P: (Mac) Direct Camera Connect fails to show previews in Import Dialog

Report · Jun 04, 2023

My system has worked perfectly for many years, but I’m encountering strange issues on import in Lr Classic that have recently plagued me.

When importing via a plugged in thunderbolt cable into my R5s:

- image previews no longer load into the thumbnails, or will load dramatically slower and one at a time. (Whereas they used to snap into each empty thumbnail cells immediately)

- sometimes it will show no photos to import (which was frightening the first few times to see). I’ll cancel and reopen the import prompt which usually works after the second or third try.

- sometimes import window will show photos from other shoot days but not my most recent images. I’ll cancel the import prompt and reopen. Often it’ll all load in after a few tries.

- If I get through these issues, the most difficult part is actually importing. Import can take 5 minutes before starting, if I’m lucky. (It used to start within 10 seconds.) Two out of three times the import completely fails to start.

Other details:

- This seems to happen with all three of my Canon R5s

- I’m encountering this issue on my Mac Studio running Ventura 13.3.1

- My Lr Classic (v. 12.3) catalogues and previews are stored on my internal HD

- My photos are stored on a 70TB OWC Thunderbay. (I switched from Drobo 8D fairly recently)

- The same R5 and imported photos load like normal on my MBP when imported.

- This is happening with multiple LrC catalogues

- This issue started happening for a few weeks, prior to updating to the latest Lr Classic

Since this issue is happening with multiple catalogs and cameras, I was thinking it was either with my Mac Studio that stores the catalogues, or my OWC Thunderbay external since it stores the photos. However since this issue seems to happen before I technically need to select the destination drive, now I’m thinking the issue is my computer where Lr is running.

Could this be a RAM problem? Has anyone encountered this issue before?

Any ideas based are greatly appreciated since importing after a shoot has gone from taking 10 minutes of my times to 2 hrs. Hopefully this can help others too.

Report · Jun 28, 2023

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this Bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-mac-direct-camera-connect-fails-to-show-prev...

Report · Jun 28, 2023

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-mac-direct-camera-connect-fails-to-show-prev...

Report · Jun 29, 2023

Another workaround for mobile devices:

5. In LR Mobile, enable the option Auto Add From Device Photos. In LR Classic, enable sync with LR Cloud. After photos sync from the mobile device to LR Classic, if you wish to remove the photos from LR Cloud, delete them from the special collection All Synced Photographs in LR Classic.

Report · Jun 29, 2023

I have a very similar issue also. It has only happened in the past seven days. I am running Apple Ventura software version 13.4.1 (latest revision). LRC version 12.4 (latest revision) and when I plug my Canon R5 camera into the USB (C type port) it detects images (greyed out place holders) file name (RAW files) but no images. If I import the images then become visible at the imported location. I have made no known changes to my system, any advice welcomed?

Report · Jun 29, 2023

@NiiiiiJ, while waiting for Adobe to fix this, see these workarounds:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-mac-direct-camera-connect-fails-to-show-prev...

Report · Jun 30, 2023

In version 12.4 I can't see my photo's to import from camera in gridmodus.

I only see gray boxes, without any preview.

Version 12.3 works very well.

What can I do for solving this problem in version 12.4 ?

Report · Jun 30, 2023

Adobe has acknowledged this bug in 12.4. See this post for workarounds while waiting for a fix:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-mac-direct-camera-connect-fails-to-show-prev...

Report · Jun 30, 2023

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this existing bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-mac-direct-camera-connect-fails-to-show-prev...

Report · Jul 01, 2023

I'm seeing this too as new behaviour for LRC 12.4. It has been fine on 12.3 and earlier.

It seems to update after several minutes (possibly just as the camera goes to sleep or disconnects). If you double click an image you can see the full frame preview.

Flying blind and just importing seems to work.

On macOS Monterey 12.6.7.

Screen Shot 2023-07-01 at 10.24.16 pm.png

Report · Jul 01, 2023

This bug is affecting more than just the import dialogue in LrC. For instance sometimes the import dialogue claims there are no photos and the jaw dropping part is unplugging my camera, hitting the play button, and seeing NO PHOTOS ON MY CAMERA until I do a battery pull. What could possibly cause that to happen?

The only workaround for me has been using a card reader but I can't do that for the iPhone, which also has this same issue.

What are the next steps with something like this ... do these posts actually get read by Adobe?

Report · Jul 01, 2023

Sameer,

Were you ever able to get to the bottom of this? Seems many others including myself are experiencing this issue now, and it's really affecting my ability to work.

Report · Jul 02, 2023

do these posts actually get read by Adobe? Excellent question.
Adobe should be ashamed it provides no mechanism to communicate directly to
them through any format. Lack of technical support is a problem.

--
Bill
Sent from my iPhone 11 Pro Max or from my computer, one or the other.

Report · Jul 02, 2023

Apologies - when the bug was written, the status never got set on this post. Setting now.

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org

Report · Jul 02, 2023

If the import function is used, the thumbnails are not displayed. A gray frame is displayed based on the preview image. If the import function is then closed and opened a second time, all previews appear.

Photos are to be imported from a Nikon Z9.

Lightroom Classic-Version: 12.4

Betriebssystem: Mac OS 13 Version: 13.4.1 [22F82]

Report · Jul 03, 2023

Are you importing by connecting the camera? I believe that is a known issue.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Report · Jul 03, 2023

I have the same problem with importing photos by connected camera.
Nikon D850

Mac Ventura on MacMini

Report · Jul 03, 2023

I can confirm, connecting my Z8 by cable the previews in LR are blank. Click "cancel" and then click "import" on the file menu (top LH of the screen on my Mac) and the previews now come up as they should. Thanks Dieter2aRider that's sorted the problem for me.

Chaz

Report · Jul 04, 2023

Since using Lightroom Classic, when I plug in my iphone and select the Import window in LrC, a preview of all photos on my iPhone appears, the same way it does with memory cards when I'm important photos from my other cameras. Recently (not sure when or why), LrC has stopped showing any previews of photos on the iPhone in the Import window (attached photo) Screen Shot 2023-07-04 at 1.10.59 PM.png . So, I have no idea which photos I would be importing. If I double click any item, it opens the photo and I can see it. But, obviously this is not a practical way of determining which photos to import. I'm using an iPhone 14 Pro on iOS 16.5.1 and LrC 12.4 with Camera Raw 15.4. Creative Cloud indicates I'm using the latest version of all Adobe products and the iPhone firmware is the latest as well.

I've quit LrC, rebooted my Mac, rebooted my iPhone. Nothing fixes it.

Anyone know why this is happening and how to make previews appear again as they do when I insert an SD or CF Express or any other card?

Report · Jul 04, 2023

This has been happening to me as well. Except that I can occasionally see some previews.

Sometimes clicking on another input source, then back to the iPhone brings up a few dozen previews. Sometimes cancelling the import, then trying to import again brings up a few previews. Sometimes scrolling up and down the import window or waiting 10s of minutes or hours helps. But for the last week or two, I haven't been able to load all of the previews.

Unlocking the phone doesn't do anything. My phone "trusts" my computer.

I also have tried other media cards and Lightroom can load the previews from them fine. I also am using an iPhone 14 Pro on a Mac, fully updated Lightroom Classic app.

Any ideas?

Report · Jul 05, 2023

Been having the same issue when I try to download from my Canon RP camera.

Take the card out and put it in a card reader and sometimes yes, sometimes no show.

I am concerned about taking out the memory card as I'm seeing issues with the contacts in cameras getting damaged.

Report · Jul 05, 2023

Same issue. I notice the intermittency the past day or so since posting. Very frustrating. I assume a bug introduced in latest iOS or adobe LrC.

Interested if anyone has found a fix to the iPhone photos and videos not showing previews in the Import window?

Report · Jul 05, 2023

This thread is about the issue happening with iPhones. There are other threads you can search and find about camera cards having this issue.

Report · Jul 08, 2023

I last imported photos from my camera to Lightroom a couple of months ago; it has always worked fine. Today I tried again and it failed as follows:

- The import screen appears and the little cards in the main area indicating the filename of each image on the camera appear - maybe slower than usual.

- None of the image cards display an actual image preview, they're all blank as if not loaded

- If I go ahead and select images (or just one image) to import, then the import screen goes away as normal and there is a progress bar in the top of the application, but this progress bar never progresses. If I eventually try to exit Lightroom, it does not fully exit (the program stays running and has to be killed).

Using Lightroom 12.4 release (is on an Mac Mini (M1), connected to Fujifilm X100V using the Fujifilm-supplied USB A-to-C cable.

I tried:

* Using a different cable

* Restarting computer

* Deleting some of the pictures (that were already transferred) from the camera before connecting it

* Checking for camera firmware updates (none)

None of this helped so I'm wondering if this might be a bug introduced in 12.4 or another recent update. (Presumably, using an SD reader to get the data from the camera would work; I haven't actually tried this because I've lost mine, might have to get a new one.)

System info pasted below

Lightroom Classic version: 12.4 [ 202306052221-b70c0975 ]
License: Creative Cloud
Language setting: en-GB
Operating system: Mac OS 13
Version: 13.4.1 [22F82]
Application architecture: arm64
Logical processor count: 8
Processor speed: NA
SqLite Version: 3.36.0
Built-in memory: 16,384.0 MB
Real memory available to Lightroom: 16,384.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 1,524.7 MB (9.3%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 409,452.9 MB
Memory cache size: 84.2MB
Internal Camera Raw version: 15.4 [ 1508 ]
Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2
Camera Raw virtual memory: 225MB / 8191MB (2%)
Camera Raw real memory: 226MB / 16384MB (1%)
Standard Preview Size: 1440 pixels
Displays: 1) 1920x1200

Graphics Processor Info:
Metal: Apple M1
Init State: GPU for Export supported by default
User Preference: Auto

Application folder: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic
Library Path: /Users/sam/Pictures/Lightroom/Lightroom Catalog-2-v12.lrcat
Settings Folder: /Users/sam/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom

Installed Plugins:
1) AdobeStock
2) Aperture/iPhoto Importer Plug-in
3) Flickr
4) Nikon Tether Plugin

Config.lua flags: None

Report · Jul 08, 2023

@samuelm64545694, as you can see in the merged thread, Adobe has acknowledged this bug. It may be a bug in LR 12.4, or it may be a bug in Mac OS triggered by a code change in LR 12.4. Regardless, see these less-convenient workarounds:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-mac-direct-camera-connect-fails-to-show-prev...