extremely slow transfer of pics from either iPhone or iPad

Hi,

I am having the same problem, and I notice a couple of other forum discussions around similar issues. 

My issue (and question) is that when I try to turn off iCloud photos I  have the options: a) to delete all of my photos from my phone and leave them only on iCloud, or b) to download a copy of all of my iCloud stored photos to my phone.

Neither of these options is suitable; I want to keep some photos on my phone, and don’t have the space to put the whole iCloud collection there.

I have also tried restarting the app, resintalling the app and checking the format is exFAT.

All assistance appreciated!

Phil