P: File handling much slower

[JacksterD]

I'm having an issue with Lightroom CC being very slow at file handling. In Lightroom 5 I could move files from one folder to another on the same drive very quickly (almost instantly, never more than a few seconds), but in Lightroom CC I'm currently moving 400 CR2 files to a different folder and it's taken 10 minutes. This is on a Retina MacBook Pro with an SSD.

Also, the way Lightroom CC converts to DNG seems to be different. Normally when I import files I choose to convert to DNG in the Import dialogue. Normally in Lightroom 5 I ended up with a folder full of DNG files. However, in Lightroom CC I seem to get a folder of CR2 files which are then converted to DNG. I tried moving these files (from within Lightroom) while this process was going on and Lightroom got very confused and around 25% of my files could no longer be found by Lightroom (they were still on the disk, but with "DNG" extensions as opposed to the "CR2" which Lightroom seemed to be expecting, even though it had just converted them!).

Overall, this has slowed my import workflow down hugely. I used to Import as DNG, move my files around and boom, done. Now I need to import as CR2, then move the files into the right folder (which takes at least 100x longer now), and then convert to DNG. Not good!

[Wolf Eilers]

Lighroom 6/CC has changed it's import method when converting to DNG. The raw files (CR2 in your case) are copied as fast as possible and then converted to DNG in the background. Don't touch the files in the OS directory while this is happening!

I don't understand your workflow in the last paragraph. When you move files do you mean moving within Lightroom or within the OS?

[jgcrowder123]

The bottom line is this "new and improved" way of doing things is much slower.

The old 5.x way simply read the CR2 file off the memory card and then wrote the file back to the hard drive in DNG format. This required only one hard drive write per file.

The new method reads the CR2 file from the memory card then writes the CR2 file to the hard drive and then reads the CR2 file from the hard drive and then writes it to the hard drive again in DNG format and then deletes the original CR2 file from the hard drive. This now requires two hard drive file writes and one delete process per file.

How can anybody think this new way is faster than the old way? This slows down the import process tremendously. Importing and converting a card full of raw files now takes 3 times as long.

[amdkt7]

I am seeing the same sluggish behavior when importing raw files to DNG. Three times longer does not seem to be a stretch. I also find that moving from one image to the next (in develop) to be just as slow as before. Rendering 1:1 previews does not seem to help. I initially tested with and without the GPU option, and did not see a difference.

I have a gone through all of the standard performance guidelines and have not improved anything. I do need to try deleting the preferences file and perhaps removing my color calibration software and it's profile.

I have a 4GHZ 8 core AMD cpu, and 16 gig of memory, two SSD hard drives. What more can I do?

[JacksterD]

That's interesting. I suppose I can see the advantage of splitting up the import and the conversion process for some people.

I'm not talking about moving the files using the OS file manager, I'm exclusively moving files within Lightroom. Essentially, I work at a nightclub, and so a lot of my photoshoots will be spread over two days (as I'll be working from, say, 11pm one day through to 2am the next morning). I normally just import by date and then move the files (inside Lightroom) from the later date into the folder of the first date just to keep everything together. I found that if I did this while Lightroom was converting to DNG, instead of queuing the process and doing the move once the conversion was complete, it started doing both at the same time and that seemed to result in LR losing track of a bunch of files because it was expecting the wrong file extension.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Well, we've been doing some benchmarks here in France and for me for instance, it appears that LR CC is 30% slower to import files in t eh catalog, 18% slower to render the 1:1 previews and 40% faster to export to jpeg.

Not the speed breakthrough we were expecting according to Adobe announcement...

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

With my 13" Macbook Air, general slowness until I turned OFF gpu acceleration. I'm not sure if the speed-up I've experienced in various processing areas since turning the graphics acceleration off is throughout every part of Lightroom. I'm guessing that the speed improvement Adobe claims is only in machines with a separate, speedy graphics card. (Preferences > performance > Use Graphics Processor. Uncheck the box)

[amdkt7]

I have yet to try importing with the GPU acceleration turned off. I turned it off a couple of days ago and have not noticed much difference. I suspect that while my video card qualifies it is probably slower than my CPU. Supposedly the GPU is only used while in the Develop module, but perhaps there is some overhead with it turned on that slows everything down.

This weekend I will try some different things, such as moving the catalog and camera raw cache to a different drive, trying different options for rendering image previews, anything I can think of.

A few people are using a RAM Disk to store the catalog and it works well for them, but is there any advantage over an SSD?

[Runspud]

import speed is so much slower since new Lightroom cc from Lightroom 5. I too choose to copy as DNG and the "copy to new location, import, then Convert to DNG" has my MacBook Pro fan working overtime. I'm not happy-hoping there is an adjustment made when enough users voice their dissatisfaction with the slow down.

[oymehus]

Much slower in CC/6.

[amdkt7]

I got the first update which seems to have helped with some issues. I still have GPU acceleration turned off. Changing to the next image seems snappier. I have not done an import yet, but the export that I did last night seemed to take much longer than normal. I really don't have all day to wait on photos to import, and it can be terribly inconvenient to wait overnight for a few hundred images to come in so that I can work on them. My 4 GHZ, 8 core system, with 16gig of ram is spinning up the fans to full speed and the Windows resource monitor shows all the cores maxed out. BTW, with that running only 6 gig of ram is being used.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Since the upgrade to Lightroom CC, the convert to DNG has become ridiculously slow. I've resorted to using the Adobe DNG Conversion utility to convert my NEFs to DNGs & then I inport these into Lightroom. A work-around but hardly satisfactory. I hope Adobe listen to the comments in this forum & fix what is a fundamental failure.
Also, Lightroom won't use my GPU - Ok it's 4 years old but the drivers are up to date. I can't be the only person using a 4 year old PC.

[jgcrowder123]

I was thinking about using the DNG Conversion Utility as a workaround, but I hadn't gotten around to it. I should be able to point the Conversion utility at the raw files on my SD card and have the output of the conversion be my destination folder on the hard drive. Seems like it would be faster.

With regards to the GPU issue. I had the same problem with my AMD Radeon HD6850 you until I read in the forums that the solution was to downgrade my AMD Graphics driver to a prior version, version 14.4. This caused Lightroom to be able to use my GPU. You might want to check out this discussion: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1822782 for more info.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1828580
This clarifies where any potential speed-up should happen. There are bits of useful information further down the page as well.
Info. here as well. http://www.diyphotography.net/adobes-...

[EvilBoris]

I've noticed the same problem with the most recent batches of images I've been trying to convert to DNG

For me the solution was to pause the face detection indexing, which seems to be indexing every photo i've ever taken.

15 seconds after I paused it , Lightroom was converting one CR2 file every second or so.

[denniR]

Exactly. If we wanted to do it this way, we would have simply imported the CR2s then converted to DNG once in the catalogue.

[denniR]

I've been looking through the various LR CC/6 'performance issue' threads on the Adobe forums and there seems to be a heck of a lot of people experiencing the same problems. We're dealing with both Macs and PCs, slow to top of the line CPUs, 4-32 gig RAM allocations, varying and apparently supported GPUs, SSD and traditional HDs, GPU acceleration both turned on and off...

Here's my question: WHERE THE HECK IS ADOBE IN COMMENTING ON THIS? We vent in these forums and are relieved to see these problems are not happening in isolation, and yet we have no evidence that Adobe is even paying attention to us.

I've put the problem directly to them and have not heard anything back.

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

That would suggest they're busy scrambling to figure out what's going on.

[EvilBoris]

I solved it by pausing facial recognition indexing

[denniR]

I hope so :). You never know with adobe though

[denniR]

I've paused facial reignition too. And as for Victoria's comment, unfortunately after all these years dealing with adobe, I think we all know they tend to avoid uncomfortable issues for a year or more.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I would be interested in hearing if others are experiencing issues with LR hanging up. It seems I have to use force quit way too often. And I agree import has become incredibly slow. It would seem this product should have been Beta tested more thoroughly.

[denniR]

Just ran some time comparisons:

*All times in seconds.
**GPU acceleration unchecked in CC.
***Face detection paused in CC.
****Mobile sync paused in both 5.7 and CC.
*****Catalogue already has over 100,000 images.

Launch
5.7: 6.4
CC: 12.02

Importing 5 CR2s from a 5DM2 and convert to DNG
5.7: 14.95
CC: 27.69

Import 5 high quality jpgs
5.7: 3
CC: 4.45

Export 5 full res Jpgs from DNGs
5.7:13.57
CC: 30

Export 5 1200x800, 72 ppi Jpgs from DNGs
5.7: 5.32
CC: 9.57

Export 5 1200x800, 72 ppi Jpgs from full res jpgs (original imports)
5.7: 3
CC: 6.88

[amdkt7]

It sure helps to use the Adobe Raw to DNG converter first, the import takes next to no time after that (ok, building previews still takes a while, but you can start to work). It's a pain to add to the work flow, but the converter is blazing fast compared to LR6.

Since I turned the GPU acceleration off my only remaining complaints is the slow import/export process.

[denniR]

Interesting... What a pain to have to add that step. I'm still wondering why Adobe is silent on this. Has anyone received an actual reply from them yet? My direct queries haven't been acknowledged yet.

[denniR]

Finally managed to get a response from Adobe today - they know there's a problem and are working on it. Until an update is ready they suggested sticking with 5.7...