LR CC sync issue - some pictures show blank thumbnails, won't load

[fredrikk32083070]

I have been using LR CC since inception and always found it very reliable when it comes to syncing accross devices. But yesterday I got into trouble. I imported 6 (NEF/raw) images using LR CC on windows and it appeared to work fine, no obvious sync errors. But on my other devices (2xAndroid, Web) 5 of the 6 images appear as blank thumbnails and won't load, saying "syncing from [name of my windows machine]".

I have tried to re-import with same result. I also tried to import the same files using an Android device, and the result was slightly different, but not successful; the images appeared both on the "import" Android device and my PC, but not on other devices (instead showing blank thumbnails). Also, edits I did on the PC showed only in the edit mode on the "import" Android device, not on the thumbnails/grid view on that device.

I have tried to work around the problem by renaming the files before import, and made copies of the images inside LR, but the problem remains.

I have the latest versions of LR on all my devices.

Did anyone experience this? Any ideas how to resolve?

/Fredrik

[99jon]

Nef files are normally quite large. Could it be that Lightroom on Windows was not left open for sync to fully complete? You can check the status of each of the six, by selecting a thumbnail and opening the info panel (click i symbol bottom right) and the cloud status should indicate original backed up. Otherwise leave Lightroom running on your PC and ensure the blue sync icon (top-right) has finished.

The only other thought – have the six photos been added to an album. Is the album marked to store photos locally on the android devices? If so is there sufficient internal storage capacity.

[fredrikk32083070]

Many thanks for taking time to respond 99jon,

From LR CC on the PC, everything is looking good, there is no difference between files which sync OK and the 5 which do not, they all report as "original backed up". But on Android and Web, they appear as "blanks" in the grid view, with no image content, just basic metadata showing in the info panel.

I have not marked any albums for local storage (neither PC nor Android). The problem persists regardless if I Place pictures in albums or just leave in "All photos".

I cannot rule out that there were network hickups the first time I imported the images, but have deleted and re-imported several times since. My (probably incorrect) layman's guess is that LR caches the images at first encounter (at least raw files, which in theory should not change), and then re-uses these cached images when the same images are re-imported later, and that there was a problem during the initial import which was not properly detected by LR, causing the error to stick.

Interestingly, the diagnostic log from LR on Android reports this:

last 5 error (5 total)

• 2019-08-03T04:41:19.449Z WFCatMetadataPuller: ERROR on update feed pull GET nil "Unknown Connection Error"
• 2019-08-03T04:45:38.289Z WFCatMetadataPuller: ERROR on update feed pull GET nil "Unknown Connection Error"
• 2019-08-03T04:59:59.688Z WFCatMetadataPuller: ERROR on update feed pull GET nil "Unknown Connection Error"
• 2019-08-03T05:04:18.408Z WFCatMetadataPuller: ERROR on update feed pull GET nil "Unknown Connection Error"
• 2019-08-03T05:08:47.208Z WFCatMetadataPuller: ERROR on update feed pull GET nil "Unknown Connection Error"

Exactly 5 times, which is the same as the number of files with sync error.

Hoping this adds further clarity,

Fredrik

[99jon]

I’ve not come across that Android error previously. Normally proxy files of the original in the cloud should download into Android. There should be no import necessary. I imagine a new Android update will be due shortly for download from the Play store although I don’t know timing. Have you tried re-naming the raw files on the PC to test if a metadata change will trigger sync. Otherwise perhaps somebody on the mobile forum will be able to add something.

[fredrikk32083070]

Not sure if the error from the log id directly related, the timestamps are quite far from eachother, then I don't know if this happens at program launch or when the images are accessed.

Anyway, I tried your suggestion to nudge the meta data (moved the capture time by 1s) from my windows machine, It had the following effects:

1. One of my Android devices could load the edit version of the image(s) after paging back/forth a few times between this Picture and the previous. However, the thumbnail/preview did not show up until I had made some image edits (on that Android device). The edits ware also synced back to the PC.

2. It had NO effect on LR Web and strangely not on my other Android device either (my 2 Android devices use different HW and Android versions, but same LR version 3.2.1). I.e. I could NOT trigger the edit or thumbs versions on either of these devices.

[fredrikk32083070]

Hi again,

I now suspect hw errors are causing this issue, either camera or memory card. I snapped a few new shots, and some of them experienced the same problem. However, when I first converted them to DNG (using Adobe DNG converter), they imported and synced flawlessly. My guess is now that some of my NEFs are corrupt, but not too bad for LR to process them. The problem started when they were synced/shared through the cloud, which could mean that the LR cloud is more strict than LR (local program) for file integrity, And that the DNG converter cleaned up what ever was wrong.

My suspicion comes from the fact that my camera was water damaged a few weeks ago, and is not working 100%, crippling some features of the camera, but not (until now) affecting images. Possibly, hw glitches produce intermittent harmless write errors in the raw files.

I will try to verify and report back, will keep the thread open until I have confirmed the pattern,

Fredrik

[99jon]

I always convert my Canon raw files to DNG. It’s a more efficient raw format with no loss of quality. I think there have been some problems with NEF but usually where the wrong Nikon software has been used e.g. from and older Nikon model and not the software that ships with the camera.

[fredrikk32083070]

I can now confirm that my Nikon Coolpix A is incapable of creating NEFs which work with the LR cloud. They appear OK in camera and in the local LR CC device from which they are imported, but they are not completely accessible from other connected devices. Workarounds are:

1. Convert NEF-->DNG before importing, which is a bit of a hurdle

2. Only save JPG in camera

3. Ditch my beloved Coolpix A...

Thank you for looking into my problem.

F