Ipad Air won't sync photos

I have a Mac Pro tower running Mavericks (10.9.1). Latest iTunes (11.1.3) and iPhoto (9.5.1). New iPad air running 7.0.4

When I plug my iPad into synch my photo library (around 6500 pictures and 37GB) - my entire computer freezes after about 5 photos are transferrred. I have tried:

rebuilding my photo library

updating permissions

deleting iPod cache

power cycling

unchecking include videos

Changing sync from all photos to manual. The problem persists with just one small album selected. I get the spinning wheel that locks up my computer somewhere between the 5th and 10th image transferred even if the album only has 20 images total.

I'm at a loss. If I don't select any photos, the sync works fine.

My old ipad 2 and iphone 5S work fine.

thx for any ideas