WiFi Import Lightroom Plugin

Copyright © 2014 by Frank Eberle, all rights reserved.

http://www.frank-eberle.de

Introduction

The plugin allows to import wireless images form WiFi enabled SD cards to Adobe Lightroom. Two main functions are provided:

Shoot And Import

This function imports an image immediately after it was saved to the SD card during a shooting. It is comparable to Lightroom's "Tethered Capture" functionality.

Import By Date

This function imports all images which were taken before a specified date and time. It is mainly useful if you were out for shooting and want to import all new images to Lightroom, without putting the SD card into a card reader or to plug an USB cord.

Requirements

Operating System

Lightroom

License

• This software is donation ware!!! You can use the plugin free of charge for personal or commercial purpose. If you are a frequent user of the plugin, please consider to make a donation: http://www.frank-eberle.de/blog/make-a-donation
• Re-distribution of the plugin is allowed in original form as long as all copyright and license information are kept. It is not allowed to charge for the re-distribution of the plugin.
• The author of the plugin is not responsible for any damage which occure by using the plugin.
• The author does not give any warranty in respect to functionality of the plugin.

Installation

1. Extract the folder WiFiImport.lrplugin from the ZIP archive to any suitable location on your computer's hard drive.
2. Start Lightroom.
3. Select the menu option Plug-in Manager ... from Lightroom's File menu.
4. Press the Add button in the Plug-in Manager (see image below), a file selection dialog will be displayed.
5. Select the WiFiImport.lrplugin folder which you have extracted in step 1.

Now you can close the Plug-in Manager dialog or continue to configure the general settings (see below).

Usage

Menus

The plugin provides the following menu options:

(1) File > Plug-in Manager ...

Here you can configure the general settings of the plugin.

(2) File > Plug-in Extras > Shoot And Import

Calls the Shoot And Import feature of the plugin.

(3) File > Plug-in Extras > Import By Date

Calls the Import By Date feature of the plugin.

(4) Help > Plug-in Extras > About The Plugin

Shows copyright information, plugin version and the donation button

(5) Help > Plug-in Extras > Help

Shows this help document

(6) Help > Plug-in Extras > Check For Updates

Performs a manual check for a software update

General Settings

To change the general settings of the plugin, select the menu option File > Plug-in Manager ... and select WiFi Import from the list on the left side of the dialog window. In the lower part of the right side you'll see the section About / Global Preferences where you can set the general settings.

• The dropdown WiFi device type (1) allows to define which type of WiFi device to use.
• The input field Include file types (2) provides the possibility to define a list of file types which should be imported by the plugin. The file types have to be specified as a space separated list of extensions (e.g. "jpg cr2"). Leave this field empty to import all file types. The input is not case sensitive.
• The input field Exclude directories (3) allows to define a list for directories below the DCIM directory of the SD card which should be excluded during import. Some cameras create additional folders which don't contain images. The directories have to be specified as a space separated list (e.g. "EOSMISC TEST123"). The input is not case sensitive.
• If Automatically check for updates (4) is checked, the plugin checks for new updates when Lightroom is started (please see notes below).
• The checkbox Enable debug log (5) controls whether debug messages should be sent. This option is mainly for debugging and support purpose.
• Log to file (6) defines if the log messages should be send to a file or to the log mechanism of the operating system. This option also is for debugging and support purpose.
• By pressing the button Reset preferences (7) all preferences and saved dialog inputs are resetted to their defaults.

Important Notes About Update Check

1. The plugin sends a HTTP request to the author's website to ask for the latest plugin version. Nothing is downloaded or installed automatically, so you have the full control what will be installed on your system!
2. The HTTP request includes the hashed serial number of your Lightroom installation. It is not possible to extract your serial number from the hash (it's a mathematical trap-door algorithm). Also the Lightroom version is included in the HTTP request. The option Automatically check for updates is enabled by default. The serial hash allows me to make a rough estimation about how many unique installations of the plugin are out there. So I would highly appreciate when you leave the option selected. If you are afraid about disclosure of any personal information, please disable the option!

Shoot And Import

This function is invoked by the menu option File > Plug-in Extras > Shoot And Import. First the settings dialog is displayed:

1. In the title bar of the dialog the type of the currently configured WiFi device is displayed (see general settings).
2. The field IP or Hostname is used to specify the hostname or IP address of the SD card. Please see the documentation of your WiFi device for information how to find out the IP address or hostname.
3. The Search button is only available when running on MS Windows and the WiFi device is a Transcend Wi-Fi SD. By pressing the button your network is discovered for Wi-Fi SD cards. If more than one card was found a selection dialog is displayed. If only one card was found, the IP address of the card is automatically entered in the field IP or Hostname.
4. By checking JPEG only only JPEG files are transferred and imported. This setting is useful to speed-up displaying images during a shooting. Set your camera to save images in JPEG and RAW simultaneously and set this option. Now the plugin only transfers the JPEG images (which are typically much smaller than the RAW files) during the shooting. Later you can use the Import By Date function to import the RAW images.
5. The value of the text field Scan Interval defines the interval in seconds for scanning the card for new images. The value have to be in the range 2-20.
6. Shows the location where the transfered images will be stored.
7. By pressing the Select button a dialog is displayed which allows to select the destination folder.
8. By checking Create sub-director the sub-directory hierarchy specified inside the text field is created. The plugin allows to use the place holders @day@, @month@ and @year@ which are replaced by the day, month and year of the current date (not the date of the imported images). For instance if @year@\@year@-@month@\@year@-@month@-@day@ is specified and the current date is 2. June 2014 the sub-directory 2014\2014-06\2014-06-02 is created inside the destination directory (5) and the images are stored inside the sub-directory.
9. The text field Keywords allows to specify a set of keywords which are applied to the images during import. Multiple keywords have to be separated by one or more blanks. Currently it is not supported to specify a keyword which includes a blank.
10. The dropdown Development Presets allows to select a set of stored development presets which are applied to the images during import.

1. Shows the current operation status. Possible states are:
   • Ready - the plugin is between two scans for new images.
   • Downloading - the plugin is downloading images from the card.
   • Error - an error occurred.
   • Offline - the plugin is unable to reach the card (e.g. camera is out of tuning range).
2. By checking Lock the plugin is paused. New images will be transferred when the checkbox is unchecked again.
3. By default the plugin sets the target folder as the active source of the current Lightroom module and jumps to the last downloaded image. By activating the checkbox Don't select this behaviour will be deactivated. This is mainly useful when editing images in parallel while new images are imported by the plugin.
4. Hostname/IP shows the IP address or hostname of the card which is currently used.
5. Destination shows the name of the folder which is used to store the downloaded images.
6. Last Error shows a text describing the last error.
7. Shows a preview of the last downloaded image.
8. Shows information about the last downloaded image.

The shoot-and-import process is stopped by closing the dialog window. When LR 5.0 or laster is used, it is possible to work with Lightroom while the dialog is shown. In older versions the window is a modal dialog.

TIP: In LR 5.0 and later it is possible to switch into fullscreen mode after shoot-and-import was started. This allows to display a image in fullscreen mode immediately after it was downloaded.

Import By Date

This function is invoked by the menu option File > Plug-in Extras > Import By Date. First the settings dialog is displayed:

1. In the title bar of the dialog the type of the currently configured WiFi device is displayed (see general settings).
2. The field IP or Hostname is used to specify the hostname or IP address of the SD card. Please see the documentation of your WiFi device for information how to find out the IP address or hostname.
3. The Search button is only available when running on MS Windows and the WiFi device is a Transcend Wi-Fi SD. By pressing the button your network is discovered for Wi-Fi SD cards. If more than one card was found a selection dialog is displayed. If only one card was found, the IP address of the card is automatically entered in the field IP or Hostname.
4. Photos taken after the date and time specified in the row Photos After are downloaded from the card. It is required to enter the timezone offset of your computer into the field TZ Offset.
5. Shows the location where the transfered images will be stored.
6. By pressing the Select button a dialog is displayed which allows to select the destination folder.
7. By checking Create sub-director the sub-directory hierarchy specified inside the text field is created. The plugin allows to use the place holders @day@, @month@ and @year@ which are replaced by the day, month and year of the current date (not the date of the imported images). For instance if @year@\@year@-@month@\@year@-@month@-@day@ is specified and the current date is 2. June 2014 the sub-directory 2014\2014-06\2014-06-02 is created inside the destination directory (5) and the images are stored inside the sub-directory.
8. The text field Keywords allows to specify a set of keywords which are applied to the images during import. Multiple keywords have to be separated by one or more blanks. Currently it is not supported to specify a keyword which includes a blank.
9. The dropdown Development Presets allows to select a set of stored development presets which are applied to the images during import.

By pressing the OK button the import is started. First the plugin tries to connect to the card and to check the card type. If a problem occurs an error dialog is displayed. The download and import of images which are already present in the destination folder is skipped.