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Can't edit photo imported from iphone 4S

After importing my photos to my PC (Windows 7) from my iPhone, I'm unable to edit them (for example, rotate, crop). I get the following error "this photo can't be saved because of a problem with the photo's file properties"

I check the properties, but they seem fine - all the right permissions, not read-only etc.

Occasionally, I will be able to edit a photo. Say 1 out of 10 of those imported. I can see no differences between these files.

I've also tried using different photo editors/viewers with no luck.


Any ideas?


Thanks!

iPhone 4S, iOS 5

Posted on Oct 28, 2011 6:15 PM

Reply
248 replies

Sep 12, 2012 1:55 PM in response to ecbtx

The reason for the issue is listed here:

http://www.neowin.net/news/ios-5s-hardware-shutter-gives-upside-down-images


For those not as tech savvy, Picasa worked for me to let me rotate the files. Download Picasa from Google (its free), view the pics and rotate them in Picasa.


If you are somewhat tech savvy and are familiar with the Windows Command Prompt, you can fix the issue in bulk using jhead and jpegtran as listed in the article.


Basically, download them from here:

http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/jhead.exe

and here:

http://jpegclub.org/jpegtran.exe


1. Create a folder on C:\ drive called temp.

2. save the 2 downloaded files there

3. open command prompt (start | run | type 'cmd' in the box | click OK)

4. at command prompt type:

cd c:\temp

5. then type the following, replacing <path_to_pics> with the complete drive path to the folder storing your pictures

jhead -autorot <path_to_pics>\*.jpg

6. It will process all jpg files in the folder, rotating them all to match the EXIF rotate flag

Sep 17, 2012 10:48 AM in response to ecbtx

All these workarounds don't fix the PROBLEM. APPLE NEEDS TO FIX THE PROBLEM. Why are we, the Apple CUSTOMERS, responsible for finding all these ridiculous 10-step "fixes" when it's APPLE'S SOFTWARE SCREW UP? Why should we have to mess around with the freaking registry to save a photograph HORIZONTALLY?


Yo, Apple, are you listening??

Sep 23, 2012 10:55 AM in response to DrewFromNY

Yes, this does work!! Thank you Yours is a straightforward solution for someone who is not technically minded. I use Windows 7, but could not find the item "Extras" that you refer to. Perhaps here in the UK the Windows 7 version is slightly different to that released in the USA? Anyway the alternative (UK?) solution is to open the photo in Window Live Photo Gallery, highlight it and, in the absence of the "Extras" item, right click to select "Open With". Then follow the rest of your solution. All I would add is that if the original photo is upside down, do not click "Rotate 90 degrees" twice, which will work when viewing the photo but the saved copy will still be shown on the computer as being upside down, instead click "Rotate 180 degree" and then Save. Clicking "Rotate 90 degree" works for photos that are laying on their side. Once again many thanks, this had been a frustrating experience.

Sep 27, 2012 1:11 AM in response to ecbtx

I have this same problem (after editing a photo taken with the iPhone 4S in Windows Live Photo Editor, it won't save). Here are a couple of solutions that have worked for me.


If all you need to do is to rotate the picture, JPEG Lossless Rotator works very well:

http://annystudio.com/software/jpeglosslessrotator/


For other types of editing (exposure, contrast, etc.), right click on the file, then select "Open with," then select Microsoft Office 2010. You can edit and save without a problem using this program. Of course, you need to own Microsoft Office 2010...

Oct 4, 2012 8:18 AM in response to Ulupoi

I found that these two approaches worked best for me for reorienting pictures.

Method 1 is easy and you can fix pictures in batches!

--Create a folder for editing the iphone pictures on the computer desktop.

--Connect the phone to the computer.

--Click Start and My Computer and click on iPhone 4s and open up to the pictures.

--Copy the ones you want to edit to the folder on the desktop


--Double click the desktop folder that now has the pictures to be edited

--Right click the first picture in the folder

--Click “Open With” and Choose “Microsoft Office 2010” and Microsoft Office Picture Manager opens

--Click on the thumbnail icon in Microsoft Office Picture Manager (it’s the box with4 dots under the word “Shortcuts” in the toolbar)

--Now highlight the first picture and using the shift key highlight each other picture in the folder that needs the same adjustment as the first picture (say 90 degree turn right)

--Use the triangles in the toolbar to reorient all the highlighted pictures that need a 90 degree turn at once

--Than highlight the first picture needing a180-degree turn

--Using the shift key highlight each other picture in the folder that needs a 180-degree turn

--Use the triangles in the toolbar to reorient all the highlighted pictures that need a 180-degree turn at once

--Once you are finished go to the top command bar and hit File>Save All


Now look at the pictures in the file on your desktop. They should all be properly oriented. You can now double click on a picture and (providing you haven’t changed the Default for you will be in Windows Photo Viewer and you can edit as usual. (Or you could try to edit in Windows Office 2010 Picture Viewer)


Method 2: I tried this first - it was very slow but it worked

Set the Default photo editor to Paint (go to Control Panel>Default Programs>Set Your Default Programs> Highlight Paint and set it as the default for everything.)

Then adjust each picture as follows:

--Right click on the picture and choose EDIT, the photo will open in paint.

--Save the program with either CTRL + S or File Save.

--Close paint.

--Rotate picture: Right click, Rotate CW / Rotate CCW or Open picture viewer and click the appropriate arrow button.

--Repeat for each picture, it gets quite fast once you get the hotkeys down, double click, ctrl + s, ctrl + f4, right click, rotate.

Then when you are done with the pictures set the Window Photo Viewer as the default (go to Control Panel>Default Programs>Set Your Default Programs> Highlight Windows Photo Viewer and set it as the default for everything)

Oct 12, 2012 11:37 AM in response to MarkLoberg

Ok so I downloaded the Jpeg Lossless Rotator as suggested... and not really helping. Here's my situation...

- I email a picture to my outlook 2010 or gmail .... it comes as an attachment. Super....

- I can either double click it and it automatically opens in Windows Live Photo Gallery, or I can right click and choose open (no open with option), and opens automatically in Live Photo Gallery.

- O super... it is upside down.... that is annoying..... ooo great.... the rotate icons are grayed out so I can't easily fix the stupid picture I would just like to view or forward to a client and not necessarily save....

- Maybe I will try the icon in top left corner to Edit, Organize or Share....

- Ok ... I guess I'll choose the option to COPY and REPLACE since I don't need a million of the same stupid picture....

- So i do that....i have to find it in my many thumbnails..... and i DOUBLE CLICK THE PICTURE TO VIEW LARGER AND EDIT

- OOOO but I STILL CANNOT ROTATE because "Windows Live Gallery can't edit this stupid picture because it is Read Only!"

- Do I really have to change the property and uncheck the read only of EACH picture I want to view right side up or edit?

- Do I have to RIGHT CLICK every picture and choose an OPEN WITH option and choose Picasa, or Microsoft Office 2010?

- Or you might say I should browse Programs and choose jpeg Lossless Rotater app i just downloaded? Well I can't because an error pops up that says "INVALID COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS"

- I JUST WANT TO BE ABLE TO OPEN THE PICTURE I SENT TO MYSELF OR MY CLIENT from my iPHONE..... and ROTATE OR EDIT THE DARN THING WITHOUT DOING ALL OF THIS.

- AM I MISSING SOMETHING FROM THE MILLION THREADS I HAVE READ? Jpeg Lossless Rotater is not a 1 step process and this is starting to drive me nuts.

- How annoying is it for my clients that i send a picture to them from my phone... and they have to go through all this crap...or they have to SAVE the picture as and change the picture property to NOT read only JUST to view it right side up.

- I am so frustrated. Please help...

Oct 13, 2012 2:00 PM in response to mmw7

nnm7 - here's my step by step tutorial on Jpeg Lossless Rotator:


http://www.daleisphere.com/easily-rotate-locked-iphone-4-and-4s-photos-in-window s-7-with-the-free-jpeg-lossless-rotator/


It's as easy as pie. Beyond that I don't know how else I can help you. My tutorial assumes you have plugged your iPhone into your PC and uploaded your pictures to your PC. From within Windows Explorer it couldn't be easiser to rotate your pictures - again, all as described in my tutorial and its accompanying step by step video.


One last point. Take your pictures with the iPhone's volume controls on the bottom and your pictures will always show as properly rotated on all platforms.


...Dale

Oct 14, 2012 6:32 AM in response to ecbtx

Er...i do not understand why the need to go through the hassle of using extra software to solve this issue. My solution posted around 1 August 2012 (page 13 of this thread) solves this issue once and for all. Just change one setting inside window and in the future all pictures imported can be rotated.


The above is solution #1 in my post, for future importing of pictures from iphone.


On the other hand, if you already have old settings and the pictures are already imported into the PC, then solution #2 then requires extra software process such as Lossless Rotator and etc.


Would someone be able to try out my suggestion and if it works, click like on that post so that this may help others?


Thank you

Oct 14, 2012 10:48 AM in response to ryan195

Ryan, I tried your 'just change one setting' solution on page 13 right after you posted it. It seemed strange to me because nothing in your solution solved it for me when I had done EXACTLY the same thing in the past. ****, I futzed with virtually every import photos setting for weeks before I discovered JPeg Lossless Rotaotr.


But, given your testimony, I tried it again. I followed your instructions step by step. but NOTHING about restorting the default settings, changing the Folder Name setting to "Date Taken + tag" or the rest of the process you suggested made one iotta of difference for me. I don't know what ghost is in your PC that makes this work for you but after changing the settings as you suggested, NOTHING was different for me. All my pictures still imported sideways (if I didn't take the picture with the controls on the bottom). Most of the pictures were locked and could not be rotated - same as always.


Hence, my recommendation to use JPegg lossless rotator. I've now received dozens of comments on my blog, Youtube, private messages and via emails with virtually everyone thanking me for this solution (though admittedly a few had troubles installing the software or other minor problems). Others on this forum have agreed that JPeg Lossless Rotator is amongst the best possible solutions for most people. After reading the entirety of this forum and other similar ones on this topic and having followed this topic for a year or so, the best universal and easiest solution that consistently works for most people is to use JPeg Lossless Rotator.


I certainly suggest that others try your solution on page 13 to see if it works for them. If it does, great! It didn't for me and I'm not hearing very many on this forum saying your solution worked for them either. I wish it did. If it did, I'd be using it myself! 🙂

Oct 19, 2012 3:29 PM in response to sjcharles

Thank you for the JPG & PNG Stripper suggestion it worked perfect for cleaning of a number of photo downloads that I have done on my wifes 4S.


I deciced to keep an original backup copy of all the pictures that I download off of her phone on my computer since it is a 16GB version and she is always running out of space. But then I copied these pictures back to the folder that is used by iTunes to sync with her phone and processed them with the JPG & PNG Stripper application and saved approximately 17KB in file size per picture when it was done and then synced her phone so that it would clean off the pictures whith the meta data and put these new stripped down versions on her phone.


It's not earth shattering but with 1913 photos it saved around 32Mb on her phone and the pictures load faster when viewing.

Nov 1, 2012 6:05 AM in response to ecbtx

This is so typical of Apple. A simple, yet super annoying problem which essentially BRAKES an essential issue and Apple ignores the problem for an entire year.


Ya, like I enjoy going through a thousand pictures opening them in MS Paint (of all things! LOL!), and save each one individually again. Real fun. I'll remember this when I replace my phone in a couple months.

Can't edit photo imported from iphone 4S

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