M246 DNG files can corrupt Apple Photos library

[Darthfeeble]

Image Capture seems to fix it

Image Capture seems to fix it

I've set Image Capture to open all my cameras in LR, the only time I've seen Photos open is when I opened it to see how it worked . I should mention that I usually download via the usb port on the camera and I rarely take the card out of the camera. I do format them frequently and as yet haven't had a problem that way.

Yep. The only thing I've found you can do so far is to open Photos.app (or wait until it opens up automatically on card insert) and uncheck "Open Photos for this device". You can also do this under Image Capture.app as well. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell you have to do this *for each card* you insert into the computer, and if you format the card it goes back to the default behavior of auto-opening Photos.app

I find this intensely annoying, especially since I always format my cards before use for integrity reasons. Which means I effectively have no way to permanently disable this application.

Hopefully someone comes up with a workaround eventually.

 

[Godfrey]

I'm just totally disappointed in Photos. I feel that it's a pathetic substitute for Aperture. I don't understand why anyone who is serious about photography would want to use this amateurish program in the first place. Just delete the thing from the computer.

Aperture hangs the same way as Photos. iPhoto doesn't crash, but it doesn't render the files. The problem seems to be a lower-level compatibility issue, nothing to do with Photos (or Aperture/iPhoto) specifically.

That's also indicated by the fact that if I open the Photos library (Show Package Contents) and delete the MM246 master files, Photos will run normally with the same library afterwards, as will Aperture if I do the same to its library.

LR6 has no problems working with MM246 DNG files on OS X. This indicates that the files are compatible with the file system, it's something in the imaging chain between opening the file, reading the data, and rendering the image that is causing the crash.

G

 

[Godfrey]

I've set Image Capture to open all my cameras in LR, the only time I've seen Photos open is when I opened it to see how it worked . I should mention that I usually download via the usb port on the camera and I rarely take the card out of the camera. I do format them frequently and as yet haven't had a problem that way.

There's no need to set Image Capture to open your cameras in LR, far as I've seen.

A camera presents to the system as a DCIM image volume when connected, same as a storage card in a card reader. Lightroom automatically sees and recognizes all of those in the Import panel, and can auto-open with its own settings when one is inserted using its own settings.

This file transfer methodology is also not going to do you much good with any Leica M past the M9, since there is no longer a USB port on the camera in M-E, all typ 240 and the typ 246 models (maybe with Multifunction Grip on the 240/246 models).

G

 

[willie_901]

It is strange that LR can open the M 240 DNG and iPhotos/Photos can not.

I just opened (OS X 10.10.3) a DNG file converted a .RAF with LR using Preview. It also opened in Photos (1.0).

I think if Preview can open an image, any Apple App can open that image.

 

[Godfrey]

It is strange that LR can open the M 240 DNG and iPhotos/Photos can not.

I just opened (OS X 10.10.3) a DNG file converted a .RAF with LR using Preview. It also opened in Photos (1.0).

I think if Preview can open an image, any Apple App can open that image.

All the Apple apps use the same system framework for rendering raw files. LR uses its own, independent raw processing engine, it is completely independent of the Apple raw processing routines.

My investigation showed that the MM246 files were actually rendered in Photos (the previews for them were created in the Photos library bundle) and the files themselves are perfectly intact (I took the masters out of the bundle and opened them with LR—no problems). That leads me to believe that the problem is a memory problem of some sort incited by the framework within the app when the rendering is being handed off to the app.

I filed several bug reports—I'm sure that engineering folks are now working on the problem and it will be taken care of.

It's not a bug that I'd ever run into in normal use, though, since I use LR to do my image processing from raw and drop into Photos only finished images (TIFF and JPEG format). It only affects those who import their raw files directly into Photos (and Aperture or iPhoto).

G

 

[jloden]

I was unable to get that behavior. When I told Photos not to open for a particular card, it didn't matter whether I subsequently formatted it and re-inserted it: Photos would not auto-open once that card had been registered. This is on a complete fresh system install, on a machine that had nothing other than system updates done to it.

Interesting, I tested it on my system just before posting. If I set the option in Photos not to open for a given card it worked, right up until I formatted it in the camera and plugged it back in, at which point Photos opened up again.

Maybe it's specific to the camera or format method. I used a GH3 for that test since it was the closest thing to hand. I'll have to try it with some other cameras and see what happens.

Regardless, I agree - this should be a global preference not a per-card preference. Who thought that was a good idea???