P: Skipping some raw files on raw+jpeg import

[jrsigerson]

For several years now, users have been asking for a way to import only the RAW file when shooting RAW+jpeg. In fact, it's never been satisfactorily explained to me why I would ever want to import the jpeg into Lightroom.

I do all my post work on a desktop workstation, but I shoot tethered to a laptop, to which I only import jpegs for reasons of speed and storage (the image pops up immediately, and I don't have to constantly trash all the RAWs to save HD space). Once I'm ready to import, I have no further use for the jpegs. I can't even imagine a reason I'd want to bring them into Lightroom.

There is no way to do this in Lightroom's import interface, and I guess there never will be, and I'd made my peace with that, until Lightroom learned a new trick recently. 

Several imports in a row now, Lightroom has imported the RAW and the jpeg for most of the card, but skips the RAW for several images and only brings in the jpeg. This is not immediately apparent, as you can imagine. Fortunately, I've caught it every time but once before formatting the card, and been able to import the missing RAWs manually. Once, I'd already formatted the card but was able to find the missing files with Photorescue. 

It's just all the more infuriating because it wouldn't even be an issue except for that one stupid omission in the import dialogue. I can't even threaten to "take my business elsewhere", because even if I switch to Capture One, I'm still paying for two Creative Cloud subscriptions (long story; one computer too many in my workflow). 

I can only hope this is just a bug that will be squashed before the excruciating workarounds age me prematurely. More.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

this is exactly the symptom I am experiencing right now, occasional missing RAW files from import! and i sometimes found out some of missing RAW after card was formated.  It is not just a single camera issues, but happening on multiple camera or card readers, and happening since recent update of Lightroom. 

Right now, only work around is drag and copy files instead of using importer as this unfortunate lottery of missing RAW tend to work on file I often need to work on 😞

[jrsigerson]

Spent an hour with customer support on Friday.

After trashing preferences, we made one successful import and he declared the problem solved. Of course it began acting up again (importing JPEG only for 38 of 81 images - nearly half the shoot!).

If I check "treat jpeg..." and manually deselect all the JPEGS, so all RAW is selected and all JPEG are unselected, it still imports JPEGs only for a randomly selected group of images. the Adobe representative witnessed this himself and tried to sidestep it; first saying it was expected behavior, then that it was a known issue. Finally, he basically blamed me for wanting to do such a strange thing as not import JPEGS I had no earthly use for. 

First though, he insisted that there was a way to import RAW only, not believing me that I'd looked it up and it's well documented that you can't. He tried several different ways before, shocked and bewildered, finally admitting I was right. At least someone at Adobe admits that it's a bizarre UI omission.

Drag and copy works for me too, or manually deleting the JPEGS off the card before I import, but what a ridiculous workaround. Especially since it would be moot if only we were allowed to filter by file type. 

Lightroom is not living up to one of its core functions: to make photo management easy and foolproof.

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

Yeah, regardless of what support says, that's not expected behavior.

Can I confirm which OS you're on, and which LR update? And what camera? The reason I ask is I had an oddity a couple of months back, and it turned out to be macOS that was missing files! So I just want to rule that out for a start.

(And yes, filtering to just import raw files is a solid request I've heard before too.)

[jrsigerson]

Lightroom 2015.12, Mac OS 10.11.6

It was all working like a charm until a couple of weeks ago.

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

So what changed a couple of weeks ago?

[jrsigerson]

Not a thing.

Although to be honest, I can't say for sure that it's never done it before, only that  I first noticed that I only had a jpeg version of a select a couple of weeks ago.

[jrsigerson]

Actually, maybe I started using a new card around that time, but I went back to the old one during my initial troubleshooting. 

[jrsigerson]

I can't say that I'm perfectly satisfied with an image organizer program that imports most of my images, sometimes - usually at least half. 

Adobe should consider adding a feature that allows me to import all the RAW images off a card without randomly skipping some and replacing with JPEG. Perhaps most users enjoy the thrill of suspense, wondering which of their images will be imported as RAW and which as JPEG.

Unfortunately I'm old and set in my ways. I have distinct UI expectations that I can't let go of, prejudicial though they may be.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I am actually on similar set up, Lightroom 2015.12 and Mac IS 10.11.16 
It happened on both brands new and old card, so it is more to do with something more random.  And only way to know is going manually checking to see if there are missing RAW file going thru list of file, so it is not exactly fun things to when you are on tight schedule. 

[jrsigerson]

I created a macro that launches any time a volume named EOS_DIGITAL is mounted and finds and deletes all the jpegs. Lightroom always imports all the raws if no jpegs are present, and having it work automatically means I can't forget.

Maybe the next Lightroom will fix whatever's going wrong, but I'm not holding my breath. 

[JayS_In_CT]

Try letting the card fully read before hitting the Import button (you can see the count climbing on the selected folder).  Once the card is read, then hit import and see if that helps...  Also, is the target an SSD or HDD?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I am having a really BIG issue with importing. First, all of my images are RAW. I use the import all photos button to import. Here is what I do so maybe you can understand a little better of my workflow.  I first place my CF card into the card reader. I then begin my import. With the first CF card import I usually have no issues. But right after my import is finished and my 1:1 previews have been created, I safely eject my card and place another CF card into my reader (I use multiple cards for weddings).  I then start my importing again for this new card. I start seeing immediately that the pictures are not what is on the card. They are the other images from the last card I just imported. But, most of them (not all) are now at a 90 degree angle (the image is sideways). I immediately stop the import. I safely eject the card. Put the same card back in and start importing again. This seems to do the trick, but at the end of the importing I go back and check to make sure that all images have imported and sure enough they have not. I have to repeat the importing steps (sometimes 4 times) to make sure I get all the images. Being there is usually (for weddings) around 1000 images being imported this takes a lot of my time up. I have noticed it for the smaller imports as well (around 300-400 images). This only started when I updated. I have not done anything differently than I normally would. I would love some feedback on this! Thanks!

[ssprengel]

What camera model?

What LR version?

Are both cards in the camera at the same time and the camera decides how to put the images on each card, or are you switching cards mid-shoot?

Are the images only raw aside from any camera-created HDRs or Panoramas which would be JPG, or are some image raw+jpg (as the title for this thread suggests the problem is about)?

If raw+jpg are the raws on one card and the jpgs on the other card?

Is one card a backup of the other so each has the same set of images? 

Are both cards the same kind, like both Compact Flash or both SDXC or are they different types of media?  If the same type is one larger than the other like a 64GB and a 128GB?

Do both cards have the same volume label, like EOS DIGITAL or similar, or do you name the CARD1 and CARD2 or something else unique?

Do the images on each card have the same sequence of numbers because each card starts number it's images with 0001, again?  Or do the images sequence numbers continue increasing from one card to the next?  Is the first image from the shoot 0001 or does it just start wherever the previous shoot left off?

In your post you say you eject the first card when the import and 1:1 preview creation are finished.  Is this true, or is just the import finished, but the 1:1 preview creation still occurring for the first set of images?

As at least one other post asks people to do, after you've inserted the first card and still are on the Import screen, do you wait there until the card scanning has found all the thumbnails or are you clicking Import before all the images on the card have been scanned for?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

We use Adobe Lightroom CC Classic.

We use two camera models. Canon 5D Mark ii and Canon 5D Mark iii.

The cards are not in the camera at the same time. We switch cards between important shots at weddings, or when one is about full.

All images are RAW. Nothing fancy is done with them.

Each card is separate with a different set of images, so no they are not used as backup. We do use a SD card in the 5D Mark iii to write on from the CF card as backup just in case the CF card fails, we still have the images. The SD card is wrote to JPEG, but I never have to use it so it does not get imported.

Each card is labeled unique such as Card 1 and Card 2.

The cards when used in one camera do not go into the other camera during the event.

The cards are both CF cards, same brand, same storage size (32gb).

The counting on each card starts over per each new Card placed in each camera.

Yes it is true, I painstakingly wait for all images on each card to import and create the 1:1 previews. Yes I know that it does eject the Card before the 1:1 preview, it indicates it on my computer by making a sound and disappears from my storage area on my computer, but I do not physically eject the card until all 1:1 previews are made.

I wait after putting my CF card in to hit the import button. The thing is, after I put the CF card in all images appear on the screen and are the correct images. The first CF card I import does fine, it’s the second CF card and after that tries to reimport the previous images from another Card. It’s really weird. Then after stopping the import, safely effecting the Card, putting the card back in, does it start importing the correct images, but even still then it does not import all. After each finished 1:1 preview, I have to put that same CF card back in and see which images it didn’t import and import those that didn’t. This happens at least 2 to 4 times on the same card, with this repeating of importing just to get all images imported.

Also, like I stated before, this ONLY started happening in October after the update. I have never had this issue, haven’t changed anything in what we are using or how we import.

[ssprengel]

The new LR 7/CC-Classic is doing something different and wrong, I agree with you on that, and probably as a new version from 6 to 7, much of the coding was rewritten in an attempt to improve the speed and something isn't quite working correctly.

From your description, I'd guess the problem occurs because the images have the same names, again, each time you insert a new card, and part of LR is thinking the images are duplicates and part is not so it is doing inconsistent things.

One question I didn't ask in my long list, earlier, is are you renaming the images on import or are you keeping them the same name as on the card so LR has to deal with name clashes as it imports IMG0001.CR2 from each new card? 

A related question is whether you are doing a backup during the import which copies each image somewhere else in addition to the main import location.  If I remember right, the backup copies original filenames rather than renamed filenames, so a backup might be duplicating things even if the main import is renaming.

My main suggestion would be to set the cameras to not reset the image sequence for each new card insertion so the only time the number resets is when it goes from 9999 to 0000 or maybe you can reset the number each photoshoot but not during the shoot.

If you are using multiple cameras for the same shoot and those cameras use the same imaging naming scheme, then see if you can also change the image prefix between the two cameras so there will never be a duplicate image between the two during a specific photoshoot.

If you are renaming the images upon import, it's possible one of the renaming templates or methods has problems and another doesn't so you could change how the renaming works in case that is part of it.  If you are importing into folders based on date-time and LR is automatically determine those, then perhaps try importing without doing that and manually name the folders by date, in case there is something wrong with the autorenaming.

I never reset my sequence numbers and only let them wrap and only have one camera so I have not encountered the issue you're having, but I suspect others will if they are doing things similarly.

It would be useful to have a small example that exhibits the problem, using your current settings and methods before changing anything.  Shoot 10 images on an empty card, change cards and shoot 10 more, then import of each card the same way you do when there are 1000s and see if things work incorrectly, and if things don't work, then give specific details about all the import settings you're using, so Adobe can try to reproduce the issue.

[JayS_In_CT]

Try copying the contents of the card onto a hard drive or SSD and then do the import from there (even if moving to another HDD or SSD).  I'm aware from some others that it may help in the short term.

[hansenjc]

This issue is the reason that I stopped shooting RAW+jpg so that LR would not have the bloat of the jpg files. If we had a way to filter by file extension in the grid view of the library module, i would think I could just delete the the jpg files after the import, but I was unable to find such a filter. Did I miss it?

[Jim Wilde]

Look at the Sort options in the Toolbar below the Grid. Both File Type and File Extension are available.

These options are also available in the Menu bar>View>Sort>

[hansenjc]

Due to my unfamiliarity with the LR import process and my general concern over loosing images, I use the Windows OS to copy the images to my hard drive in a new or existing folder. After the images are safely on my computer, I remove my memory card. Then I import them into LR by selecting "Add" rather than copy or move. If LR were to miss any images (files), my work is still safe on the memory card and the computer HD. Once I have done a backup to another HD, Lightroom can be used to process my work with no concern over the loss of an image.

[hansenjc]

Thank Jim Wilde. I do not often think of a sort as a filter but the concept works for me.

[Jim Wilde]

Yes, the Sort order tool isn't a filter, though it's fairly workable to find a group of Jpegs inside a collection of different file-types. But the Library filter, of course, does allow you to filter a set of images by file-type.

[JayS_CT]

Jim,  you also have to go into preferences on CC and check the box for "Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos" to get LR to add the JPEG files side by side with the RAW counterparts.  You can check the box and see the JPEGs by resynchronizing the folder otherwise it will still only show the RAW files.  You can delete the JPEGs from there. New imports (once checked) will bring in both.  Alternatively you can just go to the actual folder, delete the JPEG and synchronize the folder again and only RAW files will show.

[Jim Wilde]

Yes of course, Jay....but as this discussion is about how to filter the Jpegs after a Raw+Jpeg import, I think we can it as read that the prefs option has already been checked.

[JayS_CT]

Understand and didn't take it that way as in Grid it shows (for Canon) CR2+JPEG, which we know doesn't mean the JPEG is actually in the filmstrip. Was just trying to add to the discussion.  Still think the easier route is to just go to the folder and delete them.  🙂  Can Synchronize a whole bunch of folders after deletion.  🙂

[snaphappytoo]

Hi,  wondering if you found a solution to lightroom importing raw images as jpeg as I am having the same issues too and there is no pattern as to how many or which images it is going to do this to on each import.