Photos & Videos - frustrating workflow

[Travisimo]

Most people probably won't have these issues, but power users might, including some here...

The problem is that I can't use everything I want to use without having conflicts or frustrating workflow problems when it comes to capturing and managing photos & videos workflow. Here are some examples:

1) I want to be able to use both iCloud Photo Library and Google Photos backup, but there are just too many issues if you do. For one, Google Photos starts uploading thousands of photos once I turn on iCloud Photo Library on my iPhone, even though these are already backed up from previous devices (iOS and Android). This not only wastes bandwidth, but it takes FOREVER and will have to be done every time change phones if you use iCloud Photo Library.

2) If I have "Optimize Storage" turned on (which I have to do because of having so many photos in iCloud Photo Library), it creates duplicates in Google Photos (some at full resolution and some at the reduced resolution that the iPhone downloads). I thought it was supposed to request the full version from iCloud before uploading to Google Photos, but it is not doing that. It's uploading the smaller optimized version and makes a duplicate in my Google Photos library.

3) However, if I turn off iCloud Photo Library and just use Google Photos, then I lose out on the features that are specific to Apple in my library. For example, Live Photos won't back up (just the single photo backs up). Also, slow-motion videos don't remember the points I've selected for slow motion... Google Photos just uploads the regular video at the higher frame rate without slow motion.

4) I really wanted to use Live Photos, but there are a couple of other issues that is prompting me to just turn it off. One is that frame rate is just too choppy. Secondly, when I transfer photos from my iPhone to Lightroom, it transfers them as JPG and MOV files, which I guess is okay but then I have all of these little 3 seconds MOV files in my PC library. Obviously Lightroom can't do Live Photos, so the little MOV files are just wasting space and creating workflow issues. If I had them in iCloud Photo Library, I can see the Live Photos on my Mac or phone, but then I have to deal with the Google Photos issue.

There just isn't a good workflow that satisfies what I want to do. I want to have my photos and videos backed up to both iCloud and Google Photos, as well as importing them into Lightroom once in a while for PC backup. Usually when I do that, I would just wipe my photos and videos from my phone to free up space. But if I try to use iCloud Photo Library, it messes that workflow up entirely.

The best method I have right now is just to turn off iCloud Library and use Google Photos for online backup. Then just transfer the photos and videos to Lightroom once in a while and clear my phone. At least Google Photos doesn't make you download ALL of your library to your phone. So this workflow works out okay, especially if I jump back and forth between iOS and Android. But it means I really have to just ignore the Apple photos features like Live Photos.

How are you guys handling photos and videos workflow?

 

[Skika]

I still use only Photo stream. I manually upload videos with Dropbox.

 

[mhunter6378]

I use both iCloud Photo Library and Google Photos. I have my mobile devices set to optimize storage under iCloud Photo and use the smaller high resolution option for storage on Google. I've had my library of photos upload to Google multiple times in the past two weeks, once when I first got my 6S+, again when I set up my iPad and again when I restored and set up as new my 6S+ this weekend. As you stated, each time it will uplaod the entire library which does take a while. I just set the auto lock to never, leave the app open and let it run. In each case, Google Photos has correctly identified the files as already uploaded and I haven't had any duplicates even though it goes through the entire upload process appearing as though it's uploading them all over again. I just use Google Photos for backup redundancy and the great automatic photo assistant features it has. I use Photos on my Mac for everything else. The only time I've had what seems to be a duplicate is when either system reads an alteration to the file such as any post image editing.

 

[Travisimo]

I wonder why its duplicating mine? I see both a 3mp and 8mp image for my older iPhone 6 Plus photos that it re-uploaded when I turned on iCloud Photo Library on my new 6s Plus.

 

[mhunter6378]

I wonder why its duplicating mine? I see both a 3mp and 8mp image for my older iPhone 6 Plus photos that it re-uploaded when I turned on iCloud Photo Library on my new 6s Plus.

Can't say for sure why it would do that. For me, I had all kinds of issues when I transitioned from iPhoto to Photos and the import of pictures. Also, when transitioning from Picasa web albums to Google Photos. So took the nuclear option and wiped them both clean. I imported all my images from a backup drive to Photos on the Mac. Once I had them the way I wanted them, I turned on iCloud Photo Library and then after it was uploaded I activated Google Photos as the backup. It was a lot of work but worth it in the end for me as it seems to be working as intended and as I wanted.

 

[MusicEnthusiast]

Does Google Photos lower the quality of pictures taken on the iPhone?

 

[mhunter6378]

Does Google Photos lower the quality of pictures taken on the iPhone?

You have two options with Google Photos backup - original resolution which stores the files at whatever size they are uploaded at or high resolution which stores files at up to 2048 x 2048. The difference being files larger than 2048 x 2048 count against your storage allotment with Google under the original file size choice. Whereas with the high res limited to 2048 x 2048 or smaller, allows unlimited uploads not counted against your storage allotment. So it depends on your choice for file backups and the size of the image whether there is any reduction in quality.