P: Bring back the ability of Enhance to run in the background. (LrC)

@johnrellis 

• The camera is the Sony A7R3.
• The catalog file itself is 13.3 GB and the lrcat-data folder is an additional 13.4 GB, so it's not the entire catalog folder. This is for the catalog only containing the 500 new photos. Please note that the catalog containing the 5000 pre-14.4 photos has just over 1 GB.

In the end, it's not about the actual amount of storage space. What is critical is Lightroom performance. I wouldn't mind the data stored in some XMP file and loaded when accessing a particular image, as long as overall performance would not be affected. 

@Incredible_Explorer0544, the increase in catalog size you reported for Denoise sounds too big by a factor of three, suggesting something anomalous with your installation.  What camera model(s) generated the raws you tested? I can run some tests with that camera to see if I get the same results.

Details

You report Denoise of 500 raws caused a 13 GB net increase in the size of the catalog (presumably the entire catalog folder), or about 26 MB/photo.

I just did a test with 487 photos from my test catalog with raws from 82 camera models from 9 manufacturers. It caused a net increase of only 6.7 MB/photo, which aligns with what others have reported. The average raw file size in my test was about 30 MB/photo, whereas it was a little larger in your test, about 38 MB/photo. 

LR 14.4 stores the Denoise data in the <catalog>.lrcat-data file, which is also used for computed AI masks. In my test, the DNGs computed by LR 14.3 and earlier were much larger than the 14.4 data, about 57 MB/photo. Thus, LR 14.4 used about 88% less bytes for storing Denoise data than previous versions.

You wrote, "Reviewing the XMP files I noticed that they are huge, mostly between 50 and 100 % of the raw file!" 

The .xmp sidecars contain a copy of the Denoise data, just as they contain copies of computed AI masks. In my tests, the .xmp sidecars are about 25% of the raw file size.   But in your tests, the Denoise data per photo was about three times bigger, which accounts for the much larger .xmp sidecar size.

I used ro be able to work on archer images during multiple denoising batch. Now I can do nothing, slowing my work process down considerably 

Hi Lightroom team,

I’m a working professional and long-time Lightroom Classic user who relies heavily on the AI Denoise feature to edit high-ISO wedding images efficiently. The June 2024 update (LrC 14.4 & LrD 8.4) removed the ability to batch apply AI Denoise, and that change is seriously disrupting professional workflows like mine.

Previously, we could select multiple images, run AI Denoise with a single dialog box, and have it apply to all selected photos. Now, each image requires manual, individual confirmation, even if we're applying the same settings — which is wildly inefficient and a massive time sink.

Furthermore, the biggest issue is that we are locked out of using Lightroom while the process works. It used to take 5 seconds per image with a fast system like mine with 128GB RAM. Now it takes minutes per image.

There is no benefit whatsoever to not having a DNG created. It's totally fine to have a separate DNG created.

The way high-volume professionals were using this feature was to 1) assign a color to all RAW files that need AI -denoising, for example blue by hitting [9]. 2) edit all photos 3) run the AI denoising on just those blue-colored images 4) assign a one-star rating to the originals of the denoised images, excluding them from the final selects 5) reorder and export.

Yup, 5 seconds per image, and nothing else could be accidentally 'auto-synced' (before you tell me that's exactly the same - it's NOT), it's always the same level of AI Denoising I'm applying - 40% is my sweet spot, I don't change it - so I don't need access to a slider (which only denoises one image anyway instead of all of them). 

I’m not alone in this. Multiple users have raised this issue here:

• Adobe Community: Page 1, Page 2, More user feedback

• Reddit discussion: Link

Please consider restoring the original batch workflow where one could denoise many files at once using shared settings. Even if you want to retain the new per-image dialog as a default, please give us a toggle or workaround to enable the previous method. Currently I'm back using 14.2, and will have to be until this is fixed. 

For working photographers with hundreds of thousands of images to process, this is not just a “nice-to-have” – it’s essential.

Thanks for listening and I hope this gets addressed soon. I'd like to continue using the Lightroom I've paid for with access to new updates, rather than being stuck at 14.2 until the previous workflow is possible again. 

Although moving my post to this thread makes some sense, the issue associated with the new non-destructive enhance functions is far greater than the inconvenience of not being able to do it in the background. In fact, the new approach, due to what it does to the catalog and Lightroom performance, is seriously flawed. 

Thank you for the analysis @Incredible_Explorer0544 ! For someone like me with a large library of images this makes the new enhance function entirely unusable even without the workflow breaking issues.

 @Rikk Flohr: Photography if you're now just stashing the information previously saved as the DNG in the catalog then this will cause issues for anyone who has large libraries of images and offloads them to other drives or network storage. Especially with no way to easily change where this excess data was stored as we did in the past with the DNG results.

After installing version 14.4, I imported about 500 photos und used the raw details function on all of them, and partly the denoise function in addition. I moticed that Lightroom performance got really slow and investigated:

1. The catalog pre-14.4 with about 5000 photos was about 1.3 GB. With the additional 500 photos catalog size was blown up to 14.3 GB! 

2. Exported the 500 photos to a new catalog, which has a size of 13.4 GB. Please note that the combined file size of the 500 raw files is about 19 GB.

3. Reviewing the XMP files I noticed that they are huge, mostly between 50 and 100 % of the raw file!

4. Optimizing the catalog does not reduce its size and does not improve performance.

The previous denoise function, which created a DNG file, was great, including the preview window which was quite helpful in setting the parameter. Most importantly however, working with the DNG file was perfectly smooth, not deteriorating performance and not blowing up the catalog. 

The problem is not just the denoise, as I only used this for a part of the photos, but seem to be the raw details function as well. For me, this function has become essentially unusable, which is extremely annoying. I even had to remove the 500 photos from the catalog and restart processing from scratch, to get acceptable performance again. A work-around would be to optionally activate the previous version of denoise / raw details, to allow for creating an additional DNG file, as before 14.4.

LRC 14.4 Denoise function now blocks everything else - It's no longer possible to denoise multiple images and no longer possible to do other stuff while waiting.

Redo that please.

Lets not assume that background processing is the only impact this change has to people's workflows. The ease of batch processing and the ability to choose and preview your level of denoise BEFORE applying is also a major factor. 

If the denoise method in the latest update doesn't change I will be looking to cancel my sub with Adobe, LrC is my main editing tool and what's the point in paying a subscription when I will lose any future updates trying to avoid being hit with this ill fitted denoise solution?

I used to be able to continue editing in Lightroom whilst the denoising process happened. Now I can't do anything due to the pop up box blocking any actions. This has significantly affected my workflow. Will downgrade to previous version til this is fixed.