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Will FOTOS facilitate file downloads to a Macbook Pro as well as a phone or tablet?


masjah

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Just that really. Is FOTOS (the free version in particular) any good for getting your in camera image files (raw and jpg) on to a PC, via our home WI-FI router? At the moment, with my M240, I take out the SD card, stick it in the socket on my Macbook Pro, and do it that way. I'm talking about using it with an SL2.

Edited by masjah
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vor 29 Minuten schrieb masjah:

Just that really. Is FOTOS (the free version in particular) any good for getting your in camera image files (raw and jpg) on to a PC, via our home WI-FI router? At the moment, with my M240, I take out the SD card, stick it in the socket on my Macbook Pro, and do it that way. I'm talking about using it with an SL2.

No. Foto is an IOS program which does not work on your Mac. Best way is still the way You do it with your M.

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10 minutes ago, andybarton said:

I don't think that FOTOS works with the M240, but stand to be corrected if it does.

Andy, I'm sure it doesn't, but I've got an SL2 on order, to use with my R lenses. I've got a significant tremor these days (which incidentally has been investigated and deemed to be benign) which is a terrible nuisance for non-tripod work. I'm hoping that the IBIS of the SL2 will help. So I'm doing some advance homework!

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7 hours ago, masjah said:

Just that really. Is FOTOS (the free version in particular) any good for getting your in camera image files (raw and jpg) on to a PC, via our home WI-FI router? At the moment, with my M240, I take out the SD card, stick it in the socket on my Macbook Pro, and do it that way. I'm talking about using it with an SL2.

As mentioned, FOTOS does not work with M240 (only M10 series supported), but it works fine with SL2. You can use the free FOTOS app to transfer images from the camera to the cloud (e.g., with Google Drive) and then access the files from the computer. I find it simpler to transfer images via the SD card.

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On 2/2/2020 at 7:33 PM, SrMi said:

As mentioned, FOTOS does not work with M240 (only M10 series supported), but it works fine with SL2. You can use the free FOTOS app to transfer images from the camera to the cloud (e.g., with Google Drive) and then access the files from the computer. I find it simpler to transfer images via the SD card.

I would not want to find my fotos in the cloud. This means this app is probably not what I need.   I wonder, who wants to put fotos into the cloud ?  And taking the current discussion into account (about energy consumption and climate change, and little progress in switching from fossil to renewable) I wonder if it is sensible to use the cloud. I would like to see a study that compares the energy consumption for traditionally storing fotos vs transferring them into the cloud and accessing them from there.

I suspect a huge waste of energy (apart from all possible security/privacy concerns). I think here of transferring all the data via mobile devices and wireless technologies (in any existing form).

Edited by caissa
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5 hours ago, caissa said:

I would not want to find my fotos in the cloud. This means this app is probably not what I need.   I wonder, who wants to put fotos into the cloud ?  And taking the current discussion into account (about energy consumption and climate change, and little progress in switching from fossil to renewable) I wonder if it is sensible to use the cloud. I would like to see a study that compares the energy consumption for traditionally storing fotos vs transferring them into the cloud and accessing them from there.

I suspect a huge waste of energy (apart from all possible security/privacy concerns). I think here of transferring all the data via mobile devices and wireless technologies (in any existing form).

I do. It's the most convenient way to share and distribute images to others. Plenty of others seem to feel the same.
As the the the energy costs, I suspect the marginal energy consumption of my images in the cloud is less than that of buying and running my own personal storage at home, simply for efficiencies of scale; but like you I have no evidence either way.
Back to the original question: despite the latest improvements, I still find FOTOS wifi far too slow compared to simply plugging a SD card into my laptop. I do occasionally use FOTOS for uploading one or two images to social media (and my cloud storage) while out with just my camera and phone, but I don't do it routinely.

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As several mentioned in other threads, Fotos 2 ("pro") is really not worthy of Leica. Signing this piece of     code with a red dot does not do any justice to all of the engineers and people working hard to deliver the best optical gear we have access to. Furthermore, charging a per year fee to let you download and see what belongs to you (your files on your camera) seems to be a strange path. Adobe charges you to modify your files, not just to pull them out of the camera.

At the end of the day, working on a smartphone is not really handy, so iPad is the iOS platform one would rather use.

Plug the usb-C card reader on your iPad and enjoy instant fast access to your shots within iOS and without Fotos, and save $50 per year.

You also have lightning card readers for those insisting on using an iPhone 🙂

Edited by snooper
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I continue to believe that FOTOS offers several promising directions, none of which has been achieved yet, and which may not be realized until future Leica camera models are available.  Bandwidth for JPGs from my Android phone or my iPad over home wifi to the cloud is adequate.  Bandwidth from present cameras to Fotos is not, and certainly not good enough to support editing of DNGs on an iPad and passing the results on to some sharing service.  This probably won't change until the wifi chips in cameras get more powerful, while remaining within power constraints.  And getting the software to work takes Leica a long time -- there are still unrealized firmware and Fotos features that I'd like to see that don't seem to be happening.

So for the present I hope to see Leica get some simple features solid and useful, as a base for future higher functions.  And I'll use Fotos as a remote controller and to set the date and time on my M10-D and SL2.  In the next year or two my current MacPro laptop will die and be replaced by a newer one without an SD card slot, and I'll see if direct downloading over USB3 puts the present wireless link completely to shame.

.

 

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2 hours ago, scott kirkpatrick said:

Bandwidth from present cameras to Fotos is not, and certainly not good enough to support editing of DNGs on an iPad and passing the results on to some sharing service.

 

Greetings Scott,

I don't understand the above as Fotos does not include any editing feature. In my understanding Fotos allow ( when working, when not too slow, etc.) to transfer a DNG to an iPad and pipe the file to a third party software (LR CC). Which can be done much faster just by connecting either the SL2 (set in USB: mass storage) or using a card reader directly plugged into the iPad or the iPhone.

Ideally, Fotos should allow us to get the DNG (quickly) out of the camera onto the iPad, where we could do a quick edit and export / share as needed. All of this for free, as the software is basically just replacing a cable. 😊

I'm sure Leica will correct this.

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Fotos is visible in the adds. But it is not useful for me. Only for publishing a few pics. (I think most publish only a fraction of all fotos. This is the smallest part of daily routine). (Maybe different for a reporter, but even he will publish only a fraction.)
I rather would use a SW product which is supporting the daily jobs (foto transfer to Mac, maybe tethering, reliable remote setup of camera (all features) ). And I think it should be included in the price of the camera. (no extra cost). And for this part of the data (more than 99%) the cloud is completely unnecessary for me. (Why upload all the data I don't want to share ? A big waste of energy in my eyes. And a large amount of useless data transfer.)

And if you produce fotos for others (wedding etc.), I'm sure they want to have full control over their fotos.

Edited by caissa
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2 hours ago, snooper said:

Greetings Scott,

I don't understand the above as Fotos does not include any editing feature. In my understanding Fotos allow ( when working, when not too slow, etc.) to transfer a DNG to an iPad and pipe the file to a third party software (LR CC). Which can be done much faster just by connecting either the SL2 (set in USB: mass storage) or using a card reader directly plugged into the iPad or the iPhone.

Ideally, Fotos should allow us to get the DNG (quickly) out of the camera onto the iPad, where we could do a quick edit and export / share as needed. All of this for free, as the software is basically just replacing a cable. 😊

I'm sure Leica will correct this.

The present wifi chips that Leica puts in cameras and the way that Fotos talks to them don't permit enough bandwidth to work on your DNGs on an iPad.  I know that the editing tools are not in Fotos (thank God).  But you might like to use any of several toolsets on the tablet, if only you could get the raw files there in less than a minute each.  Uploading JPEGs and saving them to the cloud to distribute is probably possible, but not very high-value.

Shooting an event you need to get all the folks who matter, and for a wedding, that is everyone.  So something like one out of three exposures (my experience) or perhaps 100 finished shots per hour or two have to pass through Fotos if it is going to be a digital darkroom in your pocket.  I don't see how Leica can accomplish this.

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1 hour ago, caissa said:

And if you produce fotos for others (wedding etc.), I'm sure they want to have full control over their fotos.

I do shoot photos for others, but they only get to see what I am satisfied with.  All sorts of control is possible, even in the cloud.  

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