iCloud How to keep full rez when uploading DSLR photos from desktop to iCloud?

[patent10021]

Last week I uploaded 20 MB DSLR photos from macOS Finder to iCloud thinking they'd be store at full rez. Today I downloaded them but they were only 600 KB - 1 MB.

I do not use the macOS Photos app and do not want to use the Photos app because I don't want all of those iCloud photos on my Mac.

What's the solution?

Thanks

 

[chrfr]

iCloud doesn’t modify files uploaded to iCloud Drive. If you have the optimize storage option enabled, perhaps your computer hadn’t yet redownloaded the full size images.
Also, using the Photos app won’t take up any more disk space than manually copying the photos to iCloud Drive.

 

[Mrbobb]

The fact that is 1 Mb doesn't tell the whole story. Photos, i.e. JPG, has compression built-in that makes it small. TIFF are uncompressed and the same photo will take more bytes to store. There is also BMP which can be compressed and non-compressed.

 

[Starfia]

patent10021 –

That doesn't sound right to me; I've never known iCloud Drive (if that's what you're using) to modify the data for any file. If I noticed that happening, I'd be checking whether the files in question were somehow modified before they were uploaded. If you find out what's happening, please let us know.

(Perhaps you know, but using iCloud Photos the macOS Photos app does come with an optional "Optimize Mac Storage" setting that leaves full-quality photos in iCloud, and off your Mac, until you ask for them.)

 

[patent10021]

iCloud doesn’t modify files uploaded to iCloud Drive. If you have the optimize storage option enabled, perhaps your computer hadn’t yet redownloaded the full size images.
Also, using the Photos app won’t take up any more disk space than manually copying the photos to iCloud Drive.

Right but iCloud doesn't use my Mac's storage. I don't want to use any Mac disk space for photos.

The fact that is 1 Mb doesn't tell the whole story. Photos, i.e. JPG, has compression built-in that makes it small. TIFF are uncompressed and the same photo will take more bytes to store. There is also BMP which can be compressed and non-compressed.

Yup, the 20 MB files from DSLR sitting on my desktop are jpegs as well.

patent10021 –

That doesn't sound right to me; I've never known iCloud Drive (if that's what you're using) to modify the data for any file. If I noticed that happening, I'd be checking whether the files in question were somehow modified before they were uploaded. If you find out what's happening, please let us know.

(Perhaps you know, but using iCloud Photos the macOS Photos app does come with an optional "Optimize Mac Storage" setting that leaves full-quality photos in iCloud, and off your Mac, until you ask for them.)

Weird right but that's what's happening. I've been using Macs and Photos for decades. I have a folder of 20 MB jpegs on my desktop. I uploaded them via web iCloud upload button. I get info on those photos and they're 600 KB - 1 MB. If I download them back to my desktop, same small size.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Right but iCloud doesn't use my Mac's storage. I don't want to use any Mac disk space for photos.

iCloud Drive in Finder definitely DOES use Mac disk space for storage.

Can you lay out exactly what you did, step-by-step?

 

[Starfia]

I uploaded them via web iCloud upload button.

Can you lay out exactly what you did, step-by-step?

Agreed: that's the part that's still vaguest to me. What exactly are you doing? Signing in to iCloud.com, then going to "Drive" (putting you at https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/), then clicking "Upload" (arrow pointing up into a cloud)?

Or some other sequence of steps?

(To test, I've just followed that sequence with a 9.6MB JPEG file. iCloud Drive on the Web shows it takes 9.6MB. And if I choose "Download A Copy" on that file from the Web interface, downloading the copy to my Mac's "Downloads" folder, the Finder shows it takes 9.6MB.)

 

[patent10021]

iCloud Drive in Finder definitely DOES use Mac disk space for storage.

I don't mean iCloud Drive in the Finder. I'm talking about web iCloud. It obviously doesn't use Mac storage so that's why I prefer to do everything via Finder -> upload to web iCloud Photos.

Agreed: that's the part that's still vaguest to me. What exactly are you doing? Signing in to iCloud.com, then going to "Drive" (putting you at https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/), then clicking "Upload" (arrow pointing up into a cloud)?

Yeah, my photos are sitting on my Mac desktop. I open web iCloud Photos on the browser, create a shared album and click the top-right upload button and select the (16 MB - 20 MB) photos from my desktop. When I view an uploaded photo in that album and click the info icon it shows a lower rez size (3 MB). When I download a photo from that album it's the same low rez size as the info icon displayed (3 MB). What's interesting is that regardless of the original size (16 MB - 20 MB), the uploaded versions are always (3 MB). To me, that says web iCloud is specifically compressing to that size.

May 18 [capture], May 20 [transfer]

 

[chrfr]

I don't mean iCloud Drive in the Finder. I'm talking about web iCloud. It obviously doesn't use Mac storage so that's why I prefer to do everything via Finder -> upload to web iCloud Photos.

Yeah, my photos are sitting on my Mac desktop. I open web iCloud Photos on the browser, create a shared album and click the top-right upload button and select the (16 MB - 20 MB) photos from my desktop. When I view an uploaded photo in that album and click the info icon it shows a lower rez size (3 MB). When I download a photo from that album it's the same low rez size as the info icon displayed (3 MB). What's interesting is that regardless of the original size (16 MB - 20 MB), the uploaded versions are always (3 MB). To me, that says web iCloud is specifically compressing to that size.

May 18 [capture], May 20 [transfer]

View attachment 2632976

The shared album is your problem. Those resize images, refer to this document: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108916

Shared Albums also support special formats that you capture with your iPhone, like slo-mo, time-lapse, Live Photos, and Memory videos. When shared, photos are reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge, except panoramic photos, which can be up to 5400 pixels wide. You can share GIFs that are 100MB or smaller. Shared Albums do not support spatial photo or video.

iCloud Drive really isn't designed to be used the way you're using it- it's more of a sync service for Apple devices and photo libraries than pure cloud storage.
A shared iCloud Photo Library might be more of what you're looking for, but really, you'll be better off just using some of your computer's storage to use iCloud Photos as it's really intended.

View your iCloud Shared Photo Library on iCloud.com

In Photos on iCloud.com, you can view your iCloud Shared Photo Library.

support.apple.com

 

[Nermal]

That doesn't say 3 MB; it says 3 MP (megapixels). What resolution are your originals?

 

[NoBoMac]

At the bottom of the screen shot, says 20.6MB for the May 20th file. So seem like "correct" in iCloud.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I don't mean iCloud Drive in the Finder. I'm talking about web iCloud. It obviously doesn't use Mac storage so that's why I prefer to do everything via Finder -> upload to web iCloud Photos.

So using Safari or another web browser? Saying you use “Finder” is a little confusing.

But yeah, as pointed out above… iCloud shared library will have a maximum resolution.