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  • wanderingcameraguy

Android Photo Workflow

This workflow uses a custom Android app that I have created to deal with my RAW + JPG workflow. This doesn't describe the details of the software but the process that is following by the user and software so others can judge if this type of workflow makes sense for them. I can give details of the software if there is interest. It is not in the app store at this time.


I use this workflow often when at home but it really shines when I am on trips as I don't need to bring a computer with me but I can backup, cull, do some editing, and name my images without having to do a lot of the work manually.


First off, my Sony a6400 & a6000 camera SD cards are placed in a USB-C card reader one at a time and plugged into the tablet. The images are copied from the 256GB camera SD card onto the micro SD card in my Android tablet. The images are put into a directory named with the current date in year month day format YYYY-MM-DD. All RAW

and JPG files get the same year-month-day type of string, using their EXIF date, added to the start of the filename. The RAW files get placed into a RAW directory inside the current date directory. Once all the files are copied to the tablet, the directory on the camera card that contains the images is renamed to act as a backup of the images. It is renamed so the camera will no long see the images. A few directories on the card are deleted forcing the camera to no longer be aware of the images. Sony tracks images in a database or some such file so without deleting the directories the camera thinks the images are still there but can't display any as they are not where expected. After the directory delete the camera doesn't know they are still there.


At this point there are 2 copies of all images. One left on the camera as backup and another on the tablet for culling.


In culling I view each JPG image using pinch-zoom etc to make sure focus is good. I "pin" an image I think I want to keep and then can compare the following images to it, or other pinned images. Given both bird photography and macro require taking many pictures of the same subject to get good focus and the right birds wing position etc many similar images are compared. Any image I deem not worth keeping is moved into a TRASH directory in the dated directory. During culling I can edit RAW or JPG versions of a "pinned" image if I want to make adjustments. The result of any edit is a JPG file that is added to the directory and named similar to the original. At this point it can be compared to the original and either can be moved into the TRASH.


When culling is done all unwanted JPG files are in the TRASH directory. At this time all the matching RAW files can be moved into the TRASH directory as well.


There is some assistance in naming the files. A string can be added to all JPGs or each can be named individually with some simple assistance.


JPG and RAW file editing is done by sharing the images and picking the editing app for the share so this share can be used in other ways such as to post the image to social media or to share with an app that can help identify the subject. I use the Merlin app to identify birds and iNaturalist or Google lens to identify plants, bugs, etc. There is a button to share the currently displayed image when naming to assist in using these apps for identification.


The app does not deal with removing the backed up images on the cameras card once home and the images are backed up but this can be handled with a camera reformat of the card. Also, the TRASH directory is not removed by the software. I do this before I copy the directory of photos to my computer.


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