Sync issues between LRC and LR. Smart Preview vs Original

[Jon28601620d7sq]

I've been fighting with LRC (v13.3) and LR (v7.3) on my Macbook (v14.5 - Sonoma) for hours. I have a series of photos that I have done some light editing to and I created a Collection (not a Smart Collection). Unfortunately when I originally moved some of the pictures they were flagged as "Original and Smart Photo" and that got synched to the Clound. Now no matter what I do in LRC when I try to access the Collection in LR; it shows Smart Photo. I want to be able to use LR to export the pictures in the highest JPG quality so I can print the photos. I've tried flagging the pictures as "Original Photo" only in LRC and creating a brand new collection but LR still pulls in the Smart Photo version. I've spent hours researching and trying to fix this but Can't seem to get it to work. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Jon28601620d7sq]

When I try to export a file set to "Smart Photo" I get the following error and the resulting photo is less than half the original file size.

[suhas_mutmurdu]

Hi, 
have you created smart proxies explicitly for those images? If yes, after creating smart proxies, have you deleted/moved the original image from the file system ?

[johnrellis]

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"have you deleted/moved the original image from the file system ?"

@Jon28601620d7sq, to quickly check that, in Library, select one of the photos you're trying to export, e.g. 

_38A2396-Edit-Edit.tif. In the upper-right corner of it's thumbnail, do you see a grey rectangle?

If so, that indicates that LR doesn't have access to the original, just the smart preview, e.g. because you deleted or moved it as suggested by @suhas_mutmurdu. Since smart previews are 2560 pixels on the long edge, LR produces the error you're seeing. 

[Jon28601620d7sq]

No, It has a little grey lighting bolt looking symbol.

[johnrellis]

Hmm.

1. In Library, right-click the thumbnail and do Show In Finder. Does Finder open on the original file? 

2. If so, in Finder, double-click that file to open it in Mac Preview, and do Tools > Show Inspector.

3. What are the pixel dimensions shown in Preview?

4. How do they compare to the pixel dimensions shown in LR's Metadata panel?

[Jon28601620d7sq]

Thanks,

I followed your tips and It finds the full sized file on the Macbook (144MB) and 6000 x 4000 pixels TIFF file. 300px/in.

This matches the LRC meta data for dimensions 6000 x 4000. But in LR it only will sync the Smart Photo version, even if I set the file to "original photo".

From LRC:

From LR:

[johnrellis]

"But in LR it only will sync the Smart Photo version, even if I set the file to "original photo"."

By "sync", do you mean export, as shown in your second post?

[Rob_Cullen]

Lightroom-Classic can 'Sync' only Smart Previews UP to the Cloud.

In LrC,  this "flagged as "Original and Smart Photo Preview" " message under the histogram is only referring to the LrC Catalog when you have the Original file indexed in the catalog, AND have created a local Smart Preview for a special purpose. (eg. available when original is on a drive not connected, or an attempt to make LrC run faster.).

To have an 'original' (full size) file in Lightroom (Cloud) you need to Import/Add the original to the Lr catalog through Lr-Desktop (or a mobile device).  LrC can sync the full-size original DOWN to a local drive folder.

SYNC SETUP IN CLASSIC

FULLSIZE FILES TO CLOUD FROM LrC

[johnrellis]

Ah, I was missing the difference between "LRC" and "LR" in @Jon28601620d7sq's posts. My eyes skipped right over it -- damned marketing department.

[Jon28601620d7sq]

Then why can I access the full original on some pictures but not others through LR?

So there's technically a difference between LR desktop (app), LR cloud (browser based), and LRC?

What I'm doing is:

1. Importing raw CR3 files into LR (desktop) allowing them to sync to the cloud.

2. Open LRC and letting it sync the original from the cloud,

3. Edit using LRC (more tools and features) allowing the system to sync.

4. Moving the edited picture into a LR collection in LRC

5. make sure everything syncs and then go into LR and attempt to export as a full sized JPG for printing (wall pictures).

It used to work all the time, but just recently it only seems to work occassionally. 

This really shouldn't be this hard or complex.

-Jon

[johnrellis]

"So there's technically a difference between LR desktop (app), LR cloud (browser based), and LRC?"

With respect to sync, yes. Whether the original file or a smart preview gets used depends on the source of the first sync:

- LR Desktop to the cloud: Original file.

- Cloud to LR Desktop: Original file.

- Cloud to LR Classic: Original file.

- LR Classic to Cloud: Smart preview (a lossy DNG that's 2560 pixels on the long edge).

Back when the full LR ecosystem was announced, the existing sync between LR Classic and the older LR mobile cloud synced smart previews only. Adobe publicly announced there would be no more features added to sync between LR Classic and the LR cloud, and they've been true to their word.  We've been stuck with crippled sync ever since.

"Edit using LRC (more tools and features) allowing the system to sync."

Are you editing the file in LR Classic Develop (in which case only the metadata  recording the Develop settings of the file is changing) or are you editing it in Photoshop or another external editor, which produces a new file (typically a TIFF or PSD)?  If a new file, then according to the rules above, the new file gets uploaded to LR Cloud as a smart preview.

[Jon28601620d7sq]

This is helpful.

I'm editing the file in LR Classic but some of the edits do produce a new TIFF file separate from the original. I still can't figure out why some of them do produce a full sized original on LR and others only do the Smart Preview. But at least it isn't just me. This software is sooo powerful in some aspects and completely broken in others. Overall experience is extremely frustrating and not easy to use. Thanks for your help!

-Jon

[johnrellis]

"I'm editing the file in LR Classic but some of the edits do produce a new TIFF file separate from the original."

 Such TIFFs produced in LR Classic/Photoshop will sync to LR Cloud as smart previews, as will any new file imported into LR Classic.