With the release of Capture One for iPad, it is now possible to sync your RAW files with their adjustments between your iPad and Capture One Pro
Any photos contained in your Capture One for iPad catalog can be added to an album, whereby they can be imported to any folder on your workstation, making them viewable and editable in Capture One Pro.
First of all, ensure that you are running the latest version of both Capture One Pro and Capture One for iPad to get the best possible experience with Cloud Transfer.
Next, it's important that you are signed-in with the same Capture One account on iPad that you use on desktop, in order to use cloud transfer. If you are using a different account with Capture One Pro, then cloud transfer will not work. Your Apple ID is only used for billing purposes.
Step-by-step guide on how to use Cloud Transfer:
1. By default, Cloud Transfer is not part of the Toolbar. Add it to your Toolbar for quick access by right-clicking in a 'blank' part of the Toolbar, whereby you can select 'Customize Toolbar'
2. Click and drag the Cloud Transfer icon into the Toolbar as shown
Capture One Pro is now ready to receive photos from the cloud. You will need your iPad for the next step.
3. On your iPad, navigate to the album that you wish to upload to the cloud. If you have yet to create an album, you can do so by tapping the '+' icon, next to Albums.
4. Once your album is created and contains the photos you wish to synchronize, tap on the '...' icon next to the album name.
5. Select 'Add to Cloud' to begin transferring photos to the cloud. Once the progress wheel is complete, you will be notified that your photos have successfully synced to the cloud.
You will now be able to click on the Cloud Transfer icon in the Toolbar of Capture One Pro and import your images to your desired location.
6. Click on Cloud Transfer in the Toolbar, whereby you will be presented with the following window:
Import From - allows you to choose the Cloud Album that you would like to import images from
Import To - gives you the option to choose any folder on your machine that will contain the imported images
Import - select this to begin the import process
N.B. If you do not see your desired Cloud Album, click the refresh button next to the 'Import From' dropdown menu
7. Once you have selected your Cloud Album and your chosen import destination, you should see the Sample Path, the amount of space remaining on your disk and above all, the option to import your images.
Click 'Import' to begin the import process.
What happens to my images after I import them? Where do they go?
When using a Catalog, images will import as referenced files - meaning they will stay in the location selected in 'Import To' but will also be added to your catalog. The images will not appear under 'In Catalog' but instead in your system's folder structure, as seen below:
If you are using a Session, then your import location will be added as a Session Favorite for easy access.
Do changes to the Cloud Album automatically sync with Capture One Pro?
No. When changes are made in the iPad application, you will see a '!' next to the name of your Cloud Album.
Tap '...' and then select 'Upload changes to cloud' to sync your changes with the folder on your desktop.
If you want to see the changes made after this action appear in Capture One Pro, you will have to re-import the images. So we therefore recommend using Cloud Transfer when you are completely ready to take your edits over to Capture One Pro, in order to avoid duplicate files and using unnecessary disk space.
If you are not having any success with cloud transfer, then it is likely that you are not signed in with the same account on both devices. Please ensure that during the sign-up process, you are using the same Capture One account on both your iPad and Capture One Pro.
If you need to, change your account details or reach out to Support.
N.B. Cloud Transfer only works with Capture One Pro – no other variants such as Express, for Sony/Fujifilm support this function.
Similar to Capture One Live, it is suggested to update to the latest version of Capture One Pro so that any service relying on the cloud will keep working. Cloud services are officially supported for the two latest releases of Capture One Pro and Capture One for iPad. If your software or app is older than 2 minor releases, we cannot guarantee it will work as intended.
End of Life (ie. the time at which the cloud service stops working all together) will be 3 months after a new major version is released or when a breaking change is introduced.
Comments
24 comments
The upload to the cloud from the iPad has 2 issues. ("Select 'Add to Cloud' to begin transferring photos to the cloud. Once the progress wheel is complete, you will be notified that your photos have successfully synced to the cloud.")
First, the upload takes long. The servers seem to have severe limitations. I have a very fast fibre connection, but uploading a few 100 photos takes hours.
Secondly, the upload pauses if another app is being used or if the screen locks. The only way to keep the upload going is to set screen lock to never and let the iPad do its thing.
I would rather hook up my iPad to my laptop to pull the photos through a wire.
Regarding Cloud Transfer and the GDPR: where is Cloud Transfer based? Who owns Cloud Transfer? Security? Encryption? Before installing CO for iPad I prefer a detailed explanation.
@Gerlach Good question! Cloud transfer and the technology behind it is handled by us here in Copenhagen. It is 100% GDPR compliant and you can read our privacy policy here: https://www.captureone.com/en/terms-conditions/privacy-policy
It's a great start. But my experience is the same as Harmen Thys Nieuwenhuis's. I hope bidirectional synchronization is on the list.
@Stephan It is most certainly 'on the list' :)
Is it true that the cloud transfer is only free for 5 uploads?
At this stage the C1 for iPad has potential, ie raw engine, but has a few issues;
Subscription based.
Limited functions, ie no layers, masking (I know supposed to be coming).
and does the cloud transfers cost, adding to the subscription cost?
My view, wait until it is full featured before jumping in and then decide if the cost is worth it.
for pros it may be but for us amateurs who use 3 or 4 times a year, maybe not.
@Brian Thank you for your feedback.
Cloud transfer is not a paid service and does not limit you to 5 uploads. It's included in your subscription and is limited to 1000 files per user.
Are there any plans to leverage Apples new File Provider API so we can just connect C1 to whatever cloud we want?
I have my own NAS at home, as I'm sure many other people here do too. I have absolutely no desire to use "the cloud", for something that I already have covered. With nearly 100TB of space, I would really like to just use my own "cloud". This kind of thing is the exact reason I stopped using Lightroom and switched to C1 in the first place.
Since Apple opened up the same API they use for iCloud drive, it would be completely possible to allow us to login to a WebDAV server, or whatever "cloud" backend we want and just simply have our whole library on the go, it can even cache items so they can be worked on without internet.
Just now experimenting in the studio and finding the transfers really fast. That's great! I do have a question and the answer may lie within my camera instructions and/or menus, regarding the file. My camera is currently set up to save RAW on both in-camera SD Cards. When tethered to the iPad with C1, the RAW files are being sent to the iPad, but nothing is being sent to one of the in-camera cards. Is there something I need to adjust to make it possible to send the RAW files to at least one of the in-camera cards? And if so, is this an in-camera adjustment or something I need to do in C1 for iPad? Thanks!
Hey Jack, did you say 1000 files per user? Meaning 1000 raw files, right? That’s like 1 third of a job within a day sometimes. 1000 files for a month? Or per album?
Yankov Wong It's 1000 files at any one time. If you need more space, you need to remove photos from the cloud storage. If you need to dump a whole shoot, I'd use an external storage device (even Airdrop to Mac works pretty well) – the feature was designed around having your 'selects' sent over to desktop for further work, once they have been rated or tagged on set. Hope that clarifies things! But that doesn't mean we won't look into expanding storage in the future.
Jon Thrasher I'll look into this for you and get some more information on this added to our user guide. In the meantime, I would definitely check the user manual for your camera and check you've got the storage settings set correctly. Feel free to get back to me here with your findings.
Hey Jack, thank you so much for your reply.
What's the best, quickest, way of off loading the files on Capture One iPad to a computer you would recommend? Thanks.
I mean, say it is 2000 raw files.
Yankov Wong I'd plug in a hard drive and transfer the files over manually, or select the images in Capture One for iPad and then hit the 'share' button - then select Airdrop to transfer the images over to a Mac on your local network.
You may find this article helpful: https://captureone.zendesk.com/knowledge/articles/5646493678621
Jon Thrasher Seems that this is only possible if your camera allows it. There's no direct functionality in the app that allows or supports this.
However, I've made the R&D team aware of your request and it's something we'll look into. Glad that you're enjoying Capture One for iPad :) have fun!
Thank you Jack. I did discover one rather odd thing that may indicate that there is an issue to be resolved with the app. If I set the camera to save jpg + raw, it saves two images on the iPad (a jpg & a raw file) and it saves a jpg on the #1 in-camera SD Card. But, again, I haven’t figured out (yet) to to get it save a raw file on either card.
Jack Williams: I did figure out how to set up the Sony A7rIII to save a raw file on the primary SD Card, in addition to saving a raw file on the iPad in C1 for iPad!!! The web link below was very helpful to me in figuring out those maddening Sony menus! Thanks for your assistance, Jack. So far, I am loving the tethering for iPad!
https://imagealchemist.net/tethering-sony-with-capture-one/
I already filed a feature request regarding this when the app was announced, but i'll add it again here, if there is no way to backup the photos/session (assuming it works with sessions) to an external device while tethered shooting then this app will never be suitable for commercial work. All files save onto an iPad and the iPad dies (or is stolen) during or after a shoot before offloading the files, then you're in big trouble. Plenty of cameras (lots of people like me still using one card Phase/Leaf backs) with only one card still being used. No problem with a laptop where an external SSD can be used to backup. I really like the idea of using an iPad but unless you figure out file redundancy it has no place in a professional workflow.
Cloud transfer is unusably slow. Canceled upload of 761 photos after 2 hours and only two thirds complete. Disappointing since I had spent so much time rating and editing on iPad. Please add a USB transfer alternative to make it faster.
Having spent several months trying to find a workable solution for an iPad Pro(3rd Gen)/C1 workflow, I have now successfully imported from Sony 64GB SDX Card (Sony A9 RAW Files) via SDX Card slot on USBc, using a LIONWEI LIUC2904 HUB Adaptor (fast 3.1 USB Gen 2 plugged into iPad Pro 3rd Gen) Edited RAW files in C1 on iPad (faster than my current Laptop) then successfully Shared/Exported from C1 on iPad to a SanDisk Extreme Pro 1TB NVMe drive plugged into the LIONWEI LIUC2904 USB 3.1 port with very fast speeds and excellent success rate.
This solution allows me to back up a hard copy and quickly transfer from my iPad Pro (via SanDisk Extreme Pro NVMe) to my Desktop/Laptop for any further edits all OFFLINE. No need for Syncing as C1 cloud syncing only unidirectional currently anyhow.
Only Caveat I can see is the need to have enough free space on your iPad in order to import all files from the 64GB SDX Card, as you cannot import directly to the SanDisk Extreme Pro NVMe in C1, (this feature would be nice). Although this can also be a blessing in most instances as you will have a complete backup.
*SanDisk Extreme Pro 1TB formatted as ExFAT, to enable the drive to work across PC, Mac and iPad
Echoing what others have said, cloud transfer is unusably slow even for 100+ photos on good network speeds. Please consider a wired option or some kind of Session/Catalog file export that lets us plug the iPad into the computer or a hard drive and transfer from there. Capture One for iPad can't do much to speed up my workflow if I'm spending all my time waiting for photos to transfer!
It's especially frustrating because I really like the app on the iPad, it's a great user experience editing quickly with the pencil. But until the transfer problem is fixed, there's not much it adds on top of the desktop application.
Hello from Paris. Please how to emptying completely the cloud ? I still always some pictures on it (108), even if I trash all the pictures from all the album and the trash. Thank You and happy new year. Cyril
Cyril de Ricou
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