Participating Frequently

Question

LR Classic 11.2 Very Slow Presenting Nikon Z9 Import Thumbnails - Almost Unusable

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
March 19, 2022
5 replies
1950 views

LR Classic takes minutes to read the files on the card and render import dialog thumbnails for the Z9 raw files and less than 2 seconds for the Z7 raw files. Once imported, it's also ~2x longer to present a 100x rendering when I want to check for critical focus and cull images. Why? This needs to be fixed but I don't know if it is the Adobe SW or a setting I have wrong.

Here is the data: I took 54 images of the same scene with both cameras on identical reformated Hoodman Steel CF Express cards. I read the cards using a Hoodman card reader (I get the same results it the files are on the internal SSD hard drive too). The computer is a late 2014 iMac Quad core i7with 24 GB of RAM, Mac OS Big Sur 11.6.4.

Z9 raw files take 2 to 3 MINUTES to render the import thumbnails. Once imported they take about 15 seconds to render a 100x crop when inspecting the files in Library module

Z7 Raw files less than 2 SECONDS to render the import thumbnails. Once imported they take about 9 seconds to render a 100x crop when inspecting the files in Library module.

Both file sets are about 60 GB per file and both take about the same time to import and create smart previews. This problem makes it a tedious chore to import and cull Z9 files. Is this a SW bug with Z9 files, or is there a setting I haven't tried yet?

macOS

This topic has been closed for replies.

C

Christie2343402086h9

Participant

Did anyone find a solution to this yet? I am having the same issue with my Z8 files which is odd considering my previous gear were D850s which is about the same file size and never had this issue. It is driving me absolutely crazy.

J

johnarobb

Participant

I just created a new catalog and reimported all of my files. I renamed the source icture folders so that when I exported the catalog no files were moved. Then I have to refind all the pictures. It was a serious pain but now it runs fast.

MyrtleBeachPhotographer

Participating Frequently

Just got my Z9 last week, the import thumbnail previews are HORRIBLY slow to load compared to the Z7ii, I don't think they even load unless you scroll. Edit/rendering times seem about the same as the Z7ii, but I do agree with you there's a major issue creating thumbnails at import.

MyrtleBeachPhotographer

Participating Frequently

Also noticed that the scroll bar on the import screen doesn't adjust size to the number of photos

KR Seals

Community Expert

@Roger5CB7 If your photography involves events with a large number (1000-4000) of images that you eventually cull down to just a small percentate of the total, I strongly recommend the program Photo Mechanic (PM). PM displays thumbnails and individual images VERY quickly, giving you the ability to cull out the ones you don't plan to process. That will give LrC a much smaller number of images to create previews for when you import them.

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.

R

Roger5CB7Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the tip. However, Bridge is free, since it is in the Adobe subcription, and it does all I need it to do. I'll stick with that instead of spending $229 on a new piece of SW.

KR Seals

Community Expert

Is your LrC using the GPU? Check in Preferences -> Peformance.

This is what Adobe says about LrC use of the GPU:

"When configured (Preferences > Performance), Lightroom Classic can use a compatible graphics processor (also called a graphics card, video card, or GPU) to speed up tasks of displaying and adjusting images in the Develop module, the Library module's Grid view, Loupe view, and Filmstrip. Enhance Details is also accelerated by the GPU. Using a compatible GPU can provide significant speed improvements on high-resolution displays, such as 4K and 5K monitors."

I'm not sure whether that includes the thumbnails in the Grid View of the import screen.

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.

R

Roger5CB7Author

Participating Frequently

Yes. LRC is using a GPU. That setting is set to Auto and my iMac has an AMD Radeon R9 M290x GPU with 2GB of RAM. The XQD card did not give me an improved result. It still took minutes to display the embedded previews. That uses a Sony XQD reader. The iMac has USB A 3.0 USB ports but changing those around does not improve my results. As I said, this is definitely a SW issue and at least I know now that it is not the Z9 files since your experience is normal with the display of the embedded previews.

At this point I think I might have to try resetting all of the LRC presets or a clean install of LRC itself.

--Roger Valeri

KR Seals

Community Expert

Try the Preferences Reset first. Doing that often works wonders. A re-install of the program will not reset the preferences.

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.

KR Seals

Community Expert

I just ran a test on my 2021 MBP 16" Max 64GB importing 76 Z9 files which are 60MB per file, not 60GB. The entire process of importing and creating standard (Auto 3840 pxl) previews took 1 min, 25 seconds. Zoomiing in to 100% is nearly instantaneous. I am aware that the Z7 file sizes are similar. but I no longer have a Z7 for comparison. Perhaps someone in the forum will have insight into whether the Z9 files are somehow different from the Z9 files.

I suspect your 2014 machine may not have the power to quickly process the Z9 files or you have something going on in that machine that is taking resources away from LrC. One of the things that will limit the performance of your machine in the import process is that the fusion drive or hard drive, whichever you have, is nowhere near as fast as the SSDs in current generation Macs.

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.

R

Roger5CB7Author

Participating Frequently

Correct that my file sizes are 60 MB, not GB as I mistyped. However, the difference is NOT due to the processor or other Mac HW. I can import and build auto previews for the 54 files in about 2 minutes. Not much different than your newer MB Pro. My problem is with the pre-import thumbnails. To be clear, when you select the folder on the card with the images in it then LRC normally displays a thumbnail for each file so you can determine which ones to import. It is the inability of LRC to read and display those pre-import thumbnails in a timley manner that is the main problem. 2 minutes versus 2 seconds is a SW problem and not a hardware problem. My understanding is raw files have a jpg thumbnail built in and all LRC has to do is read them and display them. 2 minutes versus 2 seconds to show me which files I want to import? It seems that LRC is processing the Z9 raw image itself and making the pre-import thumbnail instead of just reading it from the card as it is likely doing with the Z7 files. Why that is the case is the mystery to me.

I assume that when you select the folder that contains images that you want to import, then the thumbnails come up very quickly. Is that true? If so then it must be some SW settings that I have wrong. Are you using LRC 11.2?

KR Seals

Community Expert

Yes, I’m on LrC 11.2. The thumbnails all come up in a few seconds for 76 files.

Get Outlook for iOS

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded