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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Applications > How do I transfer photos from an iPhone to my iMac?

How do I transfer photos from an iPhone to my iMac?
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Topaz
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Nov 4, 2013, 10:33 AM
 
My son has an iPhone which has many photos on it which he wants to transfer to my iMac via USB. Unfortunately I cannot get the iPhone to mount onto my iMac. The only thing that happens is that EOS Utility starts up which is no help. Do I have to open iTunes or iPhoto first before connecting the iPhone? I am confused as I have an iPod and don't have any connection problems with that.
     
flmiller
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Nov 4, 2013, 11:06 AM
 
Open the Image Capture app on your Mac (Applications folder) and see if it recognizes the phone - it should. You can then import the photos to a folder on your Mac. HTH.

Frank
     
ibook_steve
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Nov 4, 2013, 03:08 PM
 
You can also specify in iPhoto General preferences what application should open when you connect a camera, i.e. the iPhone.

Steve
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Spheric Harlot
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Nov 4, 2013, 08:41 PM
 
You can specify that in the "Digital Images" "Image Capture" app, as well.

The iPhone does not mount on the desktop.

It should, however, just show up in iPhoto when connected - it doesn't matter whether you open iPhoto first or later on.



Edit: It's called "Image Capture" in English systems. "Digitale Bilder" ("Digital Images") in German. Sorry. Triple echo, then.
( Last edited by Spheric Harlot; Nov 6, 2013 at 10:05 AM. )
     
andi*pandi
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Nov 5, 2013, 01:53 PM
 
a second vote for image capture app.
( Last edited by andi*pandi; Nov 6, 2013 at 11:47 AM. Reason: giving frank his due)
     
flmiller
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Nov 5, 2013, 02:08 PM
 
Is there an echo in here?
     
DCJ001
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Nov 5, 2013, 06:04 PM
 
Dropbox is the best solution.
     
ghporter
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Nov 5, 2013, 10:59 PM
 
I disagree with DCJ001. While Dropbox is a great app and allows you to share any file, it is dependent on the speed of a device's Internet connection for how quickly (or not) files are transferred. The "use Dropbox" scenario would require:
a) upload the picture to Dropbbox
b) ensure the destination in Dropbox is shared enough to allow the upcoming download
c) download to the desktop computer

With Image Capture, you can download the pictures directly from the phone at the speed of the phone's USB connection. That's REALLY fast compared to using Dropbox to transfer the files to the desktop.

If the idea were to "share" the pictures, or even just to archive them, Dropbox is a great choice. But the OP wants the pictures on his desktop...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
DCJ001
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Nov 6, 2013, 10:09 AM
 
Ghporter Appears to be unfamiliar with Dropbox. After dropbox is installed, when the iPhone is connected to a computer by USB, all pictures and videos that are new in the iPhone transfer to the computer into the dropbox folder by USB. One has the option to do the transfer through Wi-Fi, but the USB method is quick and simple.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Nov 6, 2013, 10:39 AM
 
True.

However, Dropbox offers absolutely nothing over Apple's built-in methods that is of relevance to the original poster's query.
     
DCJ001
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Nov 6, 2013, 12:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
True.

However, Dropbox offers absolutely nothing over Apple's built-in methods that is of relevance to the original poster's query.
Sure, it does!

I do not know if Image Capture needs to be opened each time in order to process transfers, but Dropbox, once it's settings have been done, future transfers happen automatically each time that the USB connections are made.

Plius, one great feature that Dropbox offers is that, when the iPhone is connected to a computer, and pictures and videos are transferred to the Camera Uploads folder on one computer, the pictures and videos are also automatically transferred to the Camera Uploads folders on all of the user's other computers of any kind that can use Dropbox, iOS devices, Android devices, etc.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Nov 6, 2013, 12:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by DCJ001 View Post
Sure, it does!

One great feature that Dropbox offers is that, when the iPhone is connected to a computer, and pictures and videos are transferred to the Camera Uploads folder on one computer, the pictures and videos are also automatically transferred to the Camera Uploads folders on all of the user's other computers of any kind that can use Dropbox, iOS devices, Android devices, etc.
None of that is relevant TO THE ORIGINAL POSTER.
     
DCJ001
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Nov 6, 2013, 07:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
None of that is relevant TO THE ORIGINAL POSTER.
None of it? Really?

How do you know, and why are you yelling?
     
ghporter
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Nov 6, 2013, 07:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by DCJ001 View Post
Ghporter Appears to be unfamiliar with Dropbox. After dropbox is installed, when the iPhone is connected to a computer by USB, all pictures and videos that are new in the iPhone transfer to the computer into the dropbox folder by USB. One has the option to do the transfer through Wi-Fi, but the USB method is quick and simple.
Dropbox must be configured to do this; it is neither obvious nor trivial to set it up to do that. (I didn't know you could do it, and I've used Dropbox for several years). Dropbox is a generic file sharing program that I personally use to be able to share files for professional purposes. It is not a replacement for the built-in services one's Mac should provide to handle downloading photos.

On the other hand, using any of the photo-related apps on the Mac, such as Image Capture, to transfer photos to the Mac is exceptionally simple and easy to use. I'll also point out that a very quick Google search provides detailed instructions for using Image Capture, iPhoto, and Preview to download iPhone photos via a USB connection. Why should one use a third party app when an Apple app does it very easily?

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Spheric Harlot
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Nov 6, 2013, 07:11 PM
 
Actually, Dropbox practically insists upon activating photo import when you first run it.
     
ghporter
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Nov 6, 2013, 07:19 PM
 
OP, it takes a little fiddling to UN-select an app that opens when cameras are connected (and the Mac sees the iPhone as a camera for our purposes).

First, go HERE and download the Cameras Preference Pane (it's free). Install it. Now go to System Preferences and find the Cameras pane. This preferences pane finds all the different cameras your Mac remembers and shows you the actions (if any) associated with that camera. For the entry for your son's iPhone, you'll see the action "Open EOS Utility." Select a different action at the right, such as "Open iPhoto," or "Automatically Download." Now eject the phone (if it was plugged in) and plug it back into the Mac. The action you selected should happen automatically.

Done. Yes, it uses a third party item, but this is a specific and easy to use, intuitive control, instead of a generic, broad application that "oh by the way" also helps you manage iPhone photos.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
ghporter
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Nov 6, 2013, 07:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Actually, Dropbox practically insists upon activating photo import when you first run it.
I don't recall it doing so back in mid-2011 when I started using it. I may not have paid attention, since I was kind of involved in just getting connected to share my documents for my professional organization.

Maybe Dropbox works great for some people, but I'm not particularly fond of broad, "do everything" applications, especially when a simple, job-specific app (or pref pane) will do just what I want.

I do have to note that back when I got my iPhone 3, iTunes/OS X/something automatically downloaded my photos without me setting it up. I don't have a clue exactly what it was, but after I'd installed the apps for my Canon DSLR, I found that there were conflicts, so I found a solution: the Cameras pref pane.

Since iTunes downloads pictures TO the phone, it really seems that it should also have some sort of control to (maybe indirectly) manage the new photos on the phone. I'm still not happy that this task is a challenge instead of a breeze.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Spheric Harlot
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Nov 6, 2013, 07:34 PM
 
Camera upload didn't get implemented until about a year ago. They offered 5GB free space to beta testers, and the next updates of the software for Mac and iOS got pretty annoying about wanting you to switch the function on.
     
ghporter
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Nov 6, 2013, 09:06 PM
 
That makes sense. Thanks for the information.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
DCJ001
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Nov 6, 2013, 09:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Dropbox must be configured to do this; it is neither obvious nor trivial to set it up to do that. (I didn't know you could do it, and I've used Dropbox for several years). Dropbox is a generic file sharing program that I personally use to be able to share files for professional purposes. It is not a replacement for the built-in services one's Mac should provide to handle downloading photos.

On the other hand, using any of the photo-related apps on the Mac, such as Image Capture, to transfer photos to the Mac is exceptionally simple and easy to use. I'll also point out that a very quick Google search provides detailed instructions for using Image Capture, iPhoto, and Preview to download iPhone photos via a USB connection. Why should one use a third party app when an Apple app does it very easily?
Setting up Dropbox to automatically transfer photos and videos from an iPhone to a computer is a simple one time task.

Dropbox should be used because it is simple to set up, and because of the other aforementioned reasons in my previous post. Plus: If Dropbox is used for this, one's Dropbox account is increased by the sizes of the photos and videos that are transferred, up to an additional two gigabytes.

Steve made an effort to buy Dropbox because of the value contained therein, but his offer was not big enough.
     
DCJ001
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Nov 6, 2013, 09:31 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
I don't recall it doing so back in mid-2011 when I started using it. I may not have paid attention, since I was kind of involved in just getting connected to share my documents for my professional organization.

Maybe Dropbox works great for some people, but I'm not particularly fond of broad, "do everything" applications, especially when a simple, job-specific app (or pref pane) will do just what I want.

I do have to note that back when I got my iPhone 3, iTunes/OS X/something automatically downloaded my photos without me setting it up. I don't have a clue exactly what it was, but after I'd installed the apps for my Canon DSLR, I found that there were conflicts, so I found a solution: the Cameras pref pane.

Since iTunes downloads pictures TO the phone, it really seems that it should also have some sort of control to (maybe indirectly) manage the new photos on the phone. I'm still not happy that this task is a challenge instead of a breeze.
This feature was not available when you started using Dropbox. I believe that it was introduced in early 2012.

This task is a breeze, and not a challenge, with Dropbox. But some people are stubborn, and unwilling to try new things, even if the new things are better.
     
ghporter
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Nov 7, 2013, 07:54 AM
 
I don't think your third-party "new thing" is better than the third-party "new thing" I have been using since around 2012. Using Dropbox is ONE way to do this, but it isn't "better" just because it's Dropbox. And it doesn't address the issue the OP posted about, because his Mac did the wrong thing when a phone was connected. My post suggesting the Cameras pref pane fixes that, which is the issue we're supposed to be discussing. Just letting Dropbox try to set up to manage phone pictures may or may not work because of the incorrect setup he started with.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
   
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