Synch camera roll across iphone/ipad and lightroom

[seattlecook]

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I am a new user to lightroom cc trying to figure out my new workflow.

I usually import all of my photos on a PC (windows 10), that I backup in dropbox. I also backup my iphone photos in icloud.

I can't figure out how to keep my photos in synch across the camera roll and lightroom cc. I have tried multiple scenarios around deleting photos - starting with deleting on my camera roll (which deletes in icloud but not lightroom cc) or deleting in lightroom cc (which deletes across lightroom cc deveices but not in my camera roll).

I have auto-upload turned on so new photos are synched. Would like to have one front end for my photos so i don't have to manage multiple storage locations.

Any other input on workflow across the camera roll/icloud and apple devices, dropbox, a windows pc, and lightroom cc would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi Seattlecook, welcome to the forum! Sorry for the delay in replying.

Trying to keep them all in sync will be a bit of a pain - there's no automated way of deleting in all clouds at once. So a question... do you NEED iCloud as well as LR sync?

I have Dropbox set to back up my camera roll photos, but they just go off to my "import backups" folder so I don't bother to delete from there. I turn off iCloud and just let LRCC sync between Apple Devices and desktops.

 

[seattlecook]

Thanks much Victoria. Do you use the same workflow for other cameras as well - import to dropbox to have a master or do you do directly to LRCC. I have a sony travel camera that I just imported direct into LRCC which also downloads a copy direct to a folder on my desktop which I have linked to dropbox that seemed to work. If you have anything you have written or any suggestions on overall workflow - the steps to import, backup, organize - I would be interested in reading.

Interesting that there isn't a clean way for LRCC to write back changes to the camera roll. Slidebox was able to do this and I used this for scanning pictures but wasn't a complete solution.

I am in the process of thinking through the best ways to organize everything. I have about 50K photos that are currently in dropbox folders (mostly organized by month/year with some by event/trip.) I realized that for some of these pictures when I moved into dropbox it overwrote the capture data with the cut/paste date ... but since I have organized by year I have a potential workaround if I drag into albums (or folders?!). Before I move over want to have an overall structure/plan. Thanks!

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi seattlecook

Yes, sort of. I have some automation software (Hazel) set up that when it sees new originals in my LRCC Originals folder, it copies them off to a folder on my NAS, and it also moves the photos from my Dropbox Camera Upload folder off to the NAS too. It's probably overkill but I'd hate to lose my photos.

My LR CC book just came out last week and covers a nice straightforward LR CC workflow. In there, I've just recommended using backup software to grab a copy of the Originals folder as the originals get downloaded to the computer. It's a simpler setup than my Dropbox Camera Uploads extra backup, but will be plenty for most people's needs.