Good afternoon ingridfromport macquarie,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
It sounds like you are trying to transfer photos from your iPad Air to your Windows PC, and we'd like to help. First, let's make sure you are following the steps Apple recommends for transferring photos from an iPad to a Windows computer:
"Import to your Windows PC
You can import photos to your PC by connecting your device to your computer and using the Windows Photos app:
1. Update to the latest version of iTunes on your PC. Importing photos to your PC requires iTunes 12.5.1 or later.
2. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your PC with a USB cable.
3. If asked, unlock your iOS or iPadOS device using your passcode.
4. If you see a prompt on your iOS or iPadOS device asking you to Trust This Computer, tap Trust or Allow to continue.
Then, visit Microsoft's website to learn how to import photos to the Windows Photos app in Windows 10.
If you have iCloud Photos turned on, you need to download the original, full resolution versions of your photos to your iPhone or iPad before you import to your PC.
When you import videos from your iOS or iPadOS device to your PC, some might be rotated incorrectly in the Windows Photos app. You can add these videos to iTunes to play them in the correct orientation.
If you want to ensure photos from your iOS or iPadOS device have the best compatibility with Windows 10, try these steps:
1. On your iOS or iPadOS device, open the Settings app.
2. Tap Camera, then tap Formats.
3. Tap Most Compatible. From now on, your camera will create photos and videos in JPEG and H.264 formats."
And those steps are from here: Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC - Apple Support
If you are following those steps and still having an issue, to help us understand the issue fully, can you answer a few questions?
- What is the capacity of your iPad Air and how much space is available?
- How many photos and videos do you have on your iPad Air? How much space are these files consuming on your iPad?
- Do you have iCloud Photos enabled?
- What is the capacity of the hard drive on your Windows computer?
- How much storage space is available on your Windows computer?
If you don't have enough storage to accommodate your photos and videos on your Windows PC, you may need to purchase enough iCloud storage to upload the full resolution photos and videos from your iPad to iCloud. Then you will be able to work with the files using iCloud for Windows on your PC.
Here are a few resources to help you with this:
What's the difference between device storage and iCloud storage?
Set up iCloud Photos on all your devices
Download iCloud for Windows
We look forward to your reply to continue troubleshooting this issue.
Take care.
