Conversion when uploading from Photos to NAS

[Sagnet]

Hi! I have just uploaded some photos from the Photos library on my Mac to a Synology NAS. Some of the files were jpeg and some were RAW (CR2). To my surprise, all the photos ended up as jpeg on the NAS. I have uploaded CR2 files from a Windows computer, where such conversion into jpeg did not take place. So I have strong reason to believe that it is the Photos app (or some other feature on the Mac) that does the conversion when the upload takes place.

So I have the following questions:

• Why and where does this conversion take place?
• Is it possible to disable it?
• Is it only the CR2 images that are converted, or should I assume that some conversion has taken place also for the images that were originally jpeg?

 

[oblomow]

Hi! I have just uploaded some photos from the Photos library on my Mac to a Synology NAS. Some of the files were jpeg and some were RAW (CR2). To my surprise, all the photos ended up as jpeg on the NAS. I have uploaded CR2 files from a Windows computer, where such conversion into jpeg did not take place. So I have strong reason to believe that it is the Photos app (or some other feature on the Mac) that does the conversion when the upload takes place.

So I have the following questions:

• Why and where does this conversion take place?
• Is it possible to disable it?
• Is it only the CR2 images that are converted, or should I assume that some conversion has taken place also for the images that were originally jpeg?

I remember from the time I used iphoto that you had to specify explicitly how you wanted to export the photo. I guess it's the same with photos. My mac is at home, so I can't test it right now.

How did you save the photos? Save or export?

 

[Sagnet]

How did you save the photos? Save or export?

Neither. I chose "Upload" from the NAS app. And then I selected photos from the Photos "drive", which is located at the left bottom side in the Finder window. I didn't use the Photos app itself.

 

[monokakata]

What happens when you just use "copy" through Finder? I move RAW files back and forth between my Mac and my Synology NAS regularly. A file is a file.

I think that Photos must be inserting itself into the chain somehow, or whatever that NAS "app" might be is doing something.

You don't need any app to move files back and forth between a Mac and a NAS. That's not to say that there aren't useful apps -- I often use Chronosynch to move stuff.

 

[kenoh]

Neither. I chose "Upload" from the NAS app. And then I selected photos from the Photos "drive", which is located at the left bottom side in the Finder window. I didn't use the Photos app itself.

I think that is your culprit right there. The NAS upload app is obviously doing image conversion when it puts the image up there or it is ignoring raw files entirely and just uploading the jpg previews. Not likely it is intelligent enough to convert from your raw to jpg. After all, it is a file uploader not an image convertor.

Why aren't you just mounting the NAS as a drive/volume and dragging and dropping ? Chances are the NAS app is trying to only do images that it's photo station software can handle.

 

[nebo1ss]

I use file copy to move CR2 files to my Synology NAS and nothing changes they remain as CR2.
They also display perfectly normally in the photo station app without any conversion.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

The fact that you selected the Photos library from Finder in the way that you did is the "culprit." This is a feature, not a bug. It's designed for obtaining sharable images (photos you can upload to web pages, attach to email, etc.), that reflect whatever edits you made. So, it outputs JPGs, because you wouldn't send unedited RAWs around to your friends and family, or post them on web pages, would you?

You have two options, if you want to move RAWs to the NAS:

One is from within Photos: File > Export > Export unmodified original

The other is to locate the Photos library (usually in your Pictures folder). Right-click (control-click) on the Photos Library icon > Show Package Contents and copy from the Masters folder to the NAS. Whatever you do, make NO MODIFICATIONS to anything inside the Photos Library "package" - that will break the Photos database. Just copy the Masters you want, and leave it at that.