SD card import into Photos app on Mac not working

I tested my DJI P3P. It formats the SD card as MS-DOS (FAT32) with a disk name "NO NAME" and folder structure:

DCIM

100MEDIA

DJI_0620.DNG

DJI_0621.DNG

etc

Ventura Image Capture and Photos automatically display that card in their import choices.

But if I use Disk Utility to format the card as "UNTITLED" MS-DOS (FAT), Master Boot Record, and just put those .DNG files to it, then neither Image Capture or Photos see it. But just manually creating those DCIM and 100MEDIA subfolders makes it to work in those apps again (the latter subfolder name can also be something like 999ABCDE as long as there are three numbers 100-999 followed by five letters).

Todd Hotchkiss wrote:

I tried reformatting it disk utility to MS-DOS FAT, but the drone said it is unsupported. Reformatted in camera to ExFAT as it was before. Still no joy.

I get the same "No Photos" if the DCIM folder structure is not precisely to the letter as I described above. Maybe your DJI does not properly follow the DCIM spec?

Did you try that with exFAT? My DJI P3P uses MS-DOS FAT but newer DJIs apparently use exFAT because it allows >4 GB files (my P3P annoyingly splits movies and drops about 2 frames in the process which is a pain to smoothly edit out with Final Cut Pro -- that's why I make sure to start a lengthy movie capture just before the action starts so the split does not occur in some important spot...).

I suggest using the drone to format the SD card because the device knows what format it wants.

If all else fails, just copy the files via the Finder.

Format the card in the camera, take more images and try again. Try also Applications/Image Capture.app instead Photo.app to import the files.

Photos and Image Capture works also via exFAT-formatted SD card as long as the directory structure is as described above.

So something like DCIM/100MEDIA/DJI_0628.DNG works but your DJI Avata2's DCIM/DJI_001/DJI_0628.DNG does not:

"Dear DJI, please fix Avata 2 file/folder naming to fit DCF spec":

https://forum.dji.com/thread-311643-1-1.html

Richard, have you disabled the checkmark "Open Photos" below the toolbar, when Photos opens?

As described here: Import photos from a camera or phone using Photos on Mac - Apple Support (HK)

For me, Photo does no longer open, when I insert a card reader.

I have not paid much attention to DCIM folders on SD cards because they just work for me as expected including DJI P3P. Does your camera/DJI create DCIM directory and file structure when formatting the SD card?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_rule_for_Camera_File_system#Directory_and_file_structure

léonie wrote:

Richard, have you disabled the checkmark "Open Photos" below the toolbar, when Photos opens?

As described here: Import photos from a camera or phone using Photos on Mac - Apple Support (HK)

Yes-- that's what I meant by "it doesn't insist." When it's unchecked, Photos still shows the SD in the sidebar-- but if Photos was closed when the card was inserted, it doesn't open. With that box checked Photos opens when it sees pictures somewhere. Since I have Photos open almost all the time, I usually close it before inserting a card.

On the other hand, I really hate that Photos wants to take over when I insert my SD card! Luckily, it doesn't insist. But what I want is to drag those image files to a folder in Finder and save that folder forever, as a backup. Then I drag them to Photos. I like backups!

And sometimes there is an advantage to being able to modify metadata on the image files before they are loaded into Photos.