Sony RAW photos won’t transfer to iPad

[stephanie5ED3]

Good afternoon. I am really struggling and could use your help. I have a sony a7ii and shoot in RAW. I bought an ipad to transfer and edit photos. When using the apple SD card reader Lightroom will say that the SD card is empty. I frantically put the card back in the camera and all of the photos are still there. Are sony photos not compatible? I can transfer the photos with my card reader to a laptop using the same SD card but unfortunately only have a work laptop. Thank you so much in advance.

{Moved from Lightroom Cloud to Lightroom Mobile Forum by Moderator} 

[JP Hess]

That camera model has been supported since Lightroom 5.71, years ago. What version of Lightroom do you have installed on the iPad?

[stephanie5ED3]

I have the Lightroom for iPad version. Even ARW photos should be compatible?

[JohanElzenga]

Does Apple Photos on the iPad show images on the SD card? If not, that card reader may be faulty.

[stephanie5ED3]

It does not. May be worth getting a new SD card. However it works on a laptop with a card reader just not with the ipad. Sigh! Hope I can figure this out. Thanks!

[selondon]

If you check iOS Settings/Privacy/Files and Folders, make sure Lightroom is toggled on.

[stephanie5ED3]

I did see this in a previous post and made sure that it was on. Not sure what the issue is! Thanks for your response.

[Ignacio B.]

Hi,

It would help to know which device, iOS version and Lightroom version you are on.

thanks,
Ignacio

[stephanie5ED3]

iPad Air (3rd generation) software Version 14.3. Using adobe lightroom for iPad Version 6.1

[Charlie.D]

Hi Stephanie

Editing my reply here to ask this question first:

Can the Photos app on you device see the Sony images on your SD Card?  If yes, only Lightroom is affected, then it's likely a privacy/access issue for Lightroom.  Do check that iOS Settings has correctly enabled access for Lightroom.

I know you said you checked iOS settings to ensure access was on, but I want to give some specific steps to try.

In iOS Settings > Privacy > Files and Folders, toggle Lightroom to Off and then back On.  Some users report that switching from On to Off and back On has helped. 

In iOS Settings > Privacy > Photos > Lightroom, ensure All Photos is enables (not Selected Photos or None). (this is really only relevant to importing from your camera roll, but I want to cover all the bases)

Otherwise, does a device restart help?

One of my own card readers is older, and is very slow.  I'm guessing you have have simply tried waiting a while to see if image thumbs begin to appear. 

Another problem I personally experienced once: I had formatted my SD card on my desktop, and manually created the DCIM folder.  My non-Sony camera could see this, but my iOS device could not.  The solution was to backup my SD Card images, then let my camera format the SD Card, and then finally transfer my images back onto my SD card.  I could then import into Lightroom.  It's unlikely this is your problem, but I thought I would mention it just in case it helps.