Can’t sync raw photos

Question

Level 1

9 points

Can’t sync raw photos

I used to use my Canon 5D III to take my family photos in RAW format. In order to collect a full album of my two kids I used Photos to import the RAWs and edit them. Once I completed the edit then I will sync them to my iPhone. However recently I found this practice no longer worked. I can still import and edit the RAWs but can’t sync to my iPhone. I have tried to create a new system library and transfer all my photos to the new library it’s worked only for once and the problem persists.

Posted on Dec 28, 2022 8:13 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rob_H1

Community Specialist

Jan 2, 2023 9:19 AM in response to Sampapa

Thank you for the reply Sampapa!

Do you use iCloud Photos to update your photos across devices or do you have iCloud Photos turned off and use Finder to sync your photos? We ask because How the Photos app and iCloud Photos handle RAW images mentions the following:

"iCloud Photos keeps your photos and videos up to date on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. If your photo library includes images in RAW format, you can view and edit them on your Mac or iPad.

About RAW files on your Mac

The availability of RAW files on your Mac depends on a few conditions:

If you have the Download Originals to this Mac option turned on in Photos (Photos > Preferences > iCloud > Download Originals to this Mac), then your RAW files are always present in Photos on your Mac.
If you have the Optimize Mac Storage option turned on, then your RAW files are stored in iCloud Photos. The Photos app saves disk space on your Mac by displaying optimized JPEG versions of your RAW images. If you edit an optimized image on your Mac, Photos downloads the RAW file for that image.
When Photos downloads a RAW image from iCloud Photos, it creates a new full-sized JPEG for optimal viewing on your Mac. It won't replace the RAW and embedded JPEG file already stored in iCloud. iOS devices will view the embedded JPEG.
RAW files that you store outside the Photos app library (for example, in your Pictures folder) are always present on your Mac, but aren't stored in iCloud and won't stay up to date in the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch."

Keep us posted.

Reply

Answer 2

Jaym_8

Community Specialist

Dec 29, 2022 2:21 PM in response to Sampapa

Hello Sampapa,

To start, you'll want to add more specific detail to your post about the issue. What is preventing you from syncing your iPhone? Is it not allowing you to select the Photos category? Is the Sync button grayed out/unavailable? Are you getting some sort of error message? Are you able to run the sync but the selected items don't show up on the phone when it's finished? Etc.

Details like these will help give the community a better idea of what exactly you're seeing so members can provide more relevant responses.

In the meantime here's some basic steps for syncing that may help: Use the Finder to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with your computer

Cheers!

Reply

Answer 3

mikeg28806

Community Specialist

Jan 2, 2023 6:32 PM in response to Sampapa

We appreciate you keeping the thread up to speed Sampapa,

As you mentioned, we would expect the images to be available in your Photo Stream after you've made an edit from your Mac.

From here, we recommend that you contact Apple Support who will have access to the tools and resources needed to investigate and assist further.

Take care!

Reply

Answer 4

Sampapa Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 1, 2023 7:32 PM in response to Jaym_8

Sorry for confusing you.

Previously, every time when I have taken RAW photos, what I have to do was very simple, importing all Raws to Photos, then i can sync everything to my iPhone anytime when I do syncing in Finder. Recently, I did the same thing. Finder did the syncing with iPhone. However, the syncing process did the syncing of the photos taken by my iPhone (HIEC photos) but there is no sign of syncing the RAWs.

I don't know whether I have given you enough information. Please DO ask if you need more information.

Thanks

Reply

Answer 5

Sampapa Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 2, 2023 4:33 PM in response to Rob_H1

Thanks for your prompt reply, Rob.

I don't use iCloud Photos, My Photo Stream and Shared Albums under Photos Preference, or ALL these three options are turned off. My tension is to keep, as far s I can, the photos of my two kid, from born to grown, and the albums is now 36k+ numbers and taking 700Gb+ size, so its quite a storage. My normal practice is very simple. Once I have taken RAW photos from my DSLR camera, I import them to Photos library and do some simple edits. Once it's complete, all the photo are then synced to my iPhone for easy sharing via WhatsApp or Facebook. It's been over 20 years I didn't come across any issues. Recently, the HDD of my iMac broke down and I swapped to an external SSD as the startup disk and I found that, even though I didn't have any trouble in importing the RAWs to the photo library, some macOS apps, e.g. Honda Geo, could not recognise the newly imported RAWs, nor the syncing to iPhone.

P.S. I can sync HIEC photos to iPhone without any issue.

Reply

Answer 6

Sampapa Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 3, 2023 5:33 PM in response to mikeg28806

Thanks

Reply

Can’t sync raw photos

Similar questions