diff --git a/src/admin/PhotoSyncButton.tsx b/src/admin/PhotoSyncButton.tsx
index 6b25da1c..fd22065f 100644
--- a/src/admin/PhotoSyncButton.tsx
+++ b/src/admin/PhotoSyncButton.tsx
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ export default function PhotoSyncButton({
           ) {
             setIsSyncing(true);
             (onlySyncColorData
-              ? storeColorDataForPhotoAction
-              : syncPhotoAction)(photo.id)
+              ? storeColorDataForPhotoAction(photo.id)
+              : syncPhotoAction(photo.id, { updateMode }))
               .then(() => {
                 onSyncComplete?.();
                 if (shouldToast) {
diff --git a/src/photo/actions.ts b/src/photo/actions.ts
index 670033dc..72e00485 100644
--- a/src/photo/actions.ts
+++ b/src/photo/actions.ts
@@ -491,7 +491,15 @@ export const getExifDataAction = async (
 // - strip GPS data if necessary
 // - update blur data (or destroy if blur is disabled)
 // - generate AI text data, if enabled, and auto-generated fields are empty
-export const syncPhotoAction = async (photoId: string, isBatch?: boolean) =>
+export const syncPhotoAction = async (
+  photoId: string, {
+    isBatch,
+    updateMode,
+  }: {
+    isBatch?: boolean,
+    updateMode?: boolean,
+  } = {},
+) =>
   runAuthenticatedAdminServerAction(async () => {
     const photo = await getPhoto(photoId ?? '', true);
 
@@ -505,6 +513,12 @@ export const syncPhotoAction = async (photoId: string, isBatch?: boolean) =>
         includeInitialPhotoFields: false,
         generateBlurData: BLUR_ENABLED,
         generateResizedImage: AI_CONTENT_GENERATION_ENABLED,
+        // If in update mode, only update color fields if necessary
+        updateColorFields: !(
+          updateMode &&
+          photo.colorData !== undefined &&
+          photo.colorSort !== undefined
+        ),
       });
 
       let urlToDelete: string | undefined;
@@ -575,7 +589,7 @@ export const syncPhotosAction = async (photosToSync: {
     for (const { photoId, onlySyncColorData } of photosToSync) {
       await (onlySyncColorData
         ? storeColorDataForPhotoAction(photoId)
-        : syncPhotoAction(photoId, true));
+        : syncPhotoAction(photoId, { isBatch: true }));
     }
     revalidateAllKeysAndPaths();
   });
diff --git a/src/photo/server.ts b/src/photo/server.ts
index 948196b3..7ab9b016 100644
--- a/src/photo/server.ts
+++ b/src/photo/server.ts
@@ -34,11 +34,16 @@ const IMAGE_WIDTH_DEFAULT = 200;
 const IMAGE_QUALITY_DEFAULT = 80;
 
 export const extractImageDataFromBlobPath = async (
-  blobPath: string,
-  options: {
+  blobPath: string, {
+    includeInitialPhotoFields,
+    generateBlurData,
+    generateResizedImage,
+    updateColorFields = true,
+  }: {
     includeInitialPhotoFields?: boolean
     generateBlurData?: boolean
     generateResizedImage?: boolean
+    updateColorFields?: boolean
   } = {},
 ): Promise<{
   blobId?: string
@@ -48,12 +53,6 @@ export const extractImageDataFromBlobPath = async (
   fileBytes?: ArrayBuffer
   error?: string
 }> => {
-  const {
-    includeInitialPhotoFields,
-    generateBlurData,
-    generateResizedImage,
-  } = options;
-
   const url = decodeURIComponent(blobPath);
 
   const {
@@ -119,7 +118,9 @@ export const extractImageDataFromBlobPath = async (
 
   if (error) { console.log(error); }
 
-  const colorFields = await getColorFieldsForPhotoForm(url);
+  const colorFields = updateColorFields
+    ? await getColorFieldsForPhotoForm(url)
+    : undefined;
 
   return {
     blobId,