Most iPhone 4S photos import into iPhoto 11 as all black images
Strange problem: when I import photos from my iPhone 4S (5.0.1) into iPhoto 11 (latest), MOST of the images show as all black. Strangely, almost all landscape photos are imported/displayed ok, however every portrait shot shows as black.
If I reveal in finder, the modified files that iPhoto creates are 162kb black jpgs, however the original files are the correct photos.
I've rebuilt my iPhoto '11 library, to no avail. After reimporting, portrait images are still black. For some reason, iPhoto is changing/corrupting the 'modified' versions of the photos upon import.
Thinking this is a bug either in iPhoto or relating to the iPhone 4S (this never happened with the 4...)
FWIW It's being discussed in the Apple Support forums here.
I also tried importing the photos via Image Capture then into iPhoto, and same result. So it's an issue with how iPhoto processes (modifies) the photos into it's library.
I believe this issue only seems to affect iOS5 users...
Solution 1:
As forbca said in his/her answer in the support thread you linked to, the issue seems to be resolved if you reboot.
I had the same issue. After a reboot, I'm able to import the photos correctly into iPhoto. Just grab the originals and re-import them in iPhoto. You'll be asked about duplicates – import the portrait photos anyway.
It seems to be a bug in an iPhoto update that only turns up if you haven't rebooted since the update. The corrupted imports were done on a laptop that had over 30 days of uptime.
Solution 2:
You're not alone, there are several discussions along these lines in the Apple Support Forums.
The solution:
Backup your iPhoto Library if necessary. (Insert mandatory lecture about routine backups if you don't already do so.)
Rebuild your iPhoto Library by depressing command + option while starting iPhoto.
Check the option for repairing Library permissions.
Solution 3:
There appear to be different home grown solutions to this problem.. Here's another:
http://www.philmug.ph/forum/f19/fix-iphoto-black-portrait-images-84679/