Trouble uploading pictures from camera to MacBook.

TheBeastman13 · Sep 10, 2013

I just purchased a Nikon d7100 for photography class. My teacher has the class shooting in jpeg+ RAW. My problem begins with connecting my nikon to my MacBook. I plug my micro USB into my camera > plug USB into MacBook > turn camera "ON". I can't seem to find my Nikon as mounted (like a flash drive, external HDD, or my Sanyo Xacti do). BUT when I open iPhoto, low and behold, my Nikon appears in iPhoto. Thoughts on why my camera is not mounting to the desktop like my flash drive and HDD do?

Second problem is when I "import all." Mind you I shot in Jpeg and RAW formats. Meaning, when I shot 45 pictures today, I should be uploading 90 photos when I import all. But it doesn't... All 45 RAW files are not accepted/recognized by iPhoto and/or my MacBook. So as of now, all I have are my 45 jpeg photos on my flash drive to take to class... Thoughts/ suggestions?

Yesterday I uploaded a hundred photos (only the Jpegs were accepted) and I deleted all the photos on my camera, so I lost all the RAW formatted photos. Lesson learned. This time, however, until I find out why the RAWs are not transferring to my laptop, I am not clearing my SD card in the camera. I do need to clear it ASAP because I have a video shoot tomorrow evening, and I need all the space I can have.

Thanks for any and all would-be help!

Regards,
B.

simsaladimbamba · Sep 10, 2013

Tried Finder > Go > Applications (CMD+SHIFT+A) > Image Capture yet?

And when handling RAW (.NEF) files, it is better to use Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture (though a bit out of date as of some years now).

Do you know, why you have to shoot both JPEG and RAW? It is a waste of storage space and as a RAW contains much more information, it can be easily converted to a JPEG if one needs to.

PS: Have you already installed the Digital Camera Update 4.06 from Apple (Mac OS X 10.7.5 or OS X 10.8.2 are required for this) to get iPhoto and Aperture compatibility for your camera?

TheBeastman13 · Sep 10, 2013

simsaladimbamba said:
Tried Finder > Go > Applications (CMD+SHIFT+A) > Image Capture yet?

And when handling RAW (.NEF) files, it is better to use Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture (though a bit out of date as of some years now).

Do you know, why you have to shoot both JPEG and RAW? It is a waste of storage space and as a RAW contains much more information, it can be easily converted to a JPEG if one needs to.

PS: Have you already installed the Digital Camera Update 4.06 from Apple (Mac OS X 10.7.5 or OS X 10.8.2 are required for this) to get iPhoto and Aperture compatibility for your camera?

I'm not sure why she wants both, but I have no idea why my MacBook isn't downloading the RAW... I'm running snow leopard 10.6.X on an '08 MacBook with an intel core 2 duo, by the way.

I know at school we have high-powered iMacs with Lightroom, Ps, and Aperture. I assume the teacher wants us to utilize RAW when editing with said programs, but yeah, no idea why I need to capture RAW and JPEG...

simsaladimbamba · Sep 10, 2013

TheBeastman13 said:
I'm not sure why she wants both, but I have no idea why my MacBook isn't downloading the RAW... I'm running snow leopard 10.6.X on an '08 MacBook with an intel core 2 duo, by the way.

I know at school we have high-powered iMacs with Lightroom, Ps, and Aperture. I assume the teacher wants us to utilize RAW when editing with said programs, but yeah, no idea why I need to capture RAW and JPEG...

As you still run good, old Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the camera is not really compatible, or at least the RAW files, as the update I mentioned, only works on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

Anyway, as Image Capture should not care, you can still transfer the .NEF files anyway, if not, get an SD card reader and copy it via Finder.

Canon and Nikon cameras are known to have their issues showing up as external storage device, meaning, it is disabled somehow, forcing the user to either use Nikon's or Canon's software or use third party applications like Lightroom or iPhoto or Image Capture.

TheBeastman13 · Sep 10, 2013

simsaladimbamba said:
As you still run good, old Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the camera is not really compatible, or at least the RAW files, as the update I mentioned, only works on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

Anyway, as Image Capture should not care, you can still transfer the .NEF files anyway, if not, get an SD card reader and copy it via Finder.

Canon and Nikon cameras are known to have their issues showing up as external storage device, meaning, it is disabled somehow, forcing the user to either use Nikon's or Canon's software or use third party applications like Lightroom or iPhoto or Image Capture.

I understand now. I was looking for a simple drag mounted files from Nikon folder to designated external drive. Guess I'll have to take the convoluted route. Lol. Thanks for the input, Sim.

fa8362 · Sep 10, 2013

If your camera doesn't have an SD card reader, you should buy one. Then just copy the files onto the laptop from the card reader. Don't use the camera for transfer.

It also seems like your SD cards are not high enough capacity. You should be using an 8-16 GB card with that 7100. You should be able to find a Sandisk Extreme 16 GB card for $20 or less.

TheBeastman13 · Sep 11, 2013

fa8362 said:
If your camera doesn't have an SD card reader, you should buy one. Then just copy the files onto the laptop from the card reader. Don't use the camera for transfer.

It also seems like your SD cards are not high enough capacity. You should be using an 8-16 GB card with that 7100. You should be able to find a Sandisk Extreme 16 GB card for $20 or less.

I am using two 32 GB SanDisk Extreme cards that are 95mb/s read/write.

fa8362 · Sep 11, 2013

TheBeastman13 said:
I am using two 32 GB SanDisk Extreme cards that are 95mb/s read/write.

Sorry. I missed the video reference in your initial post.

TheBeastman13 · Sep 11, 2013

fa8362 said:
Sorry. I missed the video reference in your initial post.

It's all good, no harm, no foul. Thanks for the input, any how.

I talked to my teacher today, and she told me to pick up a card reader. I'll head to the store after class tonight and buy an SD reader. At school the computer labs have Gear Head readers, any insight/preferences one could suggest for a quality, cost-effective SD reader?

rolsskk · Sep 12, 2013

TheBeastman13 said:
It's all good, no harm, no foul. Thanks for the input, any how.

I talked to my teacher today, and she told me to pick up a card reader. I'll head to the store after class tonight and buy an SD reader. At school the computer labs have Gear Head readers, any insight/preferences one could suggest for a quality, cost-effective SD reader?

Honestly, it doesn't matter much these days, unless it's a horribly bad knockoff.

Apple fanboy · Sep 12, 2013

Here's a story to make you laugh. I use an iMac, and because the slot is in the back it's not the best. So I use the USB lead that came with my camera.
Anyway a few weeks back it suddenly stopped working. I went through all the settings in the camera and iPhoto. Searched the boards for answers, nothing.

Anyway started taking the card out to transfer. On one occasion doing this, I noticed a USB lead had been unplugged.

Can you guess which one it was?

mofunk · Sep 12, 2013

@ TheBeastman13 It's not the camera... It's the computer. If you shoot RAW anything, you computer has to know what to do with it. Image Capture will not work unless you updated either iPhoto or Aperture camera RAW files. If you have Adobe as your editor, you need to do the same.

I'm on a Mac right now and its using OS 10.7.5. But my iPhoto & Lightroom aren't updated. I can't view any D7100 RAW files because my software isn't updated.

You can download Aperture trial version and that might fix the problem. You have to have Aperture 3.4 or later. Or download Nikon Capture NX. Lightroom 5. PS CS6.. A reader won't help because your computer still would need to read RAW files.

http://www.apple.com/aperture/specs/raw.html

btw DSLR and iPods stopped using mass storage around 2008 and started using flash which is why you do not see it on your desktop. Your camera can only be viewed in an application. This was changed when the Nikon D90 came out. And also iPod Touch. Before you could see it on your desktop, and move files and from it. This is why I love my iPod classic, it's more of a mass storage drive.

simsaladimbamba · Sep 12, 2013

mofunk said:
btw DSLR and iPods stopped using mass storage around 2008 and started using flash which is why you do not see it on your desktop. Your camera can only be viewed in an application. This was changed when the Nikon D90 came out. And also iPod Touch. Before you could see it on your desktop, and move files and from it. This is why I love my iPod classic, it's more of a mass storage drive.

DSLRs still use the same storage, nothing has changed that much since 200x, only that the capacity is bigger and it is faster.
Nikon and Canon, and probably those other manufacturers of digital photo machines, have shipped their cameras with "software" to disable the use of the built in card reader/writer as an external volume, thus you are forced to hopefully use their software (which they ship on DVDs, but most often do not offer online - forward thinking times ten) or some other software, thus those card readers can get quite handy some time.

When the iPod touch came out, it was not meant as mass storage like the iPod classic, due to the difference in, you know, capacity, and due to, you know, the complexity.
The iPod classic can run its software from its own ship, it does not need to be stored on the HDD.
The iPod classic has to run its OS and software from the storage device, due to its size and complexity.
Giving users of the iPod touch or iPhone (which came before the iPod touch) to that file system via enabling that device as storage device accessible via Finder, would seriously bring havoc to those devices, as ignorant users might delete the files on there, thinking (or not thinking) they were not important.
Or have you never heard of people, having deleted some DLL files or EXE files or whatever files back in the day, in order to get some KB of more storage?

ChrisA · Sep 12, 2013

Go to the camera setup. You will find there are two methods the camera can use to connect to the computer. Only one of them makes the camera look like a Flash drive. That would be called "mass storage". I think Nikon calls the other one "pict bridge" Maybe you prefer "mass storage"

Also the better way to transfer images is just to remove the card from the camera and place it into theSD card slot on most Macs or get a card reader.

mofunk · Sep 17, 2013

simsaladimbamba said:
DSLRs still use the same storage, nothing has changed that much since 200x, only that the capacity is bigger and it is faster.
Nikon and Canon, and probably those other manufacturers of digital photo machines, have shipped their cameras with "software" to disable the use of the built in card reader/writer as an external volume, thus you are forced to hopefully use their software (which they ship on DVDs, but most often do not offer online - forward thinking times ten) or some other software, thus those card readers can get quite handy some time.

When the iPod touch came out, it was not meant as mass storage like the iPod classic, due to the difference in, you know, capacity, and due to, you know, the complexity.
The iPod classic can run its software from its own ship, it does not need to be stored on the HDD.
The iPod classic has to run its OS and software from the storage device, due to its size and complexity.
Giving users of the iPod touch or iPhone (which came before the iPod touch) to that file system via enabling that device as storage device accessible via Finder, would seriously bring havoc to those devices, as ignorant users might delete the files on there, thinking (or not thinking) they were not important.
Or have you never heard of people, having deleted some DLL files or EXE files or whatever files back in the day, in order to get some KB of more storage?

Let me clarify what I said. It looks like I put both in the iPods and DSLR in the same sentence. I was answering the OPs question to why he cannot see his DSLR on his desktop. When the D90 was released, Nikon change the USB transfer which is why you cannot see it on the desktop. I'm not sure about the pro cameras, but since the D90 mass storage (FTP or whatever you want to call it) on DSLRs was changed. This causes a problem when you trying to update your firmware. You either have to use a card reader or use a computer with a card reader.

I gave the example of the iPod Touch because the FTP format had changed too. The iPods were changed to Flash storage with the release of the iPod Touch. Both you can no longer view on the desktop like you did with previous models. It's not complex, its flash drive. lol

I use my iPod Classic as a back up hard drive. Its nice to have that option. Back when I purchased it, I could create a folder on it, outside of iTunes and carry it with me. You can use it also to backup your photos on the go.

Sorry you didn't get it. If I had a Nikon Digital SLR I would expect it to behave like the previous. Or any digital camera. Plugging your camera via USB and having control of it without opening an app, nothing wrong with that.

SommerLilja · Apr 17, 2015

Trouble retrieving my photos.

I hope someone can help me.
I downloaded a bunch of photos from my nikon d3200 to iphoto and it is showing a triangle with an exclamation in the middle. What does that mean?...lol I also bought a card reader and tried downloading my pictures from that and I'm still getting the same problem... I need help!!!!

kenoh · Apr 17, 2015

SommerLilja said:
I hope someone can help me.
I downloaded a bunch of photos from my nikon d3200 to iphoto and it is showing a triangle with an exclamation in the middle. What does that mean?...lol I also bought a card reader and tried downloading my pictures from that and I'm still getting the same problem... I need help!!!!

Make sure you are importing them into your library rather than adding them. Importing copies them into your library, adding them adds a reference to their current location so when you remove the card it cant find the files any more.

kenoh · Apr 18, 2015

Apple fanboy said:
Here's a story to make you laugh. I use an iMac, and because the slot is in the back it's not the best. So I use the USB lead that came with my camera.
Anyway a few weeks back it suddenly stopped working. I went through all the settings in the camera and iPhoto. Searched the boards for answers, nothing.

Anyway started taking the card out to transfer. On one occasion doing this, I noticed a USB lead had been unplugged.

Can you guess which one it was?

Superb! Laughing like a girl here... I have an old iMac with the slot on the side which is much better. Dont know why they changed it.

Apple fanboy · Apr 18, 2015

kenoh said:
Superb! Laughing like a girl here... I have an old iMac with the slot on the side which is much better. Dont know why they changed it.

What can I say? We all make mistakes! I use a USB hub and adaptor these days. Makes a mockery of the all in one solution though!

Trouble uploading pictures from camera to MacBook.

macrumors regular

Guest

macrumors regular

Guest

macrumors regular

macrumors 68000

macrumors regular

macrumors 68000

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502

macrumors Ivy Bridge

macrumors 68020

Guest

macrumors G5

macrumors 68020

macrumors newbie

macrumors demi-god

macrumors demi-god

macrumors Ivy Bridge

Our Staff