Integration of Adobe’s Frame.io, starting with SL3 in 2025.

[SrMi]

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Leica Camera AG collaborates with Adobe

"Adobe and Leica Camera AG announced the integration of Adobe’s Frame.io Camera to Cloud technology into selected Leica mirrorless system cameras, starting with the SL3 cameras in 2025."

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[LocalHero1953]

When I try to find out what frame.io is all about, my internet search is swamped by adobe sites explaining it in such marketing terms as to be meaningless. If I understand it correctly, it is an upload platform where your media can be shared in a group, commented on, worked on collaboratively and displayed to others. As such it looks similar in purpose to how Lightroom shares still image collections online. Since Adobe bought frame.io a few years ago, I could see it and the Lightroom sharing service being merged. My concern would be if Adobe takes the opportunity to charge extra for the Lightroom sharing service, which is currently included at no additional cost in the Creative Cloud Photography package. Adobe makes money from frame.io by charging for cloud storage. I rely on Lightroom totally for distributing photos of events as downloadable collections to those who want them, and I would not be happy if I had to pay extra for it!

Regarding this announcement, I can see the value of linking Fotos to Frame.io, but is 'Camera to Cloud' more than marketing speak? Is it an action that one would initiate from the camera, or just from Fotos?

 

Edit. While the notion of uploading high-res images and video from the field to a client's website sounds wonderful in a high tech fantasy land, doing the same from a holiday hotel wifi network, any other typical public wifi, mobile phone connections, and a good many domestic internet connections remains just a fantasy! In many places I'm lucky to be able to simply browse this forum.

Edited October 17, 2024 by LocalHero1953

[Stuart Richardson]

At least for me this sounds like another setting to turn off and clog up the menu...perhaps it is because I work more as an artist than a commercial photographer, but I have zero desire to share unprocessed raw files with clients or social media. If I am working with a client, my job is to provide a finished product, not send them raw files or camera jpegs. I understand if you are a journalist this may be the case or certain cases of work for hire. Rather than using resources for projects like this, if they want to get serious about helping pros they should reduce their service wait time from six months or a year to a week or two. That would be a miraculous improvement and one worth investing in. But I guess that probably will not move the stock price at all.

I also don't quite get what they expect to do in terms of social media. As an example, I posted a video I took yesterday to instagram. The video was over twenty minutes long and about 60gb. I am pretty sure instagram is not going to take a 6gb file, let alone a 60gb one. And 60gb over wifi...no thanks. So no, rather than try to fiddle with menus, wifi passwords and setup, I removed the sd card from the camera and plugged it right into the side of my computer and the transfer was done in a few seconds. Then I had to edit and grade the video in resolve and export it down to a manageable size for anyone to use.

Anyway, perhaps I am just not getting this, but I have not really met any professional photographers that work like this. Certainly it can be nice to get it to a large monitor in the same studio for viewing by an art director or something, but I can't really imagine a use case beyond journalism for this.

Edited October 17, 2024 by Stuart Richardson

[Photoworks]

Frame.Io has been one of the largest collaboration platforms. Manly video. they added images later.

as you shoot you can add video and photos to a cloud storage, and other team members around the world can make a timeline, cut the video on proxy media initially in minutes as the service gets the high res material.

other team members can add music, comment, and all that will show up on anyone's timeline.

It's not something photographers need so much, but it's great for video when you need it.

Frame.io is integrated into capture one Davinci and many other software.  

 

[gdb]

Reading all these comments on frame.io, I state that MY pictures remain on MY computer. When I need to work on somme of them out of home, Apple's iCloud is perfect. I am no professional, so I don't need to share my pictures with anyone, unless those to whom I just send them through Mail or WeTransfer...

Just a personal option...

[BernardC]

52 minutes ago, gdb said:

Reading all these comments on frame.io, I state that MY pictures remain on MY computer. When I need to work on somme of them out of home, Apple's iCloud is perfect. I am no professional, so I don't need to share my pictures with anyone, unless those to whom I just send them through Mail or WeTransfer...

It's an internet collaboration tool, so the use case isn't very compelling for single users.

This type of tool became very popular during COVID for film projects. It lets you share files between different departments who could be working anywhere. So your editor, colorist, graphics, director, producer, script supervisor, sound, etc., all have access to the same files. You can also create edits for the client to review.

On the photography side of things, this could be useful when covering events, where a remote editor can review files, process them, and post them in near-real time. Not something you and I would do, but you can imagine a news agency, ad agency, or a wedding company hiring an editor to do this remotely. This announcement could open-up some jobs for professionals who use the SL3.

Frame.io isn't the only player in this field, but they are one of the biggest. You can also "roll your own" solution by ftp'ing files to a remote server.

[simon_hsn]

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One feature I hope Leica will introduce is automatic background uploading of photos (and/or videos) to the cloud.

For example, the camera could automatically upload all favorited photos directly to my Lightroom Cloud Library. That way, I wouldn’t need to connect the camera manually—neither through the app nor with a cable.

[SrMi]

21 minutes ago, simon_hsn said:

One feature I hope Leica will introduce is automatic background uploading of photos (and/or videos) to the cloud.

For example, the camera could automatically upload all favorited photos directly to my Lightroom Cloud Library. That way, I wouldn’t need to connect the camera manually—neither through the app nor with a cable.

But don't come here complaing about short battery life 🤣.

[Photoworks]

7 hours ago, simon_hsn said:

One feature I hope Leica will introduce is automatic background uploading of photos (and/or videos) to the cloud.

For example, the camera could automatically upload all favorited photos directly to my Lightroom Cloud Library. That way, I wouldn’t need to connect the camera manually—neither through the app nor with a cable.

Isn't it already possible?

SL3 to C2C with Frame.io,
connect Lightroom account to Frame.io
Automatic pull from frame.io to your Lightroom.

This is how ADOBE has it set up.

[LBJ2]

14 hours ago, Photoworks said:

Isn't it already possible?

SL3 to C2C with Frame.io,
connect Lightroom account to Frame.io
Automatic pull from frame.io to your Lightroom.

This is how ADOBE has it set up.

Has anyone actually got this set up and working yet?

For example, where in the SL3 menus do we "turn on" C2C (camera to cloud)? Or is this a function of the FOTOS app? 

Edited October 8 by LBJ2

[LBJ2]

On 10/7/2025 at 11:30 AM, simon_hsn said:

One feature I hope Leica will introduce is automatic background uploading of photos (and/or videos) to the cloud.

For example, the camera could automatically upload all favorited photos directly to my Lightroom Cloud Library. That way, I wouldn’t need to connect the camera manually—neither through the app nor with a cable.

After some tinkering with the camera's menus and FOTOS app, I don't think any sort of Camera to Cloud feature has added to the SL3 yet as I understand the Camera to Cloud function. Yes, we can set up Frame.io account and connect with our Adobe accounts and then transfer images from the SL3 to FOTOS app/iPhone for instance and then up to Lightroom and a connected to Adobe Frame.IO project. However I would not describe that as Camera to Cloud. Maybe coming in a future SL3 firmware update?

Checking Frame.io website, I don't see Leica listed as a compatible camera system either. I do however see Panasonic/Lumix cameras are supported with Quick Start instructions to set up Cloud to Camera on a Panasonic camera. If I am not mistaken, I would expect something similar to Panasonic/Lumix C2C setup if the SL3 was truly C2C enabled. 

https://support.frame.io/en/articles/9179663-c2c-panasonic-lumix-quickstart-guide

If someone knows otherwise and has true C2C woking on the SL3 with Frame.io, please comment.

Edited October 8 by LBJ2

[simon_hsn]

34 minutes ago, LBJ2 said:

After some tinkering with the camera's menus and FOTOS app, I don't think any sort of Camera to Cloud feature has added to the SL3 yet as I understand the Camera to Cloud function. Yes, we can set up Frame.io account and connect with our Adobe accounts and then transfer images from the SL3 to FOTOS app/iPhone for instance and then up to Lightroom and a connected to Adobe Frame.IO project. However I would not describe that as Camera to Cloud. Maybe coming in a future SL3 firmware update?

Checking Frame.io website, I don't see Leica listed as a compatible camera system either. I do however see Panasonic/Lumix cameras are supported with Quick Start instructions to set up Cloud to Camera on a Panasonic camera. If I am not mistaken, I would expect something similar to Panasonic/Lumix C2C setup if the SL3 was truly C2C enabled. 

https://support.frame.io/en/articles/9179663-c2c-panasonic-lumix-quickstart-guide

If someone knows otherwise and has true C2C woking on the SL3 with Frame.io, please comment.

C2C is not supported yet on Leica cameras. But I hope they are working on it, be it through frame.io or directly through the Leica Photos App (which I would prefer).

[Photoworks]

1 hour ago, simon_hsn said:

C2C is not supported yet on Leica cameras. But I hope they are working on it, be it through frame.io or directly through the Leica Photos App (which I would prefer).

Yeah, sorry, Leica has not made that firmware available.

 I saw a videographer doing it, but it is possible she was just testing firmware.

It's supposed to be out this year.

I don't think it is going to be in FOTOS; it would be a duplicate functionality, and you would be dealing with space restrictions on the mobile devices.

Many frame.io cameras upload only JPG at first and DNG later, proxy for video!

[simon_hsn]

16 hours ago, Photoworks said:

Yeah, sorry, Leica has not made that firmware available.

 I saw a videographer doing it, but it is possible she was just testing firmware.

It's supposed to be out this year.

I don't think it is going to be in FOTOS; it would be a duplicate functionality, and you would be dealing with space restrictions on the mobile devices.

Many frame.io cameras upload only JPG at first and DNG later, proxy for video!

Good point. What I meant to say is that the uploaded photos are automatically shown in FOTOS, and the upload is done via the phone/FOTOS app. This allows C2C uploads to happen on the go, without needing to wait until the camera is connected to the home Wi-Fi.

[Photoworks]

1 hour ago, simon_hsn said:

Good point. What I meant to say is that the uploaded photos are automatically shown in FOTOS, and the upload is done via the phone/FOTOS app. This allows C2C uploads to happen on the go, without needing to wait until the camera is connected to the home Wi-Fi.

On my other cameras, Frame.io requires WIFI or a hotspot. 

You need the website or app to configure the project.

And then you can start uploading, in most cases, but it is slow, and big files take a long time. Many teams start with JPG or Proxy video files and upload the rest from a computer later.

The SL3 does not offer any auto transfers to FOTOS; the tether is just a preview, nothing gets uploaded.
The M11 does low-res over BT only, until you make a wifi connection and select files.
A year ago, there were requests for this kind of option.
On my regular shoot, I have 50-100 GB of data, and I don't see that ever being a solution.

My solution with correct to stay mobile is to use an iPad with Capture One and a USB cable. The images transfer quickly and can give a client a preview.
Keep in mind that you need to find a power solution for the iPad, too. The battery will only go 4-5h

You could add a shortcut loop action to the iPad to import the photos to Lightroom

I've never done it, but it could be a solution for you

[LBJ2]

One year already since the October 2024 announcement "Adobe and Leica Camera AG announced the integration of Adobe’s Frame.io Camera to Cloud technology...starting with the SL3 cameras in 2025." 🤞🏼

[simon_hsn]

Thanks for sharing your experience with Frame.io on other cameras. I’ve only read about it online, but I can imagine it still feels a bit sluggish with the current technology and isn’t yet fully mature for a serious workflow.

Perhaps we’ll see some announcements from Leica by the end of the year (still some days left in 2025). The technology is clearly still evolving, but looking further ahead, I can easily envision a setup where photos/videos are uploaded instantly to the user’s preferred cloud system.

As a next step, it would be fantastic if Leica enabled automatic uploads—of selected images or even all files—directly to my Lightroom Cloud whenever the camera connects to my home Wi-Fi.