Transfering RAWs from Ipad to Windows - please help!

[Jamie23009771g1ce]

I have about 60GB of RAW photos stored on my iPad, directly imported via Lightroom and would like to move them to my Desktop PC.

Problem is: They don´t show up in local storage and I`m not prepared to sell my soul for enough cloud storage to do it that way.

So is there a way to get these files form the IPad to my PC?

[Jim Wilde]

Problem is: They don´t show up in local storage

What does that mean?

What version of Lightroom on your PC are you trying to get the iPad photos into, Lightroom Classic or the cloud-centric Lightroom Desktop? What subscription plan are you using? If it's the Photography Plan (which only has 20GB of cloud storage) many users are using the method of uploading 20Gb at a time from the iDevice to the cloud, wait for those images to download into Classic, then remove them from the cloud which allows the next 20GB of photos to upload from the iDevice. Repeat until all images have been dealt with.

[Jamie23009771g1ce]

Thanks for the reply!

What I meant was that I have no way of accessing the photos via file manager, either through the iPad itseld or via PC becasue they are only accessible via Lightroom.

I have thougt about doing it the way you described, but I have a different catalogue on my Lightroom Classic which is also kind of a nuissance to change.

I have tried under Lightroom (non classic) on PC, too. At least the first 20gb have transferred, but naturally no more will. When I log into my Adobe cloud, these pictures don´t show up (I have looked into all directories there), however, so I don´t know how to delete them from there.

So in addition to both Adobe and Apple locking me from accesing my own local photos, there is some kind of sync problem, too. (And by locking out, I mean not giving me access via file browser).

[Jamie23009771g1ce]

Update: I have gone from very annoyed to absolutely fuming.

Here´s what I did: Synched to the cloud. Downloaded all files to my computer. Deleted all.
So far so good.
Went do do the same again with the next batch. ALL Photos went straight to a "Syonchronisation error" folder in the cloud.
Only option: Delete.
This also deletes the files from the iPad. No problem. Just restore. Right? WRONG. File cannot be restored, not enough space. Please give us money for more space.
I now have the option to delete 700 photos or get lost.
Thanks for nothing, adobe. this really is by far the worst cloud experience I have ever seen.

I now have 1.396 raws in the deleted folder on my iPad which can only be restored if I pay Adobe money. How is this different from ransomware?

[Jao vdL]

If you don't want to go through the cloud, the best option is to export the images as originals (so you get the raw file and the xmp) from Lightroom on your iPad to the Files app, either to iCloud Disk or to local storage on the iPad if you have enough space. You can also export to dropbox or some other cloud service if you have that.

[Jim Wilde]

The problem with that Jao is that LrMobile doesn't create XMP sidecars when using the "Original" output file-type, so the output is literally the original unedited file. However, exporting a raw using "DNG" format should work as the edit data is obviously contained within the DNG itself.

But I agree, that's probably the best option if wanting to avoid using the cloud.

[Jao vdL]

It doesn't? Wow that is bad. The desktop version certainly does. In that case yeah you have to use dng to get the settings, keywords, etc.

[Jamie23009771g1ce]

Thanks for the tips!
I have exported most of my photos as DNGs as that was the only option available. Still bugs me I can´t use my original files and some of them are still caught in the limbo of not being restorable because the cloud is full but also not being able to access anything that is making the cloud full because all of my files just show as "synchronisation error".
The iPad has now been trying to synchronise for close to 12 hours.

[Jim Wilde]

Here´s what I did: Synched to the cloud. Downloaded all files to my computer. Deleted all.
So far so good.
Went do do the same again with the next batch. ALL Photos went straight to a "Syonchronisation error" folder in the cloud.

After you "Synced to the cloud", how did you "Download all files to your computer"? If you mean you used the Lightroom preferences option to "Store a copy of all orginals...." and then deleted them from the Lightroom app, that isn't the way to do this. To delete content from the cloud while retaining a local hard drive copy, the correct way is to allow Classic to sync with the cloud, which automatically "imports" all cloud images into Classic, thus creating an independent local copy of the cloud-based originals. Those new downloaded files will then appear in the "All Synced Photographs" special collection, and if you then remove those images from that special collection (select them all, right-click on any one, select the option to remove them from the collection) that will "unsync" the files. That in turn automatically deletes them from the cloud, but they are retained in Classic. Then the next 20GB of data should upload from the iPad.

That is a standard "workflow" used by many users who want to import into their mobile devices but don't want to increase their cloud storage beyond that initial 20GB.

If you don't want to sync your main Classic catalog, create a new empty catalog, set that to sync and follow the process above (but make sure you first set the download location to your liking in the Preferences>Lightroom Sync tab). Later you can import that new catalog into your main catalog if you wish.

[Jamie23009771g1ce]

Thanks for your tips!

Sorry for being a little unspecific here.

i downloaded all my synched photos, including the "deleted" folder using the utility "Lightroom downloader". This has at least given me access to part of my photos. 

Guess I'll try the combo with Lightroom classic you described, thanks for that!

right now my main problem is that Lightroom on the iPad is synching EXTREMELY slowly. It's been on basically all the time since yesterday for around 600 remaining files.

I'm hoping once that's done, I'll at least be able to download the rest that had the Sync error show up.

Why can't I just have the option to import files locally to the iPad and then copy them via cable or SSD? The cloud is a super unnecessary hassle if you do any more than edit a couple of shots here and there. 

[Jao vdL]

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@Jamie23009771g1ce wrote:

Why can't I just have the option to import files locally to the iPad and then copy them via cable or SSD? The cloud is a super unnecessary hassle if you do any more than edit a couple of shots here and there. 

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You can but you need to export from Lightroom. You can export to an attached SSD from Lightroom directly. Of course, because Adobe rather unfortunately decided to not include the xmp sidecar, you have to use dng. The other way around, you can't access any app's secure and encrypted (this is enforced by Apple) storage area from outside that app. It needs to be initiated by a share sheet action from inside the app. So this is really a limitation put into place by Apple to keep apps firewalled from each other.

[Jamie23009771g1ce]

I´ve actually done that now, too, but would prefer using original files instead of converted ones.
It must be possible for lightroom to just create a new local storage folder and import to there. Other apps seem to have this capability.

I have learned from this experience though. Just won´t ever use the iPad´s internal storage for photos in combination with lightroom anymore. It was an experiment to see if I can use it instead of my laptop here and there. To me, it´s just way too much of a hassle with too many extra steps and too many errors.
Call me old school, but I like it when I can directly access my files on my device.

[Jao vdL]

Yeah Adobe really wants you to use their cloud services clearly. The iPad workflow (I use it together with Classic) only works reliably if you have the bigger cloud storage tier. You can hack your way around it as already described in this thread but it is not very convenient.

What I would really want is a real Lightroom Classic on the iPad with local storage indeed and optional cloud sync. We will never get that unfortunately as Adobe seems committed to the dressed down cloud version for mobile OS instead. I remember thinking many years ago when the iOS version came out that they must add the features from the real Lightroom (called Classic nowadays) at some point but that never really happened. The iPad and cloud desktop versions are somewhat useful for in-the-field stuff (I take my wonderful USB-c iPad mini on travel and do all my on-the-road editing that way) but they lack way too many essential features to take over my workflow.