CFDocument CF8 super slow~unless I remove dynamic image

Upgraded from CF7 to CF8.01 and all the hotfixes. Since the upgrade, dynamic .pdfs are super slow. I commented out an image, and now it loads faster. What changed in CF8.01 to cause problems with including dynamic images in .pdfs? How do I get around this and still use images? Here's my code..
<img src="file://///xxxDocServer/HiRes Photos#Biography.File_Path#" width="119" height="153" />

I'm open to trying anything to speed this up.. Just don't want to have to rollback to CF7.