iPadOS - uploading from a card

[carlosfandango]

Lightroom Version Number

iPad / Cloud

Operating System

1. iOS

Now iPadOS has launched, it's possible for the Files app to read from a card reader via the USB-C port.

I was hoping that Lr Cloud would be able to directly import photos from a card this way, but it appears it can only see the camera roll

I guess I could move the photos from the card to the stock Photos app and then import that way, but that feels circuitous and probably involves extra data usage.

Is it possible to import directly? And/or do we know if Adobe might be enabling this any time soon

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I'll update tonight (I need my iPad this morning!) and let you know what I find out, unless someone else beats me to it. I have noted a difference in the past, that the + button in the main Organize view allowed import from Files as well as Camera Roll, whereas the + button in albums only allowed Camera Roll or existing photos. You could test that theory in the meantime.

 

[carlosfandango]

Thanks Victoria. I just tried this, but I couldn't see a Files import option. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I assume that Lightroom for iPad needs to get an update for that.

 

[carlosfandango]

Yes, I'm guessing that too

As part of that, I'd welcome finer controls on data upload.

My use case is taking the iPad on a trip and uploading cards directly to it. But if I haven't got wifi, I don't want Lr trying to upload 30 gigs of raw photos over cellular

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Thanks Victoria. I just tried this, but I couldn't see a Files import option. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place.

Sorry, I got that the wrong way round. If you're in an album, the "from camera roll" button offers From Camera Roll, From All Photos or From Files. That's checked on iOS12, but I'll confirm later when I update to iOS13.

 

[carlosfandango]

Partial success

by going into an _album_ I can see the add from files option

But... the card reader USB device doesn't show up as an import option

Yet... if I go directly to the Files app (ignoring Lr), then the USB device _does_ show up

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Thanks for testing. In that case, I suspect Adobe will need to make some changes to integrate the new features.

 

[carlosfandango]

Using the Files app, I copied three raw photos to the iPad (Readdle's Documents app)

Then, in Lr, tapping the three dots / ellipsis next to an album, I could see "import from Files" option.

This worked, *but* I seem only able to import one file at a time

 

[carlosfandango]

Thanks for testing. In that case, I suspect Adobe will need to make some changes to integrate the new features.

Yes, I agree. Unless I'm missing something, it's a clunky solution at the moment

 

[clee01l]

Yes, I'm guessing that too

As part of that, I'd welcome finer controls on data upload.

My use case is taking the iPad on a trip and uploading cards directly to it. But if I haven't got wifi, I don't want Lr trying to upload 30 gigs of raw photos over cellular

In cellular preferences, you can block any app including LR from using cellular data. I don’t have a cellular plan with my iPadPro, so this isn’t an issue. But I do have cellular data turned off for LR on my iPhone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[carlosfandango]

In cellular preferences, you can block any app including LR from using cellular data. I don’t have a cellular plan with my iPadPro, so this isn’t an issue. But I do have cellular data turned off for LR on my iPhone

Yes, good point. If I'm in the position of uploading a large quantity of files, I'll turn off cellular access. Normally, I'm happy to have it switched on as I (presume) the smart previews of photos I've uploaded elsewhere are pretty small to sync to my iPad

 

[Denis Pagé]

As I said in another thread, you can bypass Apple's Photo app...

Here is what I do:

1. I open two instances of Apple's File application side by side.
2. On first instance I go to the root and choose "On my iPad", drag down to have the option to add a folder that I called "From SD" and open it.
3. On second instance, I navigate to the folder where are the photos on the SD card (NIKON D610/DCIM/100ND610 in my case) and select files.
4. I drag and drop the selection from the second to the first instance
5. I open Lightroom
6. Tap the three dots at the upper right
7. Choose "Add Photos"
8. Select "From Files"
9. Navigate to the folder created above and select
10. Import

Optional: Keep the folder used for the transfer empty (Named "From SD" in my case). Either by erasing or better: In the second instance of Files above, navigate to a backup folder on an external HD and move the photos there.

Have fun while waiting for third party software companies to update (Adobe is not alone here).

 

[Martin Owen]

Thanks for that Denis. I do find it disappointing that having known of Apple’s move to allow the iPad to use external drives, and having had access to the Beta software for a long time, they are still not ready to use the system.

It’s a bit like the the length of time since we were promised a full mobile version of Photoshop for iOS and it’s still ‘coming soon’!

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Thanks for that Denis. I do find it disappointing that having known of Apple’s move to allow the iPad to use external drives, and having had access to the Beta software for a long time, they are still not ready to use the system.

iPadOS was only released earlier this week...

 

[Martin Owen]

Very true Johan, but the beta has been out all summer and other software companies had their revised apps ready to go at launch.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Doing a little further research, courtesy of Google (because Adobe won't place the blame on other companies), it appears that Adobe may be waiting on Apple to release additional API's.

https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/119529Image Capture API
The Image Capture API allows developers to leverage the Camera Connection Kit to import photos directly into their apps.

https://www.macstories.net/news/app...for-os-updates-new-iphones-and-apple-watch-2/Features Coming Later This Fall After iOS and iPadOS 13.1: [...] Image Capture API

 

[Martin Owen]

Thanks Victoria.

Great info. Can’t wait!

M

 

[clee01l]

As I said in another thread, you can bypass Apple's Photo app...

Here is what I do:

1. I open two instances of Apple's File application side by side.
2. On first instance I go to the root and choose "On my iPad", drag down to have the option to add a folder that I called "From SD" and open it.
3. On second instance, ...).

1. 
   Denis, I’m working on iPadOS13. And I followed your instructions to set up the local folder for receiving the cameras card contents.
   I open LR and choose the “Add Photos” option as you described.
   I navigate to the folder containing my RAW image files. If I double tap a photo, the file dialog closes and a single photo is added to Lightroom. If instead I choose Select I can select several individual images and have a Choice to OPEN. If I click on OPEN, the selected images are deselected and the Select menu item returns. If I click on DONE, the selected files are deselected and I am back where I started.
   If instead of selecting a few images, I choose SELECT ALL, all of the images get selected but OPEN or DONE deselected and nothing happens.
   
   
   Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Denis Pagé]

Cletus,

This is what seem to happen at first. But if you wait, they get imported. The keypoint here is WAIT :whistling:

So: Lightroom/.../Add Photos/From Files/Make selection/Open/WAIT. Selected icons become gray a moment, still wait the selection window close and they finally get imported. I too wish something faster but this is while waiting for an update...

By the way, this is iPadOS 13.1

 

[clee01l]

Cletus,

This is what seem to happen at first. But if you wait, they get imported. The keypoint here is WAIT :whistling:

So: Lightroom/.../Add Photos/From Files/Make selection/Open/WAIT. Selected icons become gray a moment, still wait the selection window close and they finally get imported. I too wish something faster but this is while waiting for an update...

I do eventually find this way to import a limited number of Raw Images. If I select more than about 10 RAW NEFs, the process never made it to the end. And the “watching Paint dry” import is glacial. I don’t know if this is an iPadOS issue or a Lightroom 4.4.1 issue. Since there is no feedback to the user during the wait, this is a bug. Either an iPadOS bug or a Lightroom bug. There should be a message to the user from Lightroom to the effect “Lightroom is importing ‘nnn’ images”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Denis Pagé]

My first trials were below 10. I just did 14 photos and they came in OK. And yes, the wait was longer. Then I did 39 (24 megapixels images) in one shot and they all came in but this time, the wait with gray icons was about 5 minutes

You are right that the implementation is not very good.

 

[clee01l]

I’m going to document some large file (48GB) large number of images real time test and fill a bug report.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BoomerM3]

There are other issues when trying to import images for Lightroom.

In my testing of iOS13, I discovered several which don't appear to be Adobe problems, but rather Apple file handling problems. These are some of the issues when sharing files from external device.

1. It is not possible to select (to share) a folder on an SD card attached to the iPad. Each folder must be opened and all files selected before sharing. This must be done for each folder. It should be possible to select the folder and share it!

2. When a large number of files (400 for test) are selected (via 'select all') there is a long delay and the app appears frozen before it is possible to proceed.

3. There is a 30 second delay after selecting 'share'.

4. There is a 20 second delay after selecting 'save to'.

These delays add up to almost the same amount of time as the actual copying process. I have not found any way around these issues. If you have, please let us know.

 

[jemostrom]

FWIW ... using a simple two-step Shortcut it's possible to select photos from the card and import them into LR. Bad news: I'm only able to import small batches of 4-6 images this way before getting a time-out error.