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

[touheyphoto]

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.

[charlieh6415140]

Thanks John. I have to say I import via cable as a matter of course from a Lumix compact and have never encountered this problem. I imported files from XQD cards (from a D850 and Z7) via a card reader and these never gave a problem. So maybe a card reader is the way to go. I just put an XQD card in my Z8 took a quick test shot and imported it using an XQD card reader - no problem at all, the thumbnail popped up as it should. I will get a CFX type B reader (the USB cable that came with the camera is really too short for comfortable work anyway).

[johnrellis]

"I have to say I import via cable as a matter of course from a Lumix compact and have never encountered this problem."

Yeah, I think it still works for most cameras most of the time. But Adobe has never invested any effort (visible on these forums, at least) into investigating the reports of problems over the years.

[charlieh6415140]

Point taken John and thanks for the advice. A card reader will be an early purchase!

Chaz

[NickB82C]

I recently upgraded to the latest version of Lightroom Classic (12.4) and since then have been struggling to import images direct from my Canon camera. The application sees the camera in the import dialogue and grey boxes are displayed for the images on the card but it is extrememely slow to generate thumbnails. I can click the import button without the thumbnails but the images are not imported. If I cancel and restart the import routine a few times I can eventually see the images and import them but I recently had a full card (128Gb) and I was not able to get Lightroom to see them all (some images displayed but some stubbornly without thumbnails). The card access light on the camera was active throughout this process. In then end I had to remove the card from the camera and import directly from a separate card reader. This would appear to be new behaviour since I insttalled the latest update. I am wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

[AxelMatt]

In a first step try is to reset the preferences to the default settings.

Reset Procedure:

• Close Lightroom.
• Windows: Hold down [Alt]+[Shift] while restarting Lightroom.
  Mac: Hold down [Opt]+[Shift] while restarting Lightroom.
• Overwrite the Preferences when prompted by the dialog.
• Close Lightroom.
• Restart Lightroom.

It's recommended to backup your preferences before you reset the preferences to the default settings: 

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/preference-file-and-other-file-locations.html

[alexe68587193]

Good afternoon , since my latest update of LrC two days ago , the photo's that I want to transfer from my camera and import in LrC are no longer displayed on the import pannel ... this is a main issue since one can't see the photos anymore ... What can be done to coreect this issue , please ? 

[johnrellis]

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, in the past several weeks there have been five similar reports about importing via USB cable on Mac OS. Please merge with this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/slow-or-failed-imports-every-time/m-p/1... 

[johnrellis]

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, in the past several weeks there have been five similar reports about importing via USB cable on Mac OS. Please merge with this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/slow-or-failed-imports-every-time/m-p/1... 

[johnrellis]

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, in the past several weeks there have been five similar reports about importing via USB cable on Mac OS. Please merge with this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/slow-or-failed-imports-every-time/m-p/1... 

[johnrellis]

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, in the past several weeks there have been five similar reports about importing via USB cable on Mac OS. Please merge with this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/slow-or-failed-imports-every-time/m-p/1... 

Oops, not this one yet -- let's verify the details first.

[johnrellis]

@alexe68587193, are you importing using a USB cable attached to the camera? If so, are you seeing grey thumbnails in the Import window? If you're seeing something else, please attach a full-resolution screenshot (not a phone pic) of the entire LR window in Import.

Try using a card reader instead -- does that work?

[alexe68587193]

Thanks for comment John ,

I’m importing directly with USB cable from the Camera , a Nikon D7200 , to LrC on my Mac book pro …

Here’s a copy of the import panel :



Thanks for your kind attention ,

[johnrellis]

As mentioned, some others are experiencing issues with importing via USB cable. It may or may not get sorted soon by Adobe and/or Apple. In the meantime, you'll have to use a card reader.

[johnrellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this thread about problems with importing via USB cable on Mac:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/slow-or-failed-imports-every-time/m-p/1...

[alexe68587193]

Good afternoon everybody , this is exactly the issue I'm faced with since my latest update of LrC to 12.4 .... I never had any problem during years ... " Previews are no longer showing since updating to version 12.4 All I see is a gray box where the preview should be seen. This always worked fine until the update, and my importing methods have not changed." I've reset the preferences , guaranteed full access to the disk ... no improvement ... there seems to be a bug somewhere ... thanks for your further assistance ...

[alexe68587193]

Thank you John ,

I’ll buy a card reader and use it until the problem is solved .

Rgds

Alex

[iancundell]

I am seeing this with my Canon 5Dmkiii - only happens at the import box. Once in the catalgue things work as expected. But in the important gallery, just grey boxes....which makes it kinda hard to suvey the thumbnails for duds.

Camara raw format is .cr2.

MacOS Ventura 13.4.1/ Mac Mini M2 Pro, 16gb RAM

It was working perfectly until the most recent LrC update. Nothing else has changed. Have done all the usual troubleshooting,

[touheyphoto]

Finally getting around to following up after the initial post. Have more to troubleshoot and still searching for a solution but I at least have a workaround.

The workaround I found has been simply pulling the CF card out of the camera and using a CF card reader plugged into the same USB-C cable and computer port. This has never been necessary but doing this workaround brings back the blazing fast import speeds I was used to seeing before the last month or two.

I screen-recorded videos illustrating the difference in speeds. First two are cable-to-camera imports with different cameras, cables, catalogues, etc for each import. The second two the same switched up variables but both are CF express Card Reader imports:

Import #1: USB-C to Camera, Canon R5 #1, CF card #1, freelance LrC catalogue, USB-C cable #1, Mac Studio port #1

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vgh0t7v6sl85d6pkncmy8/R5_1-import-Freelance-cat.mp4?dl=0&rlkey=qyfphg...

Import #2: USB-C to Camera, Canon R5 #2, CF card #2,  hobby LrC catalogue, USB-C cable #2, Mac Studio port #2

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0efu0kt1owqcnomi552iu/R5_2-import-hobby-cat2.mp4?dl=0&rlkey=u76yeurkr...

Import #3: CF Card Reader Import, CF card #1 from Canon R5 #1, freelance LrC catalogue, Mac Studio

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/n1us7nja16at72g6nncwt/Card-reader-R5_1-card-Freelance-cat.mp4?dl=0&rl...

Import #4: CF Card Reader Import, CF card #2 from Canon R5 #2, freelance LrC catalogue, Mac Studio

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/g7bqbe8zxy37ax6cwysak/card-reader-R5_2-freelance-cat2.mp4?dl=0&rlkey=...

Just to clarify, these issues persist in the import dialogue ONLY. Once imported, or just generally outside import dialogue, things work at the speed I’m used to. 

Also, this issue predated LrC v. 12.4 for me. It started with v. 12.3 or earlier and didn’t fix itself with the update to v. 12.4. 

Other things I’m noticing: 

- occasionally hitting command+R to have the photo “show in finder” has a delay to the photos actually loading in, in Finder. 

- quitting and reopening the import dialogue window several times sometimes fixing the problem .. feels a bit like banging the side of a tv to fix it.

- I’ll sometimes receive the message “could not move  a file to the destination folder because it is not writable (163)” .. I set permissions to “everyone” can read and write with no luck.

- I'm wondering if this might be RAM releated since I've had a similar issue in the past, and because previewing photos via Finder sometimes shows the thumbnail with a colorful-glitchy looking filter applied. (Image sample 1, sample 2)

I’ll follow up again once I make time to troubleshoot each variable more carefully. 

[touheyphoto]

Thanks for your useful (and immediate) input. 

Switching to Card Reader is a functional workaround for now. I plan to test your other suggetions soon. Thanks, will follow up

[johnrellis]

@touheyphoto, thanks for all that detail. As you can see, others are experiencing issues recently with importing from their cameras via USB cable on Mac. 

"occasionally hitting command+R to have the photo “show in finder” has a delay to the photos actually loading in, in Finder."

This suggests a problem in the Mac OS libraries for accessing cameras via USB cable, which LR relies on. Apple has had problems with these libraries in the past, so maybe that's the cause of what's happening now.

[touheyphoto]

The CF Card Reader's been my workaround but what a bummer!

I have three R5s and being able to just pop the USB-C cable in has always been 1) super easy, 2) reliable, 3) blazing fast, and 4) would even charge my batteries.

Now I need to pop open both battery and card compartments and import and charge manually.  

[touheyphoto]

@johnrellis thanks as always for your input.

Yes, many others seem to be experiencing this also, however most reports seem to have come with LrC v. 12.4, which was not the case for me since the issue predated v. 12.4

I'll continue to troubleshoot and see what I can find out. 

To clarify regarding this note: "occasionally hitting command+R to have the photo “show in finder” has a delay to the photos actually loading in, in Finder." -- during an import that is absolutely creeping but working .. a few photos per minute, what I'll do is select one of the imported files in grid view (in current import folder) and hit "show in Finder". Doing so sometimes has that loading problem I describe here happen. But since these are already imported photos that aren't loading in Finder, can we rule out the USB-C connecting the computer to camera as the problem? 

[johnrellis]

"But since these are already imported photos that aren't loading in Finder, can we rule out the USB-C connecting the computer to camera as the problem?"

Probably, I think.

[BillBill]

No longer able to download iPhone photos into LR Classic.  When iPhone attached and open LRC, selecting my iPhone as device I only see grayed out area and the file (jpg) name, no photos avaialbe for download.  Is this a new issue. I had to transfer photos to desktop on computer to download into LRC

iOS  16.5.1

Osx  Ventura 13.3.1

LRC 12.4

[johnrellis]

I see the same symptoms with my LR 12.4 / Mac OS 13.4 / Iphone 11 Pro / IOS 16.5 (see the screenshot below).  However, I don't see it with LR 12.3. 

Lots of people have reported problems trying to import from cameras via USB cable with LR 12.4, and Adobe has acknowledged this bug. 

"I only see grayed out area and the file (jpg) name, no photos available for download."

Though you can't see the actual photo thumbnails, you can still select them for import (see the screenshot).

Workarounds:

1. If you camera supports it (many/most don't anymore), change the mode of the USB connection from MTP or PTP (Media/Picture Transfer Protocol) to MSC (Mass Storage Connection).

2. Import all the photos with the option Don't Import Suspected Duplicates and delete undesired photos after importing.

3. Roll back to LR 12.3 or perhaps 12.3.1 (I haven't tested 12.3.1).

4. Use the Mac Image Capture app to copy the photos to your computer and then import them into LR from there.

5. For cameras with memory cards, use a card reader (obviously not applicable to a phone.)

6. For mobile devices: In LR Mobile, enable the option Auto Add From Device Photos. In LR Classic, enable sync with LR Cloud. After photos sync from the mobile device to LR Classic, if you wish to remove the photos from LR Cloud, delete them from the special collection All Synced Photographs in LR Classic.