Leica M11 (-D) pictures directly to iPad Lightroom with USB-C cable and without Fotos.

[Squidproquo]

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Hi!

 

I´ve been scouring the forum for intel on how to import images directly from M11 (-d) directly into Lightroom on iPad without finding an answer.

I have the right cable, its a USB-C to USB-C in version 3.2.  It is not a Leica branded cable but I am of the understanding that v 3.2 will suffice.

I have Lightroom on my iPad and want to be able to import directly, over cable from internal memory in camera to Lighroom.  THe camera, or its files, does not show up however.  The camera is set to MFi interface.

With PTP I can easily import on the Mac using the ImageCapture program.

I´m not interested in using Fotos (horrible workflow) and not interested in SD-cards.  Just interested in getting images directly from internal memory into iPad Lightroom.

When I connect the camera to the iPad nothing happens and nothing shows up anywhere in Lightroom or anywhere else.

Anyone who has managed this?

Thanks!

 

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[pedaes]

25 minutes ago, Squidproquo said:

Anyone who has managed this?

If it is an option it will be covered in the Manual.

Remember Leica's philosophy is to say only what the cameras can do, not what they can't!

Edited October 21, 2024 by pedaes

[adan]

Maybe some help here - but you may need FOTOS to access the cameras's USB settings, to switch it to PTP mode.

 

[Squidproquo]

@adan I’m able to import to Mac with ptp as I’ve written. I’m unable to import via cable to iPad directly to Lightroom via Mfi.

[Squidproquo]

@pedaes the manual covers what’s possible with Leica tools. It does not cover every other tool beyond leica, hence the question to the forum to find out if anyone else managed to do this. 

[maxpower]

8 hours ago, Squidproquo said:

@adan I’m able to import to Mac with ptp as I’ve written. I’m unable to import via cable to iPad directly to Lightroom via Mfi.

I don't have an iPad or use Lightroom so can't test for you, but am curious: have you tried connecting via cable to your iPad via PTP as well instead of MFi? You keep mentioning using MFi when doing it, so not sure if this is something you've tried already but I would definitely try that.

[AZach]

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Confirm above, connecting and importing (Add photos / Connected camera/card) directly to iPad Lightroom from M11-P, Q3 and SL2-S with PTP setting. This is not what the manuals say, but so what… 

[elmars]

MFi is only for lightning connections. If You have USB-C on Your i-Pad You have to use PTP.

Direct import into Lightroom has disadvantages. All images in the camera memory (whether SD or IN) are always loaded into the iPhone/iPad cache - regardless of whether they are already in Lightroom or not. After all photos are in the cache, they get imported into Lightroom and the duplicates are recognised.

The Leica app can do this better. It recognises the duplicates right from the start and doesn't even load them from the camera. If you don't want the photos in the Leica app, go to ‘Share’ in the app and use this function to import them (only) into Lightroom. The disadvantage is that the number of photos that can be imported at once is limited to 50. This is an Adobe limitation. Leica has already asked Adobe to change it, but this can take time.

 

[Squidproquo]

Wow - thanks guys, brilliant.  Will try with PTP.  Interesting that the Leica manual states to use MFi with all iOs devices.

 

And good input on the cache issue @elmars, however my workflow solves that (I never leave duplicates on the camera after import.

 

Look forward to trying and thanks again!

[maxpower]

37 minutes ago, Squidproquo said:

Wow - thanks guys, brilliant.  Will try with PTP.  Interesting that the Leica manual states to use MFi with all iOs devices.

I think that might just be a remnant of most iPads and iPhones using Lightning for a long time, even when the first M11 came out the majority of Apple devices was still using Apple's Lightning connection. So Leica probably just overlooked to update that bit of copy in the newer M11 model manuals?

Hopefully it works, by the sound of other peoples reactions it sounds like it should! 

[marchyman]

12 hours ago, elmars said:

MFi is only for lightning connections. If You have USB-C on Your i-Pad You have to use PTP.

Partially true.  With my camera set to MFi when I connect my camera to my iPad Pro (USB-C to USB C cable) and turn on the camera FOTOS automatically launches on my iPad and the images in the camera are shown.

[Corius]

21 minutes ago, marchyman said:

Partially true.  With my camera set to MFi when I connect my camera to my iPad Pro (USB-C to USB C cable) and turn on the camera FOTOS automatically launches on my iPad and the images in the camera are shown.

Ha, I just discovered that today as well! The user guide is not very good when it comes to connectivity!

[elmars]

vor 10 Stunden schrieb marchyman:

Partially true.  With my camera set to MFi when I connect my camera to my iPad Pro (USB-C to USB C cable) and turn on the camera FOTOS automatically launches on my iPad and the images in the camera are shown.

Apple MFi does no harm with USB-C, but has no benefit either. PTP, on the other hand, makes it possible to import directly into PTP-capable programmes (such as Lightroom on the computer).

[Squidproquo]

Yes, can confirm!   PTP to iPad lightroom via usb-c to usb-c works flawlessly (and with the right cable USB-c 3.1) quite fast actually - no slower than SD card if you measure the full process.

The manual is outdated then.  Mfi works on iPad with USB-C but only to Fotos.   I only use Fotos to manage settings on the camera (as its a -D).  Otherwise, direct import to Lightroom is (for me) the best workflow.  Thanks guys, solved a lot of headache for me.

 

[M11 for me]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb elmars:

Apple MFi does no harm with USB-C, but has no benefit either. PTP, on the other hand, makes it possible to import directly into PTP-capable programmes (such as Lightroom on the computer).

Very good explanation. Thx.

[marchyman]

12 hours ago, elmars said:

Apple MFi does no harm with USB-C, but has no benefit either. PTP, on the other hand, makes it possible to import directly into PTP-capable programmes (such as Lightroom on the computer).

And now you have me wondering... I replaced my 7 year old phone with the latest and greatest meaning USB-C instead of Lightning.  How will the camera work with the phone in the various modes?

MFi mode: launches FOTOS on my phone

PTP mode: iOS asked a bunch of questions about FOTOS access.  Once I answered yes FOTOS launched and showed me the images on camera.  Then I tried Lightroom on the phone.  I hadn't run Lr on the phone in a very long time and had to go through several verifications hoops.  Once that was done I tried seeing If it would connect to the camera.   No luck.  Tried Lr on iPad, too.  Again, no luck.

My conclusion: If you want to connect to a computer use PTP.   If you want to connect to a mobile device it doesn't seem to matter, at least for mobile devices that use USB-C.  Since I never use cables for image transfer it makes no difference to me.

Or did I do something wrong and I should have been able to go directly from the camera to Lr?

[Photoworks]

4 minutes ago, marchyman said:

Or did I do something wrong and I should have been able to go directly from the camera to Lr?

Mfi mode is only for the FOTOS app. so vintage LOL

all the other programs like Capture One and Lightroom can use the PTP and tether modes to connect with USB-C and a newer iPhone/iPad.

Unfortunately, Leica changed the tether connection on the M11, you can only use it to shoot over USB-C and not to card.

[marchyman]

13 minutes ago, Photoworks said:

Lightroom can use the PTP and tether modes to connect with USB-C and a newer iPhone/iPad

I could not get Lightroom to  recognize my camera on either my phone or my iPad.  Both are USB-C devices.   How do you make that work?

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[elmars]

vor 19 Stunden schrieb marchyman:

And now you have me wondering... I replaced my 7 year old phone with the latest and greatest meaning USB-C instead of Lightning.  How will the camera work with the phone in the various modes?

MFi mode: launches FOTOS on my phone

PTP mode: iOS asked a bunch of questions about FOTOS access.  Once I answered yes FOTOS launched and showed me the images on camera.  Then I tried Lightroom on the phone.  I hadn't run Lr on the phone in a very long time and had to go through several verifications hoops.  Once that was done I tried seeing If it would connect to the camera.   No luck.  Tried Lr on iPad, too.  Again, no luck.

My conclusion: If you want to connect to a computer use PTP.   If you want to connect to a mobile device it doesn't seem to matter, at least for mobile devices that use USB-C.  Since I never use cables for image transfer it makes no difference to me.

Or did I do something wrong and I should have been able to go directly from the camera to Lr?

I also occasionally had problems with Lightroom mobile recognising the camera on my iPhone. Restarting the programme helped, maybe you can also try restarting the iPhone.

Otherwise the camera is not displayed automatically. You have to press the blue icon at the bottom right of the screen, then a selection box appears and there you can add photos from the connected camera.

[marchyman]

3 hours ago, elmars said:

I also occasionally had problems with Lightroom mobile recognising the camera on my iPhone. Restarting the programme helped, maybe you can also try restarting the iPhone.

Lr on both my phone and iPad recognizes the phone/iPad camera.  What it won't do is recognize my M11.  If I want to get pictures from the camera onto my phone or iPad (something I rarely do) I first have to use FOTOS to get the images from the camera to the device Photos library.  Only then can I use Lr to read the images from the Photos library.

Since I do that so infrequently it's not much of an issue for me.  I can see the extra step being quite annoying for someone who regularly uses their iPad for editing.