Difficulty importing photos from iPhone to MBP

[badshoehabit]

I curse every day that Apple has discontinued PhotoStream. I've managed the last few months by using Air Drop but transferring the 1000+ images from a three-week trip to India has me tearing my hair out. I've read previous posts about transfer and tried various methods (Import seems to want to take forever) and landed on Image Capture as the best option. I select the images I want but 'Download' is greyed out and the only available option is 'Download All' (no, I don't want all 7,000...).

What am I missing/doing wrong? Thanks in anticipation.

Cost is the reason I won't use iCloud.

 

[IWT]

Sue

I don't know what "you're missing/doing wrong". It should work.

I agree that the loss of PhotoStream was a bummer. I also understand your reluctance re iCloud.

I do use iCloud Photos to sync with my 2 iMacs and my iPad, but NOT my iPhone. So when I take pics/vids on my iPhone, I attach the iPhone to the Mac by cable. Then I open photos app, click on the iPhone on the left and after it populates the screen, choose the pics/vids and click on Import. That way I keep my iPhone "clean" but once added to a Mac, it then syncs across my other, older iMac and my iPad.

Yes you can use Image Capture, I do myself at times. In some ways it's harder to select cases than with the photos app; but I've never had a "Download All" message.

Give the photos app approach a try.

And do please come back if you still have difficulties.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

I just experimented and as soon as I selected any image, the "Download" button when from grey to available. It should work. But as Ian says, if you ultimately want them in Photos, importing directly from Photos would be the best way.

 

[Rod]

I know that connecting the iPhone and using Import (new) in Photos takes a while especially 1000+ but there really is no better way. Maybe just leave it run over night?

 

[badshoehabit]

Thanks, all, for the input. Not had a chance to try again but will.

My Mac is (ssh...) seven years old now and storage (mostly Photos) is pushing the limit so I'm looking at future options. iCloud would cost me £10pm, £120pa.

If I bought an external SSD for Photos storage, can I use that the same as if Photos was on the computer? Will I be able to click and drag, for instance, or Air Drop photos from my iPhone? Other than Time Machine, I've not used an external storage system.

Looking at
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BN4J1994/

Or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09SBDWXD8/

Or

(outdated link removed)

 

[MacInWin]

If I bought an external SSD for Photos storage, can I use that the same as if Photos was on the computer? Will I be able to click and drag, for instance, or Air Drop photos from my iPhone? Other than Time Machine, I've not used an external storage system.

Yes. You would move the Photos photolibrary file to the external and it would function exactly the same. The only differences might be in the speed of access as the internal buss is much faster than the USB port unless you are on a very fast port (TB4). Also, the drive will need to be attached any time you run Photos as it will look for that location when started.

 

[badshoehabit]

Yes. You would move the Photos photolibrary file to the external and it would function exactly the same. The only differences might be in the speed of access as the internal buss is much faster than the USB port unless you are on a very fast port (TB4). Also, the drive will need to be attached any time you run Photos as it will look for that location when started.

Thank you so much. I'll buy one and see how long the aged MBP lasts!

 

[IWT]

+1 for everything Jake said

Ian

 

[Rod]

Yep +1 for what Jake said.
Also if your storage is nearly full it will slow down your Mac, especially processing large folders.
I'm a bit puzzled about your reference to iCloud cost though:

United Kingdom3 (GBP)
50GB: £0.99
200GB: £2.99
2TB: £8.99
6TB: £26.99
12TB: £54.99

As you can see 2TB is less than £10/month and that's a lot of storage. Of course you may be a more prolific photographer than even my wife who gets by on a shared 500GB with me @ AU$4.50/month.
She has archived two older libraries onto EHD's though and that may be the trick.

 

[badshoehabit]

Library currently 260gb. There’s no 500gb option. Not happy to pay over £100pa to Apple when there was a perfectly good sync system in PhotoStream. It’s just greed. Samsung SSD arrivied, about to transfer.

 

[badshoehabit]

Transfer of entire Phots Library to SSD easy, moved over in less than an hour and freed up half my storage on the MBP. It's a compact device but sturdy, rubber wrapped and the USB stays in the slot.

However, copying the photos from my iPhone, which included images from my Lumix FZ300 camera (where I wanted the extra x12 zoom), was tortuous and took about 20 attempts with different options. There were steps I din't realise I had to do so it was trial and lots of error. Image Capture transferred but then I couln't get them into a new album. Trying to import over 1000 failed. so did them in batches eventually and I hope I've not missed any.