Photos not importing Olympus RAW files

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Level 1

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Photos not importing Olympus RAW files

I shoot with Olympus micro four thirds cameras which use a RAW format with filename extension of .ORF. I normally use Olympus Workspace to edit my photos and have not been using Photos to organize them until I tried a test case a few days ago.

When I try to import these .ORF files from an SD card, Photos properly creates a folder but there are no files actually imported into the folder.

When I import .JPEG files from the SD card, it works perfectly...unless there are also any .ORF files on the card!!!

I had assumed Photos didn't support RAW but another Olympus shooter tells me he imports his RAW files all the time, so I checked in Apple Support and found the list of supported cameras for RAW import and all my cameras are on the list.

What's going on here?

iMac 27", mid-2011, 2.7G i5 quad core, 16GB RAM

Photos v3.0 (3291.13.230)

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 27, 2022 2:20 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,909 points

Jan 28, 2022 12:35 AM in response to mudbucker

Here is the raw support list for High Sierra:

Digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra - Apple Support

As you state, your EM10 is supported. Don't bother trying with the EM1 III - it won't work.

Rather than looking in the folder that photos creates, have you tried looking in the all photos view. Alternatively if something is being imported it will show at the end of the list in the in the imports folder.

Also do you have the "copy items to library" option selected in settings? And are you selecting the items you want to import and then clicking import selected? Or are you clicking import all new items? If the latter, are they being listed as new items?

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

163,686 points

Jan 27, 2022 3:09 PM in response to mudbucker

Raw support is not based on brand but on the model of camera. So, just because the app, say, imports from a Nikon z50, it does not mean it will necessarily import from a Nikon z9. Raw support is added model by model. So, what Olympus cameras do you use?

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Answer 3

mudbucker Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 27, 2022 4:06 PM in response to Yer_Man

I understand it's not by brand...I read the list and my OMD E-M10 is there but my OMD E-M5mkIII is not (mkII is) becasue it didn't exist when High Sierra was the current OS. I've imported JPEGs successfully going back to 2015 when I got the E-M10. They were actually imported into iPhoto at the time. When I started shooting RAW around 2017, I worked with the Olympus Workspace software and stopped importing JPEGs into iPhoto. Since that time, with OS updates my iMac finally installed Photos and the iPhoto Library was converted.

When I do Review for Import I can see the images from the .ORF files from either camera, which means Photos can indeed read the files but the files never show up in the folder that Photos creates.

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Answer 4

Yer_Man

Level 10

163,686 points

Jan 27, 2022 11:34 PM in response to mudbucker

When you review for import the app is not reading the .ORF but instead seeing the Jpeg preview that's a part of every raw file. If your camera isn't on the list for your OS then it Is not supported on that OS.

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Answer 5

mudbucker Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 28, 2022 8:57 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Well, this is interesting. I did have the box for "Copy items to the Photos Library" checked. I unchecked it, then rechecked i and the import worked fine for the supported camera and not for the unsupported camera.

Thanks, Tony!

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Answer 6

Jan 28, 2022 9:55 AM in response to mudbucker

Welcome - but I've never heard of that solution solving an import problem before.

Glad it is working for you now though.

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Photos not importing Olympus RAW files

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