New photos not identified

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StuMac

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I Have lightroom CC and always keep up to date. However, last few weeks, when I import, lightroom seems to've lost the ability to recognise new photos. When I put card into reader all photos are identified as "new" even though the programm has clearly "seen" some before. This means that I have to uncheck all and manually identify new photos. Used to work fine, used it all the time.

Any ideas???
 
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Did you check the option "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" in the top right corner of the import dialog? Perhaps that got unchecked...
 
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To me this function is broken. I import my iPhone photos to Dropbox as a backup, and do regular imports straight from the phone. When I try to import from the Dropbox folder all pictures are seen as new, when most of them are already in the catalog.


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Cerianthus said:
To me this function is broken. I import my iPhone photos to Dropbox as a backup, and do regular imports straight from the phone. When I try to import from the Dropbox folder all pictures are seen as new, when most of them are already in the catalog.
Click to expand...

So don't use two entirely different paths to import the same images. Choose one method (iPhone or Dropbox) and stick to that. Now back to the problems the OP mentioned...
 
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It's the same problem. Happens also importing cards. And why would the path matter. The date file camera size and time taken are exactly the same. Lr will import them side by side in the same folder.


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The path shouldn't matter. Duplicate checking is original filename + file size + capture time.

Are the previous photos still in the catalog? And is it the same catalog that they were imported into (e.g. not from an export catalog or anything like that)?
 
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The previous pictures are in the same catalog. I think my solution is in the file name, not the path. It looks like Dropbox changes the name of the file. So Johans suggestion might be the one to follow. It still doesn't explain why sometimes the same happen importing slr photos when there are a few on the card that are already imported, but with me that doesn't really happen that often so I would have to look into that some more.

Ps. Thanks.
 
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same issue here. In reverse. I was using Dropbox for awhile and not ever importing from my iphone into LR, but I stopped using Dropbox Image Capture and now LR wants to import all 5000 imagines on my phone even thought they are already in the catalog
 
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The photos are on the same card! I take an SD card, take 5 photos with my camera, put it into card reader and import all photos to lightroom. Takre card out of reader, back into camera and take another photo, lightroom now wants to import all 6, despite have imported 5 of the files just a few mins ago. This is despite the "new photos" box being ticked. This did not used to happen!
 
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Have you got "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" checked or unchecked (File Handing tab of the Import dialog right-hand panel)?
 
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As I have said - this was working previously. In any case, a "suspected duplicate" is NOT the same thing as a file that has been imported previously that can be identified unambiguously be file size, file name and EXIF data.

At the top of the import scree are choices to select - select all photos and a tick appears at the LH side with "all photos" next to it. All photos are highlighted and have a tick next to them showing they can be imported. Select "new photos" and a tick appears at the top left hand side saying "new photos". Until a few weeks ago only the photos that had not previously imported were highlighted with a tich next to them. This meant that if you used a card with 100 images on it, if 95 of them had been imported before, only the 5 new images would be imported. This no longer happens - it has nothing to do with whether or not "don't import suspected duplicates" is highlighhted.

Strangely enough.....I've just selected "all photos" and lightroom now recognises only the new photos. In fact it now works exactly how it used to when "new photos" was selected.
 
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StuMac said:
As I have said - this was working previously. In any case, a "suspected duplicate" is NOT the same thing as a file that has been imported previously that can be identified unambiguously be file size, file name and EXIF data.
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Have you checked? The "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" acts as means to allow previously imported images to be reimported, even from the same memory card. Insert a card which contains previously imported images with that box checked and the previous imports will be greyed out (if using the All Photos filter) or will not be listed if using the New Imports filter. Toggle that switch off and all the previous imports will then appear and will be checked for import. That's the way it's always worked, and why usually the first question most people will ask in response to a post such as yours will be "Is that box checked or unchecked".
 
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Just last week I had my first instance where "Don't import suspected duplicates" failed. The weird part, to me, was that the duplicates were copied to the same folder with "-2" added to the end of each file name. I didn't trouble-shoot this (I just removed the dupes), and don't know if I had inadvertently changed one or more of the import settings. I did notice that the dupes (I knew they were already in the Catalog) were not dimmed in the import dialog, but I assumed, in my Lightroom-newness, that there was a reason for this other than that Lightroom wasn't identifying them as having been already imported and still in the Catalog.
(Lightroom CC up to date; I'm still on El Capitan.)
 
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The "-2" suffix is fairly logical if the "duplicates" were being imported into the same folder as the "originals"....the OS doesn't allow a file name to be duplicated inside a single folder, so the "-2" construct is used in this situation.

I'm more interested to know if you think that the "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" checkbox really was still checked, as that would mean a definite mis-step by Lightroom. It's not one I've ever encountered, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

One random thought, neither of you are importing directly from an attached camera, are you?
 
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Jim Wilde said:
I'm more interested to know if you think that the "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" checkbox really was still checked, as that would mean a definite mis-step by Lightroom.
Click to expand...

Yes, still checked. I expected the files that were already in my catalog to be passed over during the actual import.

Jim Wilde said:
One random thought, neither of you are importing directly from an attached camera, are you?
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No. These files are all on external USB3 drives.

I can try it again with the same files. As we know, user error is still the most likely germ.
 
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Jim Wilde said:
The "-2" suffix is fairly logical if the "duplicates" were being imported into the same folder as the "originals"....the OS doesn't allow a file name to be duplicated inside a single folder, so the "-2" construct is used in this situation.
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Yes. My surprise came from seeing that Lightroom didn't recognize the files as dupes but did recognize the need to rename them because the name already existed.
 
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Kirby Krieger said:
As we know, user error is still the most likely germ.
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It shouldn't be. Logically, the only way to import duplicate files in the situation you describe (and if we accept that "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" was checked) is if the files aren't actually duplicates as defined by Lightroom (same filename, same capture date/time, same file length). Well, we know it's the same filename, and therefore presumably the same file as the original.....but I can't think of a user error that could cause the duplication to happen apart from unchecking that box. The only vague thought (apart from importing from direct camera attachment, which can be really flaky), is if the files were "touched" by another app in the intervening period, and which caused the file length to change slightly. Or it's a bug that you (and StuMac) have unearthed.
 
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I beg to differ. This is broken for me too. Selecting only new photos used to work without having to check 'don't import suspected dups'. Why else whould there be both the "all photos" and the "new photos" selections at the top of the window? These now both give the same result - all photos.

What's more, if I now check "don't import suspected dups", Lightroom selects images on my camera which I previously imported but which I later decided to delete (within Lightroom).

So LR does not maintain a robust record of what was imported. Isn't that what's wrong and missing?
 
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DMartin said:
What's more, if I now check "don't import suspected dups", Lightroom selects images on my camera which I previously imported but which I later decided to delete (within Lightroom).

So LR does not maintain a robust record of what was imported. Isn't that what's wrong and missing?
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I think it is reasonable to expect LR to check images on a camera card with only those in the catalog inventory. How far back would you expect LR go to maintain an inventory of deleted images? I probably have deleted ten times as many images that I have kept.
If the image is not worth keeping in the LR catalog, then you probably should reformat your camera card more often to reflect the images that are current. FWIW, I usually let the camera card fill up before I erase the images on it. The Import panel can organize the middle section by date and this makes it pretty easy to determine which images have already been deleted from the LR catalog.
 
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OK so, on that point: how many photos on (say) a 64GB camera memory card? Let's say 5000 - 10,000. That's the only scope that LR would need to check for 'new' or 'duplicates'. You wouldn't be worried about photos that pre-date the last time you erased or reformatted your card. A small database of the last 10k filenames would be trivial and no bigger than an average JPG image. It would serve 99% of the LR user population well, I suggest.

I still think LR needs to up its game in this regard.
 
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DMartin said:
OK so, on that point: how many photos on (say) a 64GB camera memory card? Let's say 5000 - 10,000. That's the only scope that LR would need to check for 'new' or 'duplicates'. You wouldn't be worried about photos that pre-date the last time you erased or reformatted your card. A small database of the last 10k filenames would be trivial and no bigger than an average JPG image. It would serve 99% of the LR user population well, I suggest.

I still think LR needs to up its game in this regard.
Click to expand...
Which 64GB camera card? Which Camera? I have two current Nikon cameras in use (not counting my iPhone and my Drone). Each camera has an SDXC and a CF card Slot. I use the 32 GB CF cards (One for each camera) for overflow. I have 2 64GB SDXC cards and !8 32GB SDHC cards that can be in either camera. Some of these may not be erased for years if they sit in my camera bag waiting for me to fill my current card and "come off the bench" to pinch hit.
Duplicates need more than file names (which can repeat when the camera rolls over 10000 images or you have two cameras (like I do) with the same naming convention. To determine which file is a duplicate, it needs to be tested against the catalog image for a) filename b) file size c) Capture Timestamp and other characteristics that LR uses to determine a duplicate file. FWIW, 99.44% of the LR user base does not have a problem with the current method for determining duplicates.
 
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DMartin said:
I still think LR needs to up its game in this regard.
Click to expand...

You could certainly put in a feature request at Official Feature Request/Bug Report Forum, but to be honest, I'd be surprised if it was implemented. While you might only have one 64GB card, many photographers work across numerous large cards, and Lightroom would have no way of knowing when you'd reformatted the cards, so it would have to store the information about every single photo ever taken, forevermore. It could be a useful feature for those who don't reformat their cards after importing, but it also has an easy workaround (reformat after importing) which solves the problem another way.
 
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I struggled with the issue of LR 6.14 not recognizing new photos from my memory card but had not been able to find a solution, so was using a work around of copying the files to another location and then importing them from there.
Today, I decided to format my memory card (after backing it up) before going out and purchasing another, and it corrected the problem. I still suspect my seven year old card that has faithfully captured images may have developed an itch and am shopping, but for today it is working again. Hope it works for you and suspect it might if you can copy the files to another location and it will properly import them.
 
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Thanks for sharing Herb, and welcome to the forum!
 
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