Hello all - New to DxO, PhotoLab and this Forum.
I am having the following problem. When importing photos from my camera to my Mac and when they automatically transfer to PhotoLab, PL is making multiple copies of each photo.
Today PL was duplicating a downloaded jpeg photo 5 times and a downloaded raw photo 5 times.
I believe I must have certain settings in PL set wrong but cannot find the problem.
Can anyone here tell me how to correct the issue?
PL does not import anything, it just accesses the folders in which you put your images.
As Colin said, PhotoLab does not actually import any images, it just points to their location in whatever folder you copied them to on your hard drive. The Photo Library is nothing more than a file manager. It only displays what is already in your folders. Are you sure that you’re not seeing multiple virtual copies, which is a very different thing? If you use your computer’s file manager do you actually see multiple copies of your raw and JPEG images?
Additionally, hopefully you are not trying to edit your images directly from your camera’s SD drive which is bad practice.
Mark
Hi Colin — To keep the explanation as simple as possible, I’ll use the following as an example of what’s happening:
Example, in photos I transfer 1 photo from my camera (Canon R6II) to my Apple Photos folder. This photo has jpg and raw listed in the upper left hand corner of the photo. (I shoot jpeg and raw)
When PL accesses the photo, 7 jpegs are transferred over to PL and 7 raw copies are transferred over to PL. 14 total copies / duplicate photos.
Only 1 photo In my Photos folder becomes 14 photos in DxO when PL accesses the photo.
There must be a setting or settings in PL that I can adjust to stop this from occurring.
Your thoughts?
Thank you.
Gary
Hi Mark — Same response as above.
To keep the explanation as simple as possible, I’ll use the following as an example of what’s happening:
Example, in photos I transfer 1 photo from my camera (Canon R6II) to my Apple Photos folder. This photo has jpg and raw listed in the upper left hand corner of the photo. (I shoot jpeg and raw)
When PL accesses the photo, 7 jpegs are transferred over to PL and 7 raw copies are transferred over to PL. 14 total copies / duplicate photos.
Only 1 photo In my Photos folder becomes 14 photos in DxO when PL accesses the photo.
There must be a setting or settings in PL that I can adjust to stop this from occurring.
Your thoughts?
Thank you.
Gary
Using the Apple Photos app is probably causing the multiplication. AP’s database contains all sorts of previews and thumbnails depending on how you set AP.
Try the following
It’s definitely not PhotoLab because PhotoLab never transfers any files anywhere. It oes not have an import feature. Its file manager does not have any automatic functionality. It just presents a view of your folders and the files within them. It certainly does not have the ability to create duplicate copies of your raw atnd JPEG files. The built-in file manager is manually operated by the user and there is no ability to duplicate files., even manually. Something else in your workflow is causing this issue.
Mark
I bet it is Apple Photos that is causing the issue. The Photos database is a pretty complicated thing and PL is not designed to work with it. Copy your images to a folder that is not used by Apple Photos and your issue will go way. I have used PL from version 1 and have never seen the issue you describe - am also on Mac.
There is no such thing as an Apple Photos folder.
When you open Photos, what you are seeing is the application’s user interface to its database manager. When you drag images into that window, Photos takes those files, makes several different sized thumbnails for viewing at different resolutions and adds entries to the database so that it can find them when needed. Here is what is inside the Photos App icon…
The app creates a a default “bundle”, which is badged with the Photos app icon, and is placed in your Pictures folder. If I use Finder to look inside this bundle, this is what I see…
… and if I drill down to the Originals folder, I see…
Then you have all sorts of “stuff” in other sub-folders that are managed by the app.
What you have got, by default, is the ability too see the Photos bundle in the PhotoLab Library pane…
This is “dangerous” and you really would be better off disabling this in PhotoLab preferences…
Now, what has happened so far, is that you have unwittingly and unnecessarily “buried” your image files in the Photos bundle’s Originals folder.
In order to return to some state of sanity, you are going to need to use Finder to retrieve all those files from their automatically created sub-folders and move them to an appropriately named and arranged hierarchy under your Pictures folder…
Something like this…
… although how you arrange them is up to you.
Once you have disabled the “reading bundles” setting, you can then use the PhotoLab Library browser to point to any sub-folder in your Pictures folder, or indeed, any folder anywhere on any of your disks…
If the above isn’t clear, let us know and either I or someone else will help further
Please be aware that doing this will deliver the files with long cryptic filenames.
Use Apple Photos to export the originals instead. This will produce friendlier names and xmp sidecars that can include metadata like e.g. a copyright notice etc.
Ah yes! I had forgotten that bit. As @platypus says, use the Export Originals menu item to extract them from their inner sanctum with their original filenames.
Thank you all very much for your recommendations.
I contacted DxO and because I am using PL6, they won’t give me any support. However, several times they have hinted that I could solve my issue by “looking into the user guide for this version and searching for the export settings to hopefully assist you with your questions”.
DxO seems to be hinting the answer / reason for my problem is in the export settings.
I reviewed that area and I guess I don’t know what to look for and could not see a solution.
Any of you familiar with the export settings.
What you have been told by DxO is utter rubbish. I’m in a meeting this evening but, if nobody else replies, I will later
That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Perhaps they did not understand your problem, but I can tell you without a doubt that the export feature has absolutely nothing to do with the issue you reported. All an export will do is create a single output version of your edited file In TIFF, DNG, or JPEG formats once you manually initiate it. It is not triggered automatically and does not make copies of your original files.
Mark
That sounds like a very “dog in the manger” attitude. There is essentially no difference in how images are read into PL for many versions now.
As Mark says, your advice from DxO is total rubbish to be completely ignored.
Is there any chance you could write a step by step description of exactly what you are doing from when you get your images from the camera? Do you remove the memory card from the camera or do you use the Image Transfer app provided by Apple with a USB cable?
To start with, where exactly do you transfer the files to? The Photos (flower) icon in Pictures, or a sub-folder in your Pictures folder?
Any chance of screenshots ?
Been away a few days – flew to Spain on 10/31. Now in Alicante.
I believe the problem is with Apple Photos. I deleted two Photo Library’s and now down to one. Instead of receiving up to seven copies of each photo, I transfer, I now receive two of each photo.
As to what I do to transfer my photos from the camera: I remove the memory card from the camera and place it in my Mac. From the memory card image that appears on my screen, I download the photos using Image Capture and then from there into the pictures folder. During this process, they automatically transfer into PL6. I don’t do anything to transfer them. Somehow PL6 picks them up and the photos transfer over. Now I am receiving two copies of each photo. two copies of the jpeg and two copies of the raw. That’s better than seven of each, but now I need to get it down to only one of each.
If anyone has any further recommendations or is familiar with Apple Photos, any help is appreciated.
Does this article give any clues?
That’s because PL6 simply reads files directly from your disks. It doesn’t do any importing or transferring
Please add a screen capture of the browser (left sidebar) of the Photo Library tab and tell us, which folder you usually select:
Have you set Apple Photos to replicate images to iCloud?
Which is the target folder of the Image Capture app? Settings?
Nothing of what I can read from your description has ever created multiple copies of images I read from a memory card. The only reason i can currently make out is, that other apps are set to automatically import images and copy them to a common folder. Almost every image software can auto-import files (if set to do so) and if the respective target folders are the same, the multiplication occurs.
For starters, you can try the following: quit all apps, log out of your user account and log in again. Insert/connect the memory card … and just wait. Do you get and files read from the card? Where do they go (search with Finder for files that have been added in the last few minutes) and note the path to the new image files like e.g. Users > account name > Pictures > (and all the rest that the finder will show)
Best practice: Copy, with Finder, the folder with the images to your desired location. Once done, eject the card and correct the location and folder name appropriately … before launching any app.
Caution: The Image Capture App has had the reputation of occasionally losing images. I only use it very carefully (after I’ve downloaded the files with Finder or Lightroom Classic)
Thanks Joanna for the recommendation.
I think I have solved the problem by bypassing image capture and downloading directly from the EOS file on my computer to pictures.
Whatever I did or not do, I ended up with 1 photo’s jpg and raw.
I may have mentioned I was testing PL6 and really liked it but prior to purchasing it, I needed to work through this issue.
I believe I will go ahead and purchasing PL6. My computer is a 2014 version 11.7 Big Sur and the only version of PL that will work is PL6.
Even though it is not the most current version of PL, they still are going to charge me full retail and then not give me any support.
Not really complaining, I’m going to pay full price. Just thought I would put it out there.
Thanks for all that tried to help. Much appreciated.
I always use Image Capture via a USB connection to my camera. But - I have set it to not start automatically. this means I can download only those files I want simply by dragging them from Image Capture to whatever folder I desire in Finder.
This sounds like you have set your camera to take both formats. Why? There is absolutely no need to take JPEGs, as you can easily create them by exporting from PL as and when you need them. This will save you from filling up your camera card and hard disk so quickly.
I don’t think you will be able to purchase PL6 as it is already two years out of date. Do I take it that you are currently using the free trial? If so, how did you obtain it as it hasn’t been available since the launch of PL7, which is a lot longer than 30 days ago.
PL8 requires a minimum of Ventura and the oldest Mac that support that are dated 2017.
Unfortunately, you may have to face up to the reality that your 'puter is just plain too old to move forwards with newer versions of PL and that, if you haven’t already got a full copy of PL6, you are not going to be able to obtain one.
The cheapest Mac has to be a Mac Mini, which I would highly recommend, unless you absolutely have to have a laptop.
