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F Ian Potter Photos
F Ian Potter Photos
Participating Frequently
February 24, 2026
Question

Thumbnails are slow to appear in the import screen

  • February 24, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 281 views

I’ve had this problem for awhile now and haven’t been able to find a solution. 

 

On the import tab when attempting to import pictures it takes Lightroom classic forever to generate the thumbnails. I’m not talking about the previews that get built based on my choice during the import. I talking about the grid view where you can select which files to actually import. 

 

I just tried on a sample of 280 pictures and it took the better part of 3 or 4 minutes to generate the thumbnails. Which is about as long as it takes to do the actual import AND generate 1:1 previews… 

 

I’m shooting primarily a fujifilm XT5 with and only shoot .RAF

Lightroom version 13-3 (but has been happening for the better part of the last 2 years)

 

I’ve got a very good homebuilt computer 

Intel Core i7-13700k (liquid cooled)

RTX 4070 (GPU acceleration turned on)

64 gigs of RAM

Harddrive in question is a 30% full M.2 NVME SSD

 

I previously bought a high end card reader and usb 3.0 cabling hoping this would help. Which is doesn’t. 

I have also tried pre copying the files onto a different internal NVMe SSD drive and it still takes just as long to generate the thumbnails. 

This makes me think it’s not a issue with the card or reader speed 

 

I also edit on a gaming laptop when traveling, and have the same issue there. 

 

This was never a problem with older versions of Lightroom. I also used to shoot Olympus and those thumbnails loaded instantly. I’m aware of how much bigger the .RAF files are but again this isn’t an issue with the speed of the actual import, i know that would take longer by comparison. This is about the speed at which the thumbnails on the import tab generate. 

 

      5 replies

      J
      Community Expert
      Jao vdLCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 6, 2026

      >For the Fuji test I also copied the files onto a separate internal NVMe internal SSD to see if that was any faster and got about the same speed. 

       

      I was going to ask you to do this exact test to exclude some interaction with the card reader or the driver for the reader. So that’s not it. To try to replicate your problem, I downloaded a bunch of XT-5 RAF files from https://www.dpreview.com/sample-galleries/0248558391/fujifilm-x-t5-review-sample-gallery/9115503771 and tried to import. The thumbnails showed up instantly on my machine in the import screen. This is an older Mac Book Pro M1 Max. Could be specific to windows then. I think Lightroom uses operating system libraries to extract previews in the import screen and not its own code. 

       

      F Ian Potter Photos
      F Ian Potter PhotosAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      June 10, 2026

      Interesting, I am very much not a Mac user.

      Any windows Gurus out there have any suggestions?

      B
      bhousto90
      Legend
      June 11, 2026

      Is there any difference in viewing the image thumbnails in Windows file explorer?

      Are both the RAF and ORF file types both set to the same default application?,  if the RAF files are set to an incorrect/nonexistent default application that may be causing the delays as they are accessed? While they are being accessed by Lightroom some Windows background process can be causing problems because of a file type mismatch. i.e. file indexing.

      NorbertZietek
      NorbertZietek
      Participant
      May 31, 2026

      I have the exact same issue. I also own the XT-5, and it is quite slow. I tried using Capture One for a few days, and I noticed that it loaded the previews from the SD card lightning fast before importing. However, with Lightroom, I have to wait a long time before I can browse through all the images.

      F Ian Potter Photos
      F Ian Potter PhotosAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      June 6, 2026

      Have you had any luck finding a solution? I’m still stuck with this myself and it’s making Capture one look better and better

      NorbertZietek
      NorbertZietek
      Participant
      June 12, 2026

      Nope, still looking around. Hope Adobe would reach out tbh… I tried Capture One but their catalog workflow is confusing...

      Srishti_Bali
      Srishti_Bali
      Legend
      February 26, 2026

      Hi ​@F Ian Potter Photos 

       

      Thanks for sharing the detailed system info, which helps a lot. I’d like to narrow this down a bit further. Could you clarify the following:

      1. Are you using the Advanced Import mode?

      2. Does this happen with a brand-new, fresh catalog?

      3. Does this only happen with Fujifilm .RAF files?

      4. Is “Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates” enabled in the Import dialog? If so, try temporarily disabling it to see if there’s any difference.

      5. When viewing in the Import Loupe view, what zoom level are you set to?
         

      Once we know those details, we will be able to assist you better. Looking forward to your reply.

       

      Regards,

      Srishti

        F Ian Potter Photos
        F Ian Potter PhotosAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        March 2, 2026

        Sorry for the slow response I've been away from my office. 

        Answers to your questions

        1. Advanced import mode? No, I’m not even sure what that is… 
        2. Brand new catalog? Same behavior instant with .ORF, slow with .RAF see below tests
        3. Only with .RAF files? yes, see below testing results
        4. Don’t import suspected duplicates? This is typically on, but i have tried with and without and there’s no noticeable difference. 
        5. for the below test I adjusted the slider so I could see all 200 images at once. I would typically have it more zoomed in maybe 50 pictures on screen

         

        Ran the following tests

        I took 200 of the same pictures with my Olympus using a high speed SD card (V60 u3 280MB/s read) tested the import speed and it was pretty much instant to see the thumbnails for all 200 images. the files were all .ORF files about 18MB each. 

         

        I took the same SD card, formatted it, and then took 200 of the same picture using my Fujifilm XT5. Tested the import with all the same settings and zoom level and it took almost a minute to see all 200 thumbnails. The files were .RAF and about 49MB each. 

        For the Fuji test I also copied the files onto a separate internal NVMe internal SSD to see if that was any faster and got about the same speed. 

         

        I also created a brand new catalog and attempted a .RAF import and noticed the exact same behavior. 

         

        Also tried both uncompressed and losses compressed .RAF files and noticed the same thing, if anything the uncompressed were even slower. 

         

        I took screen recordings showing these tests and attached them. 

        dj_paige
        dj_paige
        Legend
        February 25, 2026

        A possibility is that you have misconfigured your antivirus. Your ativirus should be configured to ignore the folders where the catalog is located and ignore the folders where the photos are stored after the import operation.

        F Ian Potter Photos
        F Ian Potter PhotosAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        February 25, 2026

        I don't have any 3rd party antivirus installed. 

        KR Seals
        Community Expert
        KR SealsCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 25, 2026

        You typed Lightroom 13.3. Did you mean Lightroom Classic? and V 15.3?

        I’m running a similar system with no issues like you describe.

        Please post your system info that you find in the Help menu.

        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.
        F Ian Potter Photos
        F Ian Potter PhotosAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        February 25, 2026

        Lightroom Classic version: 15.1.1 [ 202601141538-a543b18a ]
        License: Creative Cloud
        Operating system: Windows 10 - Home Premium Edition
        Version: 10.0.19045
        Application architecture: x64
        System architecture: x64
        Logical processor count: 24
        Processor speed: 3.4GHz
        SqLite Version: 3.36.0
        Adobe GSDK Version: 1.4.0.171

        CPU Utilisation: 3.0%
        Power Source: Plugged In
        Built-in memory: 65242.8 MB
        Dedicated GPU memory used by Lightroom: 3798.2MB / 12010.0MB (31%)
        Real memory available to Lightroom: 65242.8 MB
        Real memory used by Lightroom: 10564.3 MB (16.1%)
        Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 16835.4 MB
        GDI objects count: 1613
        USER objects count: 4832
        Process handles count: 5780
        Memory cache size: 22756.3MB
        Internal Camera Raw version: 18.1 [ 2420 ]
        Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
        Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2,AVX,AVX2
        Camera Raw virtual memory: 6672MB / 32621MB (20%)
        Camera Raw real memory: 6938MB / 65242MB (10%)

        Cache1: 
        Final1- RAM:897.0MB, VRAM:2663.0MB, DSCF4380.RAF
        NT- RAM:897.0MB, VRAM:2663.0MB, Combined:3560.0MB

        Cache2: 
        m:22756.3MB, n:327.7MB

        U-main: 116.0MB

        System DPI setting: 96 DPI
        Desktop composition enabled: Yes
        Standard Preview Size: 3440 pixels
        Displays: 1) 3440x1440
         

        Graphics Processor Info: 
        DirectX: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (32.0.15.9186)
        Init State: GPU for Export supported by default
        User Preference: GPU for Export enabled
        Enable HDR in Library: ON
        GPU for Preview Generation: Auto (S5_11)

         

        KR Seals
        Community Expert
        KR SealsCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 25, 2026

        What drive and drive type is your Lightroom Classic folder ( .lrcat and previews) located on? Any chance it is on OneDrive?

        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.
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