This group of auto's im doing have just really started the flowering stage this week, and im starting week 7 tmr..so for sure 3-4 weeks left at best. As for harder or easier, if you get used to auto's, one difference will be feedings..photo's can take more food for sure, and when one gets used to feeding less, it takes a bit of an adjustment to feed photo's as they do get bigger and generally have larger appetites. That was my only issue at the start, was getting used to being able to, having to, give more, and also, in the event that you have a problem in veg, you have all the time to correct it as the plant's are not on a time limit yet. You can top them and then shape them as you wish for your setup, if you clone, obviously that's a huge benefit as well with photos. Auto's have come a long way in the last few years, and they are not nearly as 'useless' as 10 years ago, but my preference would be to run photo's for a few reasons. So to sum it up, yes, the difference with photo's that i saw, was getting used to growing larger, hungrier plants, that's the main adjustment.