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Participating Frequently
November 4, 2017
Answered

Lightroom 2018 CC - Import of photo extremely slow

  • November 4, 2017
  • 25 replies
  • 36336 views

I've been using Lightroom for years, ever since this latest update of the Lightroom 2018 CC, importing photos has become painfully slow. I have not changed anything about my workflow, hardrives, settings, etc. It used to take 10 mins to import a 32GB card, now it takes over an hour or more for only around 60 photos... Is anyone else having this issue? I have not changed any settings for import. Please help Adobe.

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Correct answer bhousto90

I have the same slow import but is most apparent when there are over 50 photos. (under this amount everything seems normal)

Imported 887 photos in LR CC2015.12 in 14 min vs 59min for LR Classic.

Today, I tested an import of the same photos on my laptop running Win 10 that has a slower i7 processor but with more RAM than my desktop PC and it finished the import under 15min. So not sure what is going on with the desktop?

Looks like too many processes are running in parallel and they all get blogged down until the files finish copying then things catch up, but still slower than what previous version of LR could accomplish on the same PC.

I created a bug report on the feedback site a week ago:

LR Classic Problem with previews during import for large volume/slower than LR CC2015.12 | Photoshop Family Customer Com…

Add your vote/comments to this report.

25 replies

kevina38494810
Participant
May 13, 2018

Importing into Lightroom from cards seems to be some kind of planned form of obsolescence (as does the switch to "Classic" and cloud).


Anyways - just did a test.

Import ~800 files from 120mb/s CF card on USB 3.0 reader directly into lightroom: over 30 minutes.

Import the same ~800 files after copying the first to a hard drive and adding them to Lightroom: about 43 seconds.

I'm not sure why Adobe doesn't incorporate the same tech found in Photo Mechanic or Capture One but they seem to be preoccupied with stealing / controlling our data (any use of the word "cloud") first and foremost.

So import first to hard drive. Less than ideal workflow but usable at least.

Hope that helps!

Participating Frequently
April 21, 2018

so after some more problems solving it looks like the issue for me is a hardware one.  but the hardware is the external drive I am using.  I have 2 seagate NTFS 4Tb drives (the are for windows but have ben configured to work on Mac).  One is my working drive and the other is the back up to it.  My workflow is simply me doing a backup of working drive to secondary drive manually every week. 

I first thought the trouble could be the adobe cc monitor on my Mac.  so I quit out of it and did not see a change in slow downloads

then I decided to see if it was my working external hard drive, by deciding to download about 50 photos from a meet up to it.  download was faster  and conversion to dng was faster. I did another 73 photos with the adobe cc monitor on and no issue downloading.  I then did a 226 download to the second drive and it downloaded the entire set and did the dng conversion at the expected time before my issues started.  So my main working drive is going bad. 

I have done some maintenance on the main working drive and it too has done the same 2226 photos with dog conversion.  still a lot  slower than second drive but no freezing or error photos..  so I plan to replace it.

Thanks you to those who suggested possible resolutions.

Participant
April 8, 2018

I have a similar issue... have to force quit Lightroom a handful of times before it will even import.

Participant
February 20, 2018

Same here. Import from card reader is super slow. Importing from HDD is normal I would say.

Just Shoot Me
Legend
February 20, 2018

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Rytis+Seskaitis  wrote

Same here. Import from card reader is super slow. Importing from HDD is normal I would say.

Then you may have a faulty card reader or if it is connecting to the computer by a cable a faulty cable.

What option are you using in the import dialg? Copy, Copy as DNG?

Participant
February 20, 2018

I use copy. Card reader works fine on laptop. But desktop suddenly became extremely slow.

Participant
February 12, 2018

This update destroys my workflow... It work until I import only 274 photos then stops importing all together and super slow. What happened? can you fix this Adobe?

Inspiring
February 5, 2018

This issue has been acknowledged officially by Adobe.  Lightroom Classic: Import is slow after updating | Photoshop Family Customer Community

I was recently informed (in another post regarding a separate issue) that Adobe support does not monitor this forum and all bug reports need to go to https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/

Inspiring
January 29, 2018

This is absolutely a Lightroom bug.  I have checked all aspects of my own hardware and there is nothing causing the slowness outside of Lightroom. 

Participant
February 4, 2018

I agree. I have a brand spanking new iMac and same hardware I've used in the past and this process has become painfully slow. The import will take HOURS. It will import some files and not others. This NEEDS to be fixed.

elcormier
Participant
January 7, 2018

I am experiencing the same issue. So frustrating. Imports are impossibly slow and at times fail. I am spending hours on work that had Taken a fraction of that time in the past. This issue must be addressed- sooner rather than later.

Just Shoot Me
Legend
January 7, 2018

From where and from what are you importing.

Card reader, Camera connected directly, Hard drive?

Start by changing the hardware you are using to get the images from the memory card to the computer hard drive, Cable or card reader.

If connecting the camera to the computer try a card reader or Copy the images from the memory card to the computer hard drive using the File Manager for the OS on your computer then import them.

elcormier
Participant
January 7, 2018

I’m importing the images directly from the Sd card via the card reader in my IMac- the exact same way as I have in the past.  nothing in my end has changed other than it now takes an inordinate amount of time. I have had my system gone over by an Apple tech and there is nothing wrong on that end.

Participant
December 31, 2017

I have the same problem. Hopefully Adobe will respond soon. Otherwise LR is not my preferred tool anymore. Unacceptable performance, if you pay at least 12€/month...

Participant
December 28, 2017

Exceptionally slow for me too. Never used to be like this. Thumbnails in the import dialogue take an absolute age to appear (if they ever do). Sort it out Adobe - we pay you for this product to work!