Experiencing performance related issues in Lightroom 4.x

[BCormier]

Anyone else notice that lightroom 4 is slow? Ligtroom 3 always ran fast on my system but Lightroom 4 seemlingly lags quite a bit.

My system is:

2.10 ghz Intel Core i3 Sandy Bridge

8 GB Ram

640 GB Hard Drive

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

Message title was edited by: Brett N

[Mark Wycherley]

I also did the convert a single image to DNG trick, which has at least made basic generating a preview on initial loading an image faster.

I am using a second monitor though, and actual image editing is then basically unusable - takes several seconds to adjust anything. If I disable the second monitor from LR4 menu, then it's fine. With the second monitor on (and using PV2012 or PV2010, but worse with PV2012), it's just 2-3 seconds of Mac progress spinner before anything happens. Defintely for me related to the rendering time for the second display - which is in full-screen Loupe mode. With LR3.6 performance with 2nd display was occasionally slow, but always tolerable. With LR4 it's unusable.

Should say - on further testing, the slow/intolerable editing performance is only with editing of images imported as part of an LR3.6 catalog. For images which are direct new imports to LR4, the editing performance of those new images with two monitors seems OK (under any PV). [Suggestive that what I am seeing is related to LR4's management of the image records in an LR3.6 imported catalog base].

[OS X 10.7.3, 17" MBP 2009, 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, 7200rpm HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, NEC3090WQXi external, ~75k images in LR catalog]

[rkstarr]

Finally I had the chance to try this and yes, I generated the error

described. None of the other solutions have made LR4 as functional as

LR3.6.

[Kaur_100]

I run i5@4.5ghz, 8GB ram, W7sp1. Initial impressions with LR4 beta were also general sluggishness in navigating around and when switching between 100% pictures to build the 1:1 previews. For me it improved when I deleted the folder "Previews.lrdata" (but kept the catalogue file!) and had LR4 rebuild the previews/100% views from scratch not relying on old database import from LR3.5 (appx 25000 pics). Also, the thing which I noticed is that in Library mode initially zooming into 100% view to build full view takes a bit more time than in Develop mode. But as it is currently only about 1.5 seconds for LR to build full 100% view, then it is not too bad compared with LR3.5 (roughly 1 sec). Sliders move around very smoothly and adjustments appear instantly as well.

Just in case, CrapCleaned the registry and installed fresh set of video card drivers as well. Did not make much difference but made me feel a bit better

Probably the reasonable thing to do is first unistall 4 beta before going for 4 full (I did not do that) but when looking at the installation of LR4 full, seems it unistalls beta anyway.

[sparksdjs]

Tried the rebuild previews at 100% workaround - no improvement for me.  I've been trying every workaround posted and haven't had any improvements.

Dave

[kwdaves]

Kaur 100 wrote:

I run i5@4.5ghz, 8GB ram, W7sp1. Initial impressions with LR4 beta were also general sluggishness in navigating around and when switching between 100% pictures to build the 1:1 previews. For me it improved when I deleted the folder "Previews.lrdata" (but kept the catalogue file!) and had LR4 rebuild the previews/100% views from scratch not relying on old database import from LR3.5 (appx 25000 pics). Also, the thing which I noticed is that in Library mode initially zooming into 100% view to build full view takes a bit more time than in Develop mode. But as it is currently only about 1.5 seconds for LR to build full 100% view, then it is not too bad compared with LR3.5 (roughly 1 sec). Sliders move around very smoothly and adjustments appear instantly as well.

This thread is virtually identical to threads about the LR1-LR2 and LR2-LR3 upgrades. LR3 was unuseable for me until I deleted all of my previews and recreated the standard previews for my entire catalog- a lengthy process on the system I was using at the time.

[jason almeida]

Same here ... I face the same sluggishness issue with LR4.... I expected the final release would fix the problem but it takes so much time rendering compared to LR3.6 ... I hope Adobe fixes this soon ... was actually planning of upgrading to LR4 but will hold for now

[mrboyd]

I too am experiencing slowness on even an SSD drive with 16 g of ram, i7 2600k 3.4 ghz, i built this machine to be a lighroom dominator.  I will wait another month or two before i upgrade.  Maybe they will work it out.  I only have burning software, lightroom 4 and CS5 on this machine. 

[Guest]

I built a PC in Dec 2011 - 16GB ram, i7-3930k (3.2GHz)., etc.

The other day I was doing an import using Lightroom 4, and somehow it used 100% of my memory.  Yeah, Lightroom 4 chewed up 16gb of ram.  I never saw anything like that with Lightroom 3.

Adobe, please, please refine the engine in Lightroom 4 to make it perform better.  Right now, it's slow, sluggish and resource hungry, even for basic tasks.

[JamesS1981]

I'm running Windows Vista 32bit on a Q6600 2.4Ghz (OC'd to 2.7Ghz) with 4 gigs of ram (Vista 32 only recognizes 3.2 gig of memory) and LR2 and 3 always ran fine but as with most in this thread I'm experiencing the same slow, laggy, slugish behavior.  As others have stated I assumed that it was the beta and the LR4 gold would correct the problems but it hasn't other than being a little more polished.

Something that I've been trying with what seems like a positive effect has been going into LR4 Library Module and selecting a few images or even an entire directory that has already been converted to the 2012 Process and going to Library, Convert Photo to DNG.  Even though all of my images are already in DNG format (from as far back as LR2) it appears to do something to the DNG existing images.  In previous Lightroom versions when you ran the converter on existing DNG files it said it was done immediately but now it takes a little bit to complete.  After the the Convert process is done the Develop module seems to run much more smoothly.  Any Mask options like the Brush or Healing tool work fine also untill I get over a dozen history states then they start to slow some.  The develop slider (for me at least) respond almost instantly as opposed to directories where I have't run the Convert to DNG option on.  I have the Convert options set to default as far as Only Convert Raw Files, Delete originals, and Embed Fast Load Data are the only boxes checked and my JPEG Preview is set to None.  I don't know if the Embed Fast Load Data is really being generated after the fact since the files are already DNG but something seems to be helping as compared to the files and directories that I have not 'Converted'.  I've also played with the Update DNG Preview & Metadata but that didn't seem to have much effect. 

If anyone else cares to give this a shot, let us know if it has any effect for you.

[geoFHP]

Like so many on this thread, I too found Lightroom 4 unusably slow. Picking up on what Jeff 2011 said, I went into one of my folders and selected a single Canon cr2 raw file and converted the image to DNG...that's right, just the one image. Somehow this seems to have flipped a switch in Lightroom 4, because now (so far) everything is running much, much faster-more like Lightroom 3 behaved. This is true for all of my Canon raw files, Fuji raw files and iPhone jpegs, including images using either the 2012 process version or the 2010 version . I'm running on a 2011 MacBook Pro with 8 gigs of RAM, under Mac OS X 10.7.3.

I still have to run it through some more paces, but Lightroom 4 is now very responsive for me, even with all of the modules active. I'll post a follow-up if I find anything changes. It's really very bizarre to me that converting a file could change the behavior of the program, but it does feel like somehow it fliped a switch or changed a mode that the sofware was running in when first installed. This really is something Adobe needs to address right away.

[A_C_G]

"converted the image to DNG"

Sorry to be dim George. I never use DNG so don't know where to find the 'convert' command.

Tony

[A_C_G]

Don't worry George.

Dr Google told me "Select one or more photos in the Grid view, or select a single photo in the Filmstrip in Loupe, Compare, or Survey view. Then, choose Library > Convert Photo(s) To DNG."

I'll see what magic it performs.

EDIT. None.

Tony

[sparksdjs]

I tried the "convert one file to DNG workaround" and that appears to have worked for me.  I'll convert my LR3 catalog again as I did a fresh reinstall and give it LR4 a workout.  Thanks for the tip - I hope it holds!  (Win7 install).

Dave

[aross4242]

Wow, I've been having nothing but problems with slow, jerky slider behaviour and slow preview renderings, ESPECIALLY with a second display in Loupe View.  But this "convert one file to dng" trick (post 116) seems to have worked some sort of magic on my LR4 installation!  It is now actually usable - not 100% perfect, but vastly improved.  I don't get it, but it seems to be working!

[Win7 64, i7-950, 12GB, LR4 upgraded from beta, catalog upgraded from beta]

[jippiaijee]

After importing the first photos (upgraded from LR3, uninstalled LR4 beta earlier) LR4 was really unusable due to UI response times of several seconds.

Converting one file to dng helped a lot or maybe LR4 completed something which it was doing on the background.

Rendering standard preview after editing with 2012 process version causes the same sluggish effect when moving immediately to library view.

Win7 x64, Q9550, 6GB, catalog and preview data on SSD

[nph2go]

>But this "convert one file to dng" trick (post 116) seems tohave worked some magic on my LR4 installation!

acros4242 - can you attach a link to post 116 - i cannot find it, dont see post numbers anywhere....

thx

[A_C_G]

"   "I am also assuming that Adobe folks are monitoring this forum. I'd be pretty sure they are..."

Mark. It is the weekend but I cannot believe they are."

I take that back. During the UK night someone moved my initial slow slider post to the other bug reporting forum.

So Adobe are on to the case.

Tony

[hamish niven]

Have any of you tried converting some or all of your raw files to the latest DNG to see if there is any speed improvement?

I convert all my photos to DNG - a personal preference, but I'm in the process of converting the DNG's to the latest dng - not the lossy format.

My conversion from LR3.5 / LR4 beta has been

• back up catalog
• delete the previews file
• convert / upgrade the catalog
• Edit>Convert Photos to DNG, turning off the only convert RAW files and making sure the lossy conversion was off.

As I'm converting 500 images, it's going to take a while, so until then, the question stands

Does converting to the latest verstion of DNG help with speed improvements?

[dennishh]

So disapointed in LR4 I just uninstalled it, will wait for fixes or version 5. So slow.

[dwarfland]

Lightroom 4 isn't *slow*, here it's *unbearably slow*. every single action takes 2-5 seconds. literally. press "D". wait. drag a slider. wait. press "R" wait. change crop. wait. drag a sider. wait. press "G". wait.

i have a resonably large catalog (almost 50k photos), but LR3 handled that fine. i've also freshly rendered previews for of the last years photos that im working on. the catalog wa simported from LR3, yes. but i can;t really be reasonably expected to start with a fresh catalog, when i have 50k images already i LR, can i?

also, this is a 8-core Mac Pro with 14GB of RAM.

this is ridiculous, i'll most likely have to go back to LR3 (and live with losing the bit of work i did in LR4, so far).

[A_C_G]

Mark and dwarf,

Have you filed your bug reports......please.

Tony

[Mark Wycherley]

Tony. Not posted any bug report yet. Still playing with various things to try and narrow down what it might be based on what I am reading around the various forums.

I just updated what I'd earlier said with more info related to it seems to be only those images brought in as part of a 3.6 catalog. Editing fresh images directly imported to LR4 does not seem to be slow.

I am also assuming that Adobe folks are monitoring this forum. I'd be pretty sure they are...

[Gudselv]

I updated Lightroom from version 3.6 to 4 (no beta has been installed) and I noticed a serious (unacceptable) lag when dragging the sliders - especially the Clarity slider.
The problem was only there when using 2 monitors AND the secondary monitor was using Lightroom's Loupe view (i.e. both monitors showed the same picture).

My system: 
Intel i7 975 overclocked to 4 GHz.
6 GB RAM (1866 MHz).
Videocard:  ASUS ENGTX280 OC.
Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate.

I use 2 CRT-monitors:  21'' (1920x1440, 85Hz) and 19'' (1600x1200, 85 Hz).

I uninstalled the rather old videocard NVIDIA driver version 258.96. Rebooted and installed the brand new version 295.73 WHQL (dated February 22 2012), and that solved the problem with the lagging sliders.

Conclusion:  it may be worth updating the videocard drivers if you experience the problem with the lagging sliders.

[Scooby007]

@Gudselv - I use 2 CRT-monitors:  21'' (1920x1440, 85Hz) and 19'' (1600x1200, 85 Hz).

Adobe does say dual monitors can seriously hurt LR performance

[Gudselv]

Yes but in my case the newest videocard driver solved the "lagging" problem.