camera to computer

hrh

Senior Member
Hi everyone

I have upgraded from D40 to D7200. In the past I loaded my photos to iPhoto and did a bit of processing sorting etc. there.
With the new camera I intend to be more proactive and I have purchased Adobe Classic on a monthly subscription.
Should I still be loading direct to iPhoto? That is what I have been doing. I then copy to a desktop file and transfer to Lightroom Classic.
I am operating a macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 with approx. 350 gb of space available.

When I load to LR I notice the different options 1/copy as dng 2/copy 3/move 4/add
At the start I was loading copy as dng. Once I started reading some conversations on the forum I felt it was a mistake to continue that option.
Now I use the add option thinking that the original copy(raw)stay in iPhoto. Is that a correct assumption?
If the move option is selected does that mean all photos are now in LR and none in iPhotos? Same ? re copy option?
I have watched the videos for LR and have been unable to find these answers as well as searching the forum. If the answers are here please just point me in that direction.

I have spent the last 2-3 weeks reading the forum and have upgraded my skills 100%. It is an enjoyable learning curve .
Thank you for any assistance and I hope I have provided enough info.
 

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Welcome!

Don't use Adobe, but some one should be along who can help! Looking forward to seeing some of those pictures.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
When you click on the LR Import button, you'll notice the panels on the far right... scroll down a bit, and you'll see "Destination..." and you'll see a Finder type structure, where you can navigate your drives/folders...

If you select Copy/Add/Move as an action, the destination will be where Adobe applies that action...

If you select Move, and you've pointed to images in your Photos folder, they will be Moved to where the Destination is in those right-hand panes...

I'll outline my work flow a bit an it might give you some ideas...

Whenever I insert the SD card in my Mac, I create a temp folder right on my Desktop.
I simply open the SD card and drag the images to the Temp folder
Then I have my LR's Import set to COPY

I have a separate USB drive for my photos... and it's setup with a date structure of year/Month/Day

When I import the images from the Temp folder, they get copied to the USB drive, in the date structure format...

I have another USB drive setup as strictly a copy of the first USB drive...with a program that runs every night at a designated time, and synchronizes both drives...

I also have LR setup to store all my catalogues on the USB drive...

After a bit, I eventually drag the temp folder on the Desktop to the Trash. I have an SSD drive in my Mac, and try to keep from storing stuff there except programs...all the data, as much as possible, gets stored on the USB drives..

The above basically gives me two complete LR/image backups that can be plugged into any computer, and worked with, in LR, within minutes.

Hope this long drawn out process answers some of your questions about how/where LR imports stuff.
 
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RocketCowboy

Senior Member
Howdy and welcome to Nikonites!!!

Whether or not you continue to use iPhoto/Photos is completely up to you. It's not needed as part of your Lightroom workflow, but if you're using iPhoto to sync images across your devices then it may make sense to continue using it.

I typically use the Creative Cloud subscription to selectively sync collections to my devices, rather than using iCloud/iPhotos to do so. I haven't been impressed since Apple migrated from iPhoto to Photos, so decided to just skip that whole ecosystem for photo sharing and put it into Creative Cloud. Just another option that may work for you.
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

I don't use anything apple, but I am sure other will help you out.
 

hrh

Senior Member
Thank you for the welcomes.

FredKingston-- I am currently having some problems working out the transferring and storing of files.

In one instance it opened up Capture NX-D and I see I have 2 photos residing there. I am sure I can sort that out.

My other concern was a file missing notice when I switched to develop mode. That was because I had not loaded them properly to LR. When I plugged the USB back in I was able to work on the photos.

When you have finished all your editing and remove your external storage USB drives you are unable to do any more work on your photos. Is that a correct statement? If that is correct I am ok with that however I don't want to chance a mistake and lose photos while I am learning the procedure.My last comment /? is if all your photos are stored off site than you are not availing yourself of LR sorting and filing system?Or am I way off base?:)
 
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