won’t be duplicated. If you delete a picture in one location , it’s deleted everywhere. If space on your device is a concern, you can turn on ‘optimize’ photos which keeps only a low resolution copy on device.