SL + iPhoto '09 = Strange import issue

Since moving to Snow Leopard, I've had a few occasions of strange import troubles.
The last three times I've imported images off my card 1-3 RAW images have been jacked up, with the top part of the photo looking normal, but the rest of the image looking like it's scrambled cable.
I deleted the bad imported images (and a few others) and tried reimporting the images. The ones that were bad the first time come out fine but others might have the same issue.
Any idea what's going on??
Thanks!
Jake

Some things to try:
Use Image Capture (in your Applications Folder) (or the Finder if your Camera mounts on the Desktop) to move the files to a Folder on the desktop and then try import them from there. This will tell us if the problem is between iPhoto and the Camera or local to iPhoto.
If the problem persists with the files imported from the desktop: Start with the troubleshooting basics:
1. Delete the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder. (Remember you'll need to reset your User options afterwards. These include minor settings like the window colour and so on. Note: If you've moved your library you'll need to point iPhoto at it again.)
2. Repair Permissions using Disk Utility
3. Create a new account (systempreferences -> accounts) and see if the problem is repeated there. If it is, then a re-install of the app might be indicated. If it's not, then it's likely the app is okay and the problem is something in the main account.
Regards
TD

Similar Messages

Strange import issue .. no longer works in 2.6 or Beta 3

Strange import issue.
I use LR-2.6 everyday but have only played around with the LR-3 for a limited amount of time so the other day I decided check it out and tried to import a handful of RAW(canon) files on a SDxc-8g card via a USB card reader. I set it up to copy and convert to DNG, apply a few keywords and Metadata but when I tried it acted like it imported the first image and then froze. Card reader lights stopped blinking and just stayed on, program task bar doesn’t show any progress, not even for the first image. I then went to the folder that I was going to have the images copies to and it contained a file of the first image, but there is no indication that LR-3 even created it and it doesn’t show up in the catalog. When I tried to close out LR-3 is popped up the “in the middle of a task warning” so I just closed the program and tried it a couple more times to no avail.
So I though o well I will just open up LR-2.6 and import them from there, guess what now LR-2.6 does the exact same thing!!
I thought maybe my card reader was a POS but I was able to drag all the files to a new folder on my desktop and import them from there, nope. Tried rebooting a couple times, even opened a new catalog to test with, in both LR-2.6 and LR-3 and neither will work..
I am stumped any ideas?

Thank you for everyone's assistance
I actually figured out what the problem was, like most issues it comes back to operator error, it seem I had inadvertently chose a "rename file on import" template that I had set up to name the files based on a custom fill-in field in the Meta Data, I normally only used that template when I was exporting images that had been completely edited, so being these images were new imports that field was blank, hence it would import the first image and then do to " don't import subjected duplicates" being checked it would just stop the import process.

IPhoto '06 - '08 Import Issues: Album Names Not Imported; Grouped by Date

I imagine my circumstances aren't uncommon... After a clean install of Leopard and iLife '08 on my MacBook, I wanted to import my iPhoto '06 library into iPhoto '08. I had archived on an external hard drive the iPhoto Pictures directory from iPhoto '06 (the directory from ~user/Documents/Pictures/iPhoto Pictures/).
Using the File>Import to Library function in iPhoto '08 and selecting the iPhoto '06 library resulted in all of the pictures coming in, *but they weren't organized in the albums I created in iPhoto '06*. Instead, all pictures were organized into groups by date.
What in the ham sandwich is the proper way to import an iPhoto '06 library so that all of the old album names and organization is maintained in iPhoto '08?
Many thanks for your time!

TD,
Many thanks for the advice. I found one other thing that I wanted to ask about before giving this a whirl.
I noticed that the iPhoto Library in '08 is in fact a package, not a directory. Given that, there are two possible courses of action, and I wanted to know which was best.
1. Delete the iPhoto '08 "iPhoto Library" package and replace it with the '06 "iPhoto Library" directory.
2. Replace the contents of the '08 "iPhoto Library" package with the contents of the '06 "iPhoto Library" directory?
I was uncertain about option 1, as I didn't know how getting rid of the package would affect the application (or if it's needed).
Cheers,
R

Strange Import Issue with Canon 7D Footage Final Cut Pro X

I'm hoping some folks can help me here as I'm stumped.
I shot around 60 minutes of last evening with my Canon 7D. File sizes ranged from 500MB to 4GB. I imported from my 8GB memory card a 3.6 GB file and a 500MB file with no issue. I then moved on to my 16GB memory card, which was full with around 7 clips, and started importing. I noticed the import was going slow but I was also importing some audio from SD cards on the same card reader, which I've always done in the past, and figured it was just a USB 2.0 bandwidth thing.
I then got an error regarding the Import Failing (see attachment) but the file appeared to have imported without issue. Upon further inspection during the import however, I noticed any file larger than 1GB was showing as the PAL codec (after it imports it correctly shows H.264 but more on that later). I checked the 3.6GB file from my first import and it did not share this issue. While on the shoot I had backed up a number of these files to my iPad so I attempted to import them from there and althought he PAL codec was not listed, I did get the Import Failed error. I also tried a brand new card reader and a different Event/Destination the issue remained.
I've restarted, repaired permissions, and the issue remains. I have never encountered this error and imported a similar amount of footage and clip sizes two weeks ago. I'm stumped, has anyone else seen this?

I did some experiments this morning, and Richard's method worked. Thank you!
However, I didn't follow Richard's steps 2 & 3. When importing, I let FCP copy the files to the FC Events folder. It still worked. In step 1, I did not copy the .THM files to the new folder on my HD.
I did a second experiment that did not work:
1) Copy .mov files (only) from CF card to new folder on HD.---no .THM files
2) "Create Camera Archive" with FCP - Store new archive in its own folder on my HD
3) Tried importing from the new Camera Archive - This crashed just like before.
This tells me FCP is OK with importing individual media files to a FC Event. It seems to crash when it thinks there's a camera involved.
Later today I'll try to import some AVCHD files and see if it crashes on import. For AVCHD footage, you need to rely on FCP's "Import from device" capability. Those files need to be transcoded to be usable at all.
More later.
Marshall

IPhoto import issue

I'm trying to import an iPhoto Library from my main Mac (Mac Pro running OSX 10.6.8 & iPhoto 7.1.5) onto a new Mac (Mac Mini running 10.9 and the very latest iPhoto) and am running into a major issue.
Steps so far:
1. Copy the iPhoto Library from the Mac Pro to a 2TB External Drive.
2. Plug the external drive into the Mac Mini
3. Launch iPhoto on the Mac Mini
4. Import the entire library via from the external drive into iPhoto
Naturally, this takes an eternity but at some point after importing the pics, I get the 'Finishing Import' for a while and then a window with the heading 'Unreadable Files'
This tells me that there are four images that can't be imported because of an unrecognisable format but
1. I can't tell which images these are as the file name is truncated due to the window size.
2. iPhoto hangs (not responding in the Force Quit menu and also a spiining ball of doom)
I can't even press the OK button because it's spinning wheel of doom time.
If I knew which images they were I could remove them via 'Show Package Contents' and then do a re-import (as tedious as that is) but right now all I know is which folders they're in.
I don't want to do a force quit but it looks like thats the only choice here unless anyone has some good suggestions?
Any help greafully received

On the Mac Mini I created a new test iPhoto library and imported 4 pics from an SDHC card via the slot on the back of the mac Mini and everything worked as expected.
If the new library worked OK then try repairing your current library as follows: apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
1 - launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
iPhoto 8 (09) and earlier- run the options indicated
iPhoto 9 (11) and later- run Option #4 to rebuild the database
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager (iPhoto 8 or earlier or IPhoto 11 and later) and launch.
2 - click on the Add Library button and select the library you want to add in the selection window..
3 - Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the
File ➙ Rebuild Library (iPhoto 8 or earlier)
or
Library ➙ Rebuild Library (iPhoto 9 or later)
menu option to rebuild the library.
4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
5 - Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.

Iphoto would not import movies from Iphone 4 - ANYBODY ELSE HAS ISSUES?

Hello,
Yes Iphone 4 is so sexy.
I have reception issues too unfortunatly , only where reception is weak anyway, but yes it happens...
also iphoto would not import most of the times
the iphone 4 videos?
any suggestions why and how to fix it ?
Many thx
Anteros

I was encountering this on the developers' beta of iTunes 9.2 on a gigabyte-sized iPhone 4 movie. (I am in Developer Program.)
I just reinstalled with the standard iTunes download and was able to do a successful import directly from the phone.
Perhaps an iTunes reinstall can fix it for you as it did for me.
-- Andrew

New iPhoto 9.5 (902.7) much slower and import issues

I have a 2007 iMac and ever since I uploaded to Mavericks/iPhoto there's been issues.
While it seems that a number of people have noticed 'slowness' and I like other people had lots of crashing with items like Garageband (Fixed with 10.0.1 update), I conteinue to have problems with iPhoto and subsequently iTunes.
When I attach my iPhone to the USB cable, it properly starts iPhoto and the iPhone shows up as a device, but then it just sits there with the Beach Ball trying to load the pictures.
I've deleted everything on the iPhone and tried again but I continually have problems.
I hooked up my iPad 2 to the same way and it only had one picture on it but it took forever to show up but it did successfully load however, I tried again with some screenshots that I took and it hung as well.
This seems to be connected to iTunes sync as well as even when I have no photos on my iPhone so it doesn't trigger iPhoto loading, the photo sync either takes forever or quite often, just hangs iTunes and stops responding.
iphoto once complained about library problems so I tried all the steps except to completely recreate the database. Still same issues (slow and hanging imports)
This also is happening on my Olympus OM-D EM-1 camera and SD Card reader that I attach so it seems more of a general issue than specific to my iPhone, etc.
Any suggestions? Recreate the entire iPhoto Database?

As a test launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and create a new, test library. Connect the iPad or iPhone and try to import some photos to see if the same problem persists. Does it?
OT

Iphoto import issues

HI,
I'm having some problems importing photos to iPhoto.
I import them as normal and I can see them in iPhoto fine. When I close iPhoto and reopen a new session iPhoto tells me there are photos to import. If I ignore this message and browse to my recent imports, outlines of the photos appear but with just a dotted outline, no actual photo.
I have had a problems with my import folder in the past but deleting it out of my iPhoto album usually fixes it but not in this case.
Can anyone help?

Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download <a href="http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/"><b><u>iPhoto Library Manager</b></u></a> and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.

IMPORT issues: Works with iMovie 3 but not iMovie 6 ???

Okay, still trying to get my import issue resolved.
I have a SONY HDR-HC3 DVmini.
No problems with iMovie 3 on my Powerbook.
iMovie 6 on my MDD will let me control the camera, but the screen stays BLUE with no IMPORT.
My buddy thinks it might be a Quicktime issue.
He said to download Quicktime Pro, that might resolve this issue.
I can copy the iMovie 3 file to my machine with iMovie 6 and do the editing, just not the importing...
THANX

Hi
Can be so much.
Often Camera has to be connected to Charger/mains during Capture.
An majority is a faulthy - badly connected FW-Cable (USB don't work at all)
My list on this
*NO CAMERA or A/D-box*
Cable
• Sure that You use the FireWire - USB will not work for miniDV tape Cameras
FireWire - Sure not using the accompany USB-Cable but bought a 4-pin to 6-pin FW one ?
• Test another FW-Cable very often the problem maker.
Camera
• Test Your Camera on another Mac so that DV-in still works OK
• Toogle in iMovie pref. Play-back via Camera (on<->off some times)
• Some Cameras has a Menu where You must select DV-out to get it to work
• Camera connected to "charger" (mains adaptor) - not just on battery
Does Your Camera work on another Mac ?
Sorry to say it is to easy to turn the 6-pin end of the FW-cable 180 deg wrong.
This is lethal to the A/D-chip in the Camera = needs an expensive repair.
(Hard to find out - else than import/export to another Mac ceased to work
everything else is OK eg recording and playback to TV)
Connections
• Daisy Chaining most often doesn’t work (some unique cases - it’s the only way that work (some Canon Cameras ?))
Try to avoid connecting Camera <--> external HD <--> Mac but import directly to the Mac then move
the Movie project to dedicated external hard disk.
Mac
• Free space on internal (start-up) hard disk ? Please specify the amount of free space.
(Other hard disks don't count)
I go for a minmum of 25Gb free space for 4x3 SD Video - and my guess is 5 times more for 16x9 HD ones
after material is imported and edited.
SoftWare
• Delete iMovie pref file may help sometimes. I rather start a new account, log into this and have a re-try.
• Any strange Plug-ins into QuickTime as Perian etc ? Remove and try again.
• FileVault is off ? (hopefully)
Using WHAT versions ? .
• Mac OS - X.5.4 ?
• QuickTime version ? (This is the heart in both iMovie and FinalCut)
• iMovie 8 (7.1.?) ?
• iMovie HD 6 (6.0.4/3) ?
*Other ways to import Your miniDV tape*
• Use another Camera. There where tape play-back stations from SONY
but they costed about 2-4 times a normal miniDV Camera.
• If Your Camera works on another Mac. Make an iMovie movie project here and move it
over to Your Mac via an external hard disk.
(HAS TO BE Mac OS Extended formatted - USB/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange WILL NOT DO)
(Should be a FireWire one - USB/USB2 performs badly)
from LKN 1935.
Hi Bengt W, I tried it all, but nothing worked. Your answer has been helpfull insofar as all the different trials led to the conclusion that there was something wrong with my iMovie software. I therefore threw everything away and reinstalled iMovie from the HD. After that the exportation of DV videos (there has not been any problem with HDV videos) to my Sony camcorders worked properly as it did before. Thank you. LKN 1935
from Karsten.
in addition to Bengt's excellent '9 yards of advice' ..
camera set to 'Play' , not rec/computer/etc.?
camera not on battery, but power-line?
did your Mac 'recognize' this camera before...?
a technical check.
connect camera, on, playback, fw-connected...
click on the Blue Apple, upper left of your screen ..
choose 'About../More..
under Firewire.. what do you read..?
More
• FileVault - Secure that it’s turned off
• Network storage - DOESN’T WORK
• Where did You store/capture/import Your project ?
External USB hard disk = Bad Choise / FireWire = Good
If so it has to be Mac OS Extended formatted
----> UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange is NOT Working for VIDEO !
mbolander
Thanks for all your suggestions. What I learned is that I had a software problem. I had something called "Nikon Transfer" on my Mac that was recognizing my Canon camcorder as a still camera and was preventing iMovie from working properly. After uninstalling Nikon Transfer and doing a reboot, everything worked great.
I never liked the Nikon Transfer software anyway--I guess I'll get a cheap card reader and use that to transfer photos in the future.
*No Camera or bad import*
• USB hard disk
• Network storage
• File Vault is on
jiggaman15dg wrote
if you have adobe cs3 or 4 and have the adobe bridge on close that
or no firewire will work
see if that halps
DJ1249 wrote
The problem was the external backup hard drive that is connected, you need to disconect the external drive before the mac can see the video camera.
Yours Bengt W

Iphoto unable to import images from card or from desktop

A recent update to the operating system for my imac with Maverick has rendered my iphoto incapable of importing images, creates a mirror shift of the frontpage as it is opened up and requires a long time for iphoto to open. When I try to import a photo from the desktop or from a card the program spins into dysfunction and I am forced to force quit. Program functionality seems to be impaired as I look for images, select, etc. Permissions verified and fixed in Utility disk. Restart computer several times.....I would be grateful for assistance. Kind regards to the community.....HP

Well that suggests the issue is with the main Library. So
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD

IPhoto can't import from CF card

Hi,
today when trying to import some photos from my kids rugby game, iPhoto can't import several of them. In total there are 51 photos on the newly formatted CF card and 5 of them doesn't even have a thumbnail picture, and even more of them can get imported to iPhoto. I get a kind of nonsense error message telling me that iPhoto can't import a picture because it can't get recieved or something similar. If I use Image Capture I get 38 of them imported.
I really want to save these photos, what can I do?
And what has happened, is it the memory card that is bad? I sure must prevent this from occuring again in the future.
Thanks...
/Mans

Are you importing via a card reader or are you plugging the camera directly into the computer?
My suggestion is if you are using a card reader, you may want to go through the camera instead if you can to see if the camera is better able to hand off the photos to the Mac.
But it sounds more like a card issue if you have problems outside of iPhoto like when trying to use Image Capture.
Patrick

IPhoto won't import .mov video from iPhone

I just got my wife a new Mac mini. It is running the latest versions of Mountain Lion and iPhoto.
She's recorded some short videos of the kids with her iPhone (4s), and wants to organize these in iPhoto alongside pictures of the kids (she's done this before).
However, since getting her new computer, when she tried to import the videos, she got an error message that said the files were an unrecognized format.
We were able to retrieve the videos and copy them to her hard drive using Image Capture; however, she would still like to import them to iPhoto.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.
-tri

There are many, many posts of this nature in these forums. See, for example:
iphoto won’t import mov video
For many, rebuilding the XPC helper cache solves the problem off the bat. In terminal try this, and reboot:
sudo /usr/libexec/xpchelper --rebuild-cache
The above posted by Andy Ball on a thread related to a similar problem with Aperture:
Re: Import video to Aperture library on Mountain Lion
Other things to try:
1. create a fresh iPhoto library and try that. (hold down opt while launching iPhoto)
2. create a new OS X user (in system preferences) and try there.
In my case – and many cases – neither of those things work either, which means the problem is system wide. Again suggesting that the xpc helper solution might work. But for me it did not either.
There are other suggestions that there are conflicts with Perian (on Yosemite) and flip4mac. In my case uninstalling both of those didn't solve it either.
So maybe one of those solutions will work for you, results apparently vary. But this is a huge unresolved issue many others are having as well. I have a case with a senior apple advisor open, still unresolved. His suggestion of course, at this point, is an archive and re-install. I'm not ready to go there yet.
BTW, another thing he had me try was to import the file with Image Capture (which works). Then open it in QuickTime Player X. Then try exporting to 480p. Does QuickTime crash? It does for me.
My summary:
1. Files successfully import with Image Player.
2. Files play with QuickTime Player X.
3. QuickTime Player X crashes when exporting to 480p.
4. Files import with iMove.
5. Files fail to import with iPhoto (unrecognized format as with OP)
6. iPhoto import failure/errors are system wide and not specific to a library or a user.
7. rebuilding xpchelper cache and rebooting in my case does not resolve issue.
8. same videos import fine in iPhoto on a totally different system (laptop running same versions of OS X 10.10 and iPhoto 9.5.1)

IPhoto won't import .mov files from iPhone

I'm trying to import the photos and videos from my iPhone and the following screen shows up:
I've only had this trouble since updating to Yosemite. Any help is appreciated.
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010)
8GB Memory
2.53 GHz Intel Core i5

There are many, many posts of this nature in these forums. See, for example:
iphoto won’t import mov video
For many, rebuilding the XPC helper cache solves the problem off the bat. In terminal try this, and reboot:
sudo /usr/libexec/xpchelper --rebuild-cache
The above posted by Andy Ball on a thread related to a similar problem with Aperture:
Re: Import video to Aperture library on Mountain Lion
Other things to try:
1. create a fresh iPhoto library and try that. (hold down opt while launching iPhoto)
2. create a new OS X user (in system preferences) and try there.
In my case – and many cases – neither of those things work either, which means the problem is system wide. Again suggesting that the xpc helper solution might work. But for me it did not either.
There are other suggestions that there are conflicts with Perian (on Yosemite) and flip4mac. In my case uninstalling both of those didn't solve it either.
So maybe one of those solutions will work for you, results apparently vary. But this is a huge unresolved issue many others are having as well. I have a case with a senior apple advisor open, still unresolved. His suggestion of course, at this point, is an archive and re-install. I'm not ready to go there yet.
BTW, another thing he had me try was to import the file with Image Capture (which works). Then open it in QuickTime Player X. Then try exporting to 480p. Does QuickTime crash? It does for me.
My summary:
1. Files successfully import with Image Player.
2. Files play with QuickTime Player X.
3. QuickTime Player X crashes when exporting to 480p.
4. Files import with iMove.
5. Files fail to import with iPhoto (unrecognized format as with OP)
6. iPhoto import failure/errors are system wide and not specific to a library or a user.
7. rebuilding xpchelper cache and rebooting in my case does not resolve issue.
8. same videos import fine in iPhoto on a totally different system (laptop running same versions of OS X 10.10 and iPhoto 9.5.1)

IPhoto won't import photos from iPhone

Hi - using a MBP 2.2, Leopard, iLife 08 and an 8gb iPhone. iPhoto used to import photos from the iPhone no problem - now it won't import it at all. Says it's an unreadable file (though a normal jpg).
What gives? Same issue trying to import two jpg's rec'd via email (and dragged to my desktop).
Any suggestions?

I have this problem now. I have MacOS 10.5.1, iPhoto '08, and iPhone running 1.1.2.
In my "camera roll" on the iPhone are 260 photos, all the pics I have taken since I got the phone. I imported some of them weeks ago with no problems into iPhoto. But now iPhoto can't import anything from the iPhone.
iPhoto does know there are photos on the phone, because there is set of blank thumbnail squares that I can select to import. When I look at the photo info, I can see the file name, size, date, but all the other info is missing or incorrect. It doesn't have camera maker or model. Most worrying though is the height and width of the pictures are zero.
I am thinking that there is some cache file on the phone that got corrupted somehow. Resetting to factory settings might help, but I really don't want to lose all the photos that I took from the holidays.
I've tried the above suggestions and no avail: logged out and into the .Mac account; powered down the phone; reset the iSync history (interestingly, iSync does not recognize my phone when I do a device scan).
I did try removing some stuff to make room, but still no dice.

IPhoto can't import when card contains movies

Hi all,
I have been suffering from a weird problem for a while: once in a while iPhoto refused to import images from an SD card and hung with the color wheel spinning until the next reboot. If interested, the original thread is here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3308591?tstart=0
I was never really able to track down the cause of this, it disappeared when the card was reformatted in the camera. Since it happened again today, I did some systematic investigations. It turned out that not only iPhoto, but also Image Capture is affected: As soon as an SD card plugged into the Mac contains a movie, things get messed up. In iPhoto, all I get is the spinning wheel. In Image Capture, all images taken BEFORE the movie are shown as thumbnail pictures, but the movie and later images are not. Even if the card is ejected in Finder, Image Capture still shows it, but it shows no images. This continues even when the card is plugged in again and/or Image Capture is shut down and restarted. It remains until the Mac is rebooted.
If the card contains no movies, everything is fine. All this happens regardless from what card reader I am using (I tried two different ones) and what camera the files on the card were taken with (I tried a Casio Z-1000 recording AVI movies and a Panasonic FT-3 recording MOVs). The issue also appears regardless from the size of the movie file (I took a very short one, even smaller than a usual image file).
It only happens on my wife's Mac (2006 MacBook Pro CD 1.83 GHz, latest Snow Leopard, latest iPhoto). The problem does NOT appear at all on my 2008 MacBook (C2D 2.4 GHz, same software).
I can still import into iPhoto when simply copying the files to hard disk and importing from there. In contrast to what I described in the thread linked above, iPhoto now recognizes already imported images.
Any hints how to solve this are really appreciated!
All the best,
Thomas.
EDIT: This reads just like this one:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15860473#15860473
so at least I'm not alone with this problem.

Phil:
Movies rotated with Quicktime Pro import into iPhoto OK. I downloaded and tried TransformMovie and it wouldn't import. It had been changed to a .mov file. There were some differences in the video portion as indicated by QT Player, mostly in video offset. But changing it to what the QT version was didn't help. When I did a Save As in QT Player the resulting file was importable. QT Pro is worth the money and more. You can do a lot of things with it.
EURIKA! Just change the file's extension back to .avi and it will import.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

SL + iPhoto '09 = Strange import issue

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