In the process of writing my last post on Phixr, I discovered that [Flickr has launched a bunch of new stuff][1] (and that my pro account has expired, but that's a whole other story).

The popular photo sharing site has added three new features, guest passes, a new mobile version and the ability to search images by camera model.

First and most welcome is the new guest pass. Flickr has always been my favorite way to share photos, but it's annoying for people that don't already have a Flickr account. 

I don't know about you're family is like but mine has been known to say "the internets" without a trace of irony. Consequently the odds of any of them bothering to open a Flickr account to see my photos is pretty much nil.

The good folks at Flickr have finally addressed what many consider to be the site's main downfall. The solution is a new guest accounts system. 

Beside each of your Flickr sets is a new button that says "Share this set." Add up to fifty email addresses and you're away. Now the family can see your photos without any problems. Guest passes work with secret links so you can send a link yourself or have Flickr batch email it for you using the handy form. 

Flickr has also [updated the mobile version][3] of the site. I was rather disappointed to discover that the new mobile version requires a Yahoo ID to login and further disappointed to note that apparently at some point all of Flickr with require a Yahoo ID. But word has it the new mobile site is much snappier and had better search features.

With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, this last feature with likely be very popular: [Flickr Camera Finder][2]. Camera Finder lets you search for images by camera so you can compare cameras by looking at the results. 

Purists will point out that most images are probably compressed and may not be the best representative of a camera's true capabilities, but I did a bit of searching and actually found a number of high resolution images. Its especially handy for seeing things like the color noise and low light capabilities of your dream camera.

And for the curious, the most popular SLR on Flickr is the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT.

[2]: http://www.flickr.com/cameras/ "Flickr Camera Finder"
[3]: http://m.flickr.com/ "Flickr Mobile"
[1]: http://www.flickr.com/ "Flickr.com"