Inspiring

Answered

Why do my images look soft in Bridge?

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
August 28, 2012
4 replies
38680 views

Hi, I'm a Photo Mechanic user, but I'm having problems with their latest release (PM5), so I thought I'd check out the latest version of Bridge to see if it can serve the same function. I'm having problems getting sharp previews. When I hit the spacebar to view an image full screen it looks blurred. If I click on the image it then becomes sharp (it stays the same size, just redraws itself and becomes sharp). Is this a bug or a feature? Thanks.

Mac Mini i7 2.7 16Gb Ram

OS X 10.8.1

Eizo CG275W

Correct answer elliot-n

Hmm, I think the blurred/click/sharp thing is probably a feature....

What seems like a bug is that half the time I hit the spacebar I get a blank grey screen rather than a full screen preview...

Another question.... Photo Mechanic can preview Raw/Jpeg pairs as a single image (so ratings, keywords etc. are applied to both)... Can Bridge do that?

A

alongcoh

New Participant

This is the solution to this problem. Open prefs, click GENERATE MONITOR SIZE PREVIEWS then PURGE CACHE. Problem solved.

Yammer

Inspiring

If only it were that simple.

The problem occurs even with this setting. It's more complicated, and relates to both the image crop/dimensions, the display size, and the graphics card.

It seems that the larger the image, the less likely you are to see the problem.

The Generate Monitor Size Previews setting is a pretty simple fix for low res previews.

P

photointo

Participating Frequently

Images in Bridge are soft, it's unacceptable. I'm using FastStone Image Viewer - it's free, fast and images are sharp.

billl64068922

New Participant

I just got the D810 last week, and yes my NEF images are terribly soft in Bridge, making it very difficult to use as a sorting software. They are improved when they're given time to render, but even then they look much sharper in photoshop. At first I thought my shooting was way off, but was happy to see sharp images in PS. However, I shot over 1400 images and opening up PS every time is not feasible!

R

randalqueen

Participating Frequently

Ok, here goes... one's man opinion...

The reason the previews are soft has nothing to do with drivers or display card or anything. Chances are most will see this and not understand it when the image size and display resolution size are equal. In other words, take an image that is 1920x1200 and view on a monitor that is also set up with a screen resolution of 1920x1200. I think when either entering a slideshow or full screen preview, it isn't showing the full image but is using either Fit or Fill screen. I think this causes poor algorithms to be used. When one clicks once on the image to get 100% view, then the image and screen size are one to one and you do get sharp images. If you go to a slideshow pressing Control+L and click on the screen you not only get 100% but you pause the slideshow. So just press the spacebar to continue the slideshow. You will keep the benefit of the sharper 100% images.

I just think when Bridge is either using Fit or Fill screen, even if it could theoretically do that 100% when a screen resolution and image size are equal, that Bridge will show soft images. But no, I do not think its a driver issue or cache issue or anything else. I don't even think in this case you need monitor sized previews. Clicking to get a 100% view forces the image to be read. So really its nothing to do with Previews now does it...??!

Randal

By the way, I do also notice on even smaller than 1920x1200 screen rez images that I have to click to get to 100% view. I also notice it is like the application frame, so to speak, is increasing one pixel taller. So is this a mismatch from monitor to program with resolution? I don't know...

Yammer

Inspiring

This was explained in replies 7, 12 and 16; Bridge resamples the cached preview on the fly, and this is causing varying amounts of softness, depending on the dimensions of the display. I first pointed this out a year ago in this forum, and set up a feedback bug-fix request here http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/generate_monitor_size_previews_to_fit_in_bridge

As the title says, if previews were actually designed to fit the display in the first place, then they wouldn't need to be resampled.

If you think something should be done about this, then please add your +1 to the list. I would have thought that this was essential for anyone reviewing a photographic shoot in Bridge (surely one of its best uses?), and assessing capture sharpness.

I imagine that, years ago, most people would have been previewing a 4:3 image on a 4:3 display, but I guess that most are viewing 4:3 or 3:2 images on a 16:10 or 16:9 display these days, so either Bridge needs a better size cache preview or a better FIT algorithm. Unfortunately, Adobe doesn't come here much, so the feedback forum is our best chance.

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/generate_monitor_size_previews_to_fit_in_bridge

R

randalqueen

Participating Frequently

This was a problem going into CS3 and Bridge. I worked with some engineers at Adobe and we got this... but has now been swithed back to highly compressed jpg previews so you don't need such a large cache...

Quote I wrote in an email to an Adobe team member...

Gone is the "A new preference to enable High Quality Preview has been added to Bridge's Preferences > Advanced panel. When enabled, the preference addresses the problem of a soft or blurry preview appearing in the Preview panel and in Slideshow mode." which you so kindly made sure got into LR 3.2.1. Seems the softy previews are just back. Period.

The work around to just click to force 100% view works in full screen or slideshow. Seems all we can do for now. Adobe seems to want a smaller cache. They got it but it had to be at some expense. There is no option for High Quality Previews any longer.

Randal

E

elliot-nAuthorCorrect answer

Inspiring

Hmm, I think the blurred/click/sharp thing is probably a feature....

What seems like a bug is that half the time I hit the spacebar I get a blank grey screen rather than a full screen preview...

Another question.... Photo Mechanic can preview Raw/Jpeg pairs as a single image (so ratings, keywords etc. are applied to both)... Can Bridge do that?

A

Anonymous

What you are seeing is the video card taking its sweet time to render the image. Check to see if you have the latest drivers.

E

elliot-nAuthor

Inspiring

Bridge isn't too good at doing sharp full-screen previews. It uses an odd algorithm to produce a cached folder of preview jpegs based on the longest side of the primary display. This can often mean that the cached preview has to be resized before it is displayed, which seems to defeat the object, in my opinion.

Your case is an unusual one. Normally, camera images have to be downsampled for preview. In your case, they would actually have to be upsampled for your huge display (can you tell I'm jealous?). I would expect normal behaviour to be a preview the same as the original and a border around the preview, but if you are using Slideshow with Fit/Fill Screen, it may be making a hash of the upsampling. Try Full Screen with spacebar instead.

Either way, I doubt there's anything you can do about it, unless your display driver is somehow at fault (not a Mac guy, so no idea).

Hi Yammer, my display is big, but not unusally so - it's a 27" Eizo CG275W (2560 x 1440).

After reading around online I've come to the conclusion that slightly soft previews are normal in Bridge.

For culling images I've gone back to using Photo Mechanic, which sharpens both thumbnails and previews (if these settings are checked in the preferences). - As a photograpaher, I need sharp previews when reviewing a shoot so that I can check images for critical sharpness.

Also, Bridge was buggy on my set up (Mac mini with AMD graphics) - often when I hit the spacebar for a full screen preview I would get a blank grey screen instead of a preview of the image.

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