Leica Fotos (Pro) {merged}

[wlaidlaw]

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As far as I know the only way to get images from the SL to a computer is via Fotos, a card reader or a mini-HDMI to USB cable. The CL has no such facility/port. I use the HDMI cable route to download on the fly, when I am film scanning with the SL and Leitz BEOON. Unfortunately I then have to use Lightroom, as you cannot download direct to Capture One, which is my RAW developer of choice.

Wilson

Edited November 22, 2019 by wlaidlaw

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[Guest]

46 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

William, 

I only want Fotos because Leica has been stupid enough to delete browser access from the SL and CL, which was exceedingly useful. It would have been more to the point if they had expanded the browser access from just JPEG's to DNG's as well. If I quickly need to send some photos from CL or SL and I don't have a SD card reader  to hand, Fotos is now the only way to get the photos. Once they are in my iPad, I then use Airdrop to port them over to my Mac. 

Wilson

Hello Wilson, that pathway of using Foto's to import first into your iPad, ( or iPhone I guess if you are still with the regular version of Foto's ), then Airdropping the files from the iPad to your Mac desktop/laptop seems very inelegant and convoluted. Wouldn't you be worried at all about any loss through those steps, I think I would even though i'm no expert on any of that.

I see no reason at all to use Foto's of any version to transfer image files with my M's or Q, it's a damn sight quicker to pop the card out and directly load it to a lap-top / desk-top and I believe it to be a safer way to go. In fact even with my M10-D I rue the fact that changing the settings needs a connection to the camera via Foto's, it's always slow and even with the last firmware update it's still quirky and by the time the camera and Foto's are talking to each other I could have removed the SD card and downloaded most if not all of the shot images. So I never use the App for transferring images with any of my compatible cameras, it's a waste of time.

[Mogoforest]

Why don't Leica get Adobe to pay for the "upgrade", since its primary purpose appears to be more traffic for Lightroom?

[iRandom]

On 11/21/2019 at 9:51 AM, cldp said:

I would be willing to pay for GPS data from the iPhone recorded in the camera’s exif file. That would be an excellent asset for those of us who travel often. Without that, Foto Pro doesn’t really aide my workflow. 

This is really the only thing I wanted from the Fotos app. I can't believe that a camera that was released in 2019 can't properly link with a phone to get the GPS data.

I guess I'll have to stick with my existing solutions of using a GPS track log, assuming I remember to start the app, or cutting and pasting the GPS info from my iPhone.

 

[J.Nordvik]

I used Fotos for transferring one or two pictures to my iPhone (before I got home to my iMac),  which I then use to send iMessages. It worked fine for that. To use it for transferring hundreds of pictures seems stupid, and I do not think that was the intention for this App.

[snooper]

29 minutes ago, Mogoforest said:

Why don't Leica get Adobe to pay for the "upgrade", since its primary purpose appears to be more traffic for Lightroom?

I wonder if it’s not the way around and Leica needs to pay Adobe to use their API... I dont think Adobe allows to use the name and logo LR and obviously the link within the app without charging a fee. If adobe gets a fee then Apple gets one too for handling the subscription and your $50 are gone before you know it..

[LUF Admin]

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vor 5 Stunden schrieb LocalHero1953:

@LUF Admin

Hi Andreas - as suggested by Jaap in a parallel thread, can you bring this collective negative reaction to the attention of Leica? 

Will do. Promise. Hopefully they are not going to kill the messenger...

[jaapv]

They should be happy to get feedback.... If people didn't care about Leica they wouldn't be upset, but simply walk away.

[LUF Admin]

vor 1 Minute schrieb jaapv:

They should be happy to get feedback....

They are. In the long run.

[snooper]

2 minutes ago, LUF Admin said:

Will do. Promise. Hopefully they are not going to kill the messenger...

Greetings Andreas,

I cant imagine why it would fall on your shoulders. Allowing them to understand we understood the mishap of this app is helping them to rectify promptly something they might not want to see escalated. Imagine how fast the papers and reviews will start to make jokes about a 6K camera needing you to pay an extra $50 to see your pictures a relatively normal way in 2020. Besides, on a strict legal point of view, the add they broadcast on their website (integration of LR) is just inaccurate and therefore very risky if someone decides to show them how it goes when you write something that is not totally true.

So at the end of the day, I’d rather think they will thank you.

[faxao]

All this story of the annual fee is simply unbelievable. That is really a "fiasco" for Leica: they'd better fix this immediately giving up their ridiculous request.

Edited November 22, 2019 by faxao
typos

[humerc]

It must be a joke from Leica.

The app is far away from being good and even for free its not really a pleasure to use it. The missing iPad support for the last year also was ridiculous. And now they would like to charge for it? If you compare what you get from others - for example for your adobe subscription (~11€/mo) - and what you get from Leica... they can’t be serious.

I am willing to go the route with really expensive cameras and I am totally OK with that, but this is just ridiculous...

I would suggest to start with a bad review in the app store and a short Mail to Leica customer support. Lets see if Leica is still interested in their customer base or if they became one of these company's that don't deserve our support any longer...

(surfing the Hasselblad website at the moment...)

[willeica]

3 hours ago, LUF Admin said:

Will do. Promise. Hopefully they are not going to kill the messenger...

They should not. When I met Dr Kaufmann in Boston a few weeks ago he was looking for feedback about Leica and its products. I recall an incident many years ago when a cable TV company I worked for introduced an unjustified extra rental charge and I had to go on radio and TV to dig them out of the hole they had dug for themselves. They eventually withdrew the extra charge which I had initially advised the CEO against. I could write a book about this type of misjudgement. I worry about companies who introduce fiddly small charges like this which annoy their customers. It is usually a bad sign about financial health.

William

[MarkP]

4 hours ago, jaapv said:

They should be happy to get feedback.... If people didn't care about Leica they wouldn't be upset, but simply walk away.

Happy may not be the right word.

[MarkP]

On 11/21/2019 at 1:39 PM, bac said:

 

The app has “Feature request” and “Customer support” mechanism built in. You could use those to send messages to Leica. A deluge today would be a nice start.

I’ve done just that.  I would encourage others to do the same.  This is what I sent:

As someone with an SL2 on order, and having previously spent  tens of thousands of dollars to date with Leica,  I wish to complain that the charge for upgrade to Fotos Pro is unacceptable.  The purchase of Leica cameras per-se should allow access to full system functionality.

 

It is beneath the dignity of Leica to engage in such behaviour.

 

Mark Penny

Sydney AUSTRALIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

[faxao]

21 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

I think in the EU, it is being called Fotos for iPad. I installed this and as soon as I had signed on, it wanted me to pay £48.99 as the first of an ongoing annual fee

Wilson

Same here. I've re-installed the iPhone version and it is working (with the usual limitations). 

[LocalHero1953]

On the credit side, I am finding the initial connection between my android phone and CL is much quicker and more reliable than before. I've just tested it in a crowded cafe where I've had to give up before (whether down to competing wifi or for other reasons) and it connected as quickly as at home. You have to activate wifi on the CL first before trying to connect Fotos from the phone: starting wifi on the CL while Fotos is trying to connect doesn't work.

 I 'shared' four DNG images directly from the app to Lightroom Mobile; at a guess it is quicker to download than before (when it was typically 45 secs/image), but I will run a test of 10 images later (I will rarely want to download that number via the phone, if ever, but it's a way to average out the speed). One problem is my phone going to sleep and stopping downloading; when I woke it, the connection and downloading would restart, but it would be nice if the app could put the phone's sleep mode on hold while downloading (as some other apps can), or continue downloading in sleep mode (like, e.g. Spotify). 

So, in my experience, the new app is a step forward. This makes me more likely to use it, but I wouldn't pay a subscription for any of this functionality, and downloading still needs to be much faster.

And I'm still puzzled why I can download DNGs without having activated the Pro part of the app - I hope this won't be disabled after 7 days.

[wlaidlaw]

I have left a stinking review on the app store. 

Wilson

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[Mogoforest]

Fotos 2.0.1 does not appear to be the leap into the 21st Century that we had hoped Leica were about to make, but I think there is another worrying aspect of this sad saga:

I am not familiar with German law, but here in the UK, Leica have left themselves potentially open to prosecution for misrepresentation.

Both the on-line and paper Q2 manuals state unequivocally (page 126):

RECORDING THE IMAGE LOCATION WITH GPS (ONLY IN CONNECTION WITH THE LEICA FOTOS APP)

The GPS (global positioning system) allows the pinpointing of a receiver anywhere in the world. The GPS function is activated automatically when a connection to the Leica FOTOS app is active. The camera will then continuously receive the current GPS data (latitude and longitude, elevation above sea level) and writes this information into the Exif data of the images.

This may not be a very important point to some Leica users, but it is to me. Leica make fabulous cameras, but are about to undo all their good work with their inept management of both software and marketing.

However, as an optimist, I am looking forward to Fotos 3.0 fixing the issues by Christmas

 

Michael

 

Edited November 23, 2019 by Mogoforest
typo

[wingedb11]

I installed the iPad Version (on an 9.7 iPadPro)and connected a TL2 with about 350 pictures on the Card. After the connection, although the camera was saying it was connected it took the App about 20 seconds to start building the previews. This at a speed of felt 1 per Minute. After about 15 minutes there have about a third of the previews generated. When selecting pictures for download, 2 in one instance and 6 on a second trial, it takes 2 minutes (yes two minutes as per system time) until the download window appears. once you start the download for DNG it takes another  minute until download begins. If it does not fail after the first pictures it continuous to the end to tell you an error occurred. if someone of Leica is here in the forum; shame on you! I would bet that you have not looked at other camera manufacturers APP’s and if you have and never the less you decided to bring this shit to market, there is only one explanation for it: Blinded by Arrogance!
This is also to only explanation to the policy to charge €54 a year for it after your customers pay from premium to high luxury prices for your cameras and it would be more than reasonable to get this APP for free. Gentleman, you have re-set your compass if you don’t want to turn your customers away.