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touheyphoto
Inspiring
May 2, 2022

P: (Mac) Direct Camera Connect fails to show previews in Import Dialog

  • May 2, 2022
  • 75 replies
  • 12537 views

My system has worked perfectly for many years, but I’m encountering strange issues on import in Lr Classic that have recently plagued me. 

 

When importing via a plugged in thunderbolt cable into my R5s:

- image previews no longer load into the thumbnails, or will load dramatically slower and one at a time. (Whereas they used to snap into each empty thumbnail cells immediately)

- sometimes it will show no photos to import (which was frightening the first few times to see). I’ll cancel and reopen the import prompt which usually works after the second or third try.

- sometimes import window will show photos from other shoot days but not my most recent images. I’ll cancel the import prompt and reopen. Often it’ll all load in after a few tries.

- If I get through these issues, the most difficult part is actually importing. Import can take 5 minutes before starting, if I’m lucky. (It used to start within 10 seconds.) Two out of three times the import completely fails to start. 

 

 

Other details: 

- This seems to happen with all three of my Canon R5s

- I’m encountering this issue on my Mac Studio running Ventura 13.3.1

- My Lr Classic (v. 12.3) catalogues and previews are stored on my internal HD

- My photos are stored on a 70TB OWC Thunderbay. (I switched from Drobo 8D fairly recently)

- The same R5 and imported photos load like normal on my MBP when imported. 

- This is happening with multiple LrC catalogues

- This issue started happening for a few weeks, prior to updating to the latest Lr Classic

 

 

Since this issue is happening with multiple catalogs and cameras, I was thinking it was either with my Mac Studio that stores the catalogues, or my OWC Thunderbay external since it stores the photos. However since this issue seems to happen before I technically need to select the destination drive, now I’m thinking the issue is my computer where Lr is running. 

 

Could this be a RAM problem? Has anyone encountered this issue before? 

 

Any ideas based are greatly appreciated since importing after a shoot has gone from taking 10 minutes of my times to 2 hrs. Hopefully this can help others too.

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    75 replies

    Show previous replies
    T
    touheyphotoAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 7, 2023

    Hi John,

    I originally reported this issue in LrC 12.3. My hopes were that updating to 12.4 would fix the issue, but it didn't and apparently based on what I'm reading, most others had the issue introduced with 12.4. 

     

    I'm still plagued by this issue and my only workaround for my Canon R5s is pulling out the card and using a reader. 

    For the iPhone I cannot do this though.

     

    Have there been any updates or resposnes from Adobe I may have missed?

    Thank you as always for your time and insights. 

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    August 3, 2023

    "I've just been out with my little pony Sony (sorry) and they've imported fine!"

     

    Perhaps you have the camera configured to use the Mass Storage protocol for USB connections rather than Media Transfer Protocol.  Mass Storage causes the camera to look like a card reader to the operating system and LR, whereas the misbehavior here seems limited to the Media Transfer Protocol. Only some cameras implement Mass Storage (sometimes called MSC), whereas most cameras default to Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).   

      johnrellis
      johnrellis
      Legend
      August 3, 2023

      "It may be a Canon and iPhone interaction."

       

      There are reports in this thread of the misbehavior on cameras from Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, and Apple.

      dw24154351
      dw24154351
      Known Participant
      August 3, 2023

      Same for me too. So we are seeing the same behaviour.

        U
        Unpopular
        Participant
        August 3, 2023

        Yes, double clicking the grey 'missing' preview renders it, but clicking back to 'grid' view returns to all the previews still being blank. This is on iPhone... 

          dw24154351
          dw24154351
          Known Participant
          August 3, 2023

          Also, if you double click a single preview and it opens in the larger view, does the thumbnail image render?

            dw24154351
            dw24154351
            Known Participant
            August 3, 2023

            This is good data. It may be a Canon and iPhone interaction. Previews worked properly when the card was uploaded from a card reader. So what is similar about Sony and direct from card? Internally different vendors might have slightly different serial import code pathways.

             

            If you go back to Canon and wait a couple of minutes, does it eventually render for you? The other thing to look at is whether LrC is burning CPU during this waiting period - you can see this with Activity Monitor, CPU tab.

            B
            Bobldoo
            Participating Frequently
            August 3, 2023

            Just to set the cat amongst the pigeons..... My previous posts indicated I have the same problem with Canon R6, 7D & R6ii via USB or Thunderbolt, iPhone and iPad (USB) all displaying same issue. I've just been out with my little pony Sony (sorry) and they've imported fine! So I tried my Sony video camera(also Sony USB) the thumbnails are there instantly! To confirm just taken a few with a Canon and they're blank until you click away from the device and then reselect it and they appear, so the problem is still there. 

            U
            Unpopular
            Participant
            August 3, 2023

            Same issue started happening a while back for me when importing via USB cable from iPhone. Import panel shows just empty grey boxes for all the photos on the phone. My 'workaround' is to click on the 'Applications' folder of the 'Macintosh HD' under the 'files' section, then click back on the iPhone entry under 'Devices'. Hey presto, the previews appear! I guess this works if you click once on any of the other 'Files' locations and then click back. I'm running OS13.4.1 and LR Classic 12.4.

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