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iRock1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 23, 2011
1,081
144
Hi,

I imported a bunch of photos from my iPhone to my Mac using Image Capture. Half of those photos were supposed to be the originals that I shot. The other half were supposed to be the edits that I made with Camera+ and then saved to the Camera Roll.

After I imported the photos I found out that only the originals were in my Mac folder, aside with a bunch of "AAE" files. I researched a little bit and discovered that after iOS 8, if I import photos from my Mac then I'll see the original files only. Then you have to deal with those AAE files which contain the edits and changes.

The obvious question now is, how the heck am I supposed to apply those changes from the AAE files to see the edited versions of my photos? Because what I've read implies that the only way of accessing those files would be importing them into my Mac with AirDrop (really?), mailing the photos to myself (f*cking REALLY?) or applying a python script on my Mac (oh my God...).

What the f*ck was Apple thinking when they implemented this annoying system? Am I doing something wrong? I want to see the edited photos that I took with my iPhone!!! :'(

/rant
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,530
28,243
Hi,

I imported a bunch of photos from my iPhone to my Mac using Image Capture. Half of those photos were supposed to be the originals that I shot. The other half were supposed to be the edits that I made with Camera+ and then saved to the Camera Roll.

After I imported the photos I found out that only the originals were in my Mac folder, aside with a bunch of "AAE" files. I researched a little bit and discovered that after iOS 8, if I import photos from my Mac then I'll see the original files only. Then you have to deal with those AAE files which contain the edits and changes.

The obvious question now is, how the heck am I supposed to apply those changes from the AAE files to see the edited versions of my photos? Because what I've read implies that the only way of accessing those files would be importing them into my Mac with AirDrop (really?), mailing the photos to myself (f*cking REALLY?) or applying a python script on my Mac (oh my God...).

What the f*ck was Apple thinking when they implemented this annoying system? Am I doing something wrong? I want to see the edited photos that I took with my iPhone!!! :'(

/rant
I found this…

https://isalinis.wordpress.com/2015...ios-edited-images-without-losing-the-changes/

You could also try downloading (through a web browser) from iCloud. Dropbox was also mentioned, but that would be a one by one thing unless this was the first time you turn on Camera Upload with the Dropbox app.

Maybe Google photos?
 

iRock1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 23, 2011
1,081
144
I found this…

https://isalinis.wordpress.com/2015...ios-edited-images-without-losing-the-changes/

You could also try downloading (through a web browser) from iCloud. Dropbox was also mentioned, but that would be a one by one thing unless this was the first time you turn on Camera Upload with the Dropbox app.

Maybe Google photos?

Ok, so it looks like Lightroom is supposed to handle those metadata files.

The photos are no longer in my iPhone, since I imported them using Image Capture and then deleted them, so I'll try moving them from Finder to Lightroom and see how that goes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: eyoungren

iRock1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 23, 2011
1,081
144
I found this…

https://isalinis.wordpress.com/2015...ios-edited-images-without-losing-the-changes/

You could also try downloading (through a web browser) from iCloud. Dropbox was also mentioned, but that would be a one by one thing unless this was the first time you turn on Camera Upload with the Dropbox app.

Maybe Google photos?

Oh Gosh, this has turned out to be a nightmare. Nothing works as expected. No desktop software can handle those stupid .aae files.

Bottom line, the geniuses at Apple have created a system that is so “peculiar” that it renders all those photo-edits you have made on your iPhone totally useless and unaccessible in the future, unless you start using ridiculous workarounds like emailing photos to yourself. Needless to say, this is not a valid method for serious photographers.
 

wacky4alanis

macrumors 6502a
Mar 18, 2009
562
82
When I copy edited photos from my phone to my PC, I get three files (original image, aae, edited image). They simply add an "E" to the file name for the edited image.
 

iRock1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 23, 2011
1,081
144
When I copy edited photos from my phone to my PC, I get three files (original image, aae, edited image). They simply add an "E" to the file name for the edited image.

Weird, in my case I see only the original file and the .aae one which contains the metadata about edits.

Perhaps it has something to do with the iOS version? (I'm on iOS 9.3.3)
 
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