Lightroom Classic CC seems slower than previous Lightroom version it replaced

[brente978]

Lightroom Classic CC seems slower than previous Lightroom version it replaced.  To test the performance of the new classic update, I imported some raw pictures taken with a Nikon D810/D850 and am noticing that moving from one image to another (all with 1:1 previews) in the Develop module takes 4 seconds before the image is displayed after pressing an arrow key to move (or using the mouse to select an image).  When you move to another image, the UI is repainted first (and, i assume, the histogram calculated, etc.), and then the image is displayed on the screen.  Moving between the Library and Develop modules also results in about a 4 second delay before the image is displayed.  Moving between pictures in the Library module is almost instantaneous. 

This level of performance is unacceptable.  Doing a copy/paste of settings from one image to another takes longer in the latest Lightroom than in the previous one as the time needed to display the image seems to slow everything down, thus slowing down the entire workflow process.

Another quick test was to press the right arrow key 10 times in succession in the Develop module to move between images.  It took Lightroom Classic CC 20 seconds before the UI finally caught up and displayed the desired image.  Doing the same in the Library module takes about 3 seconds.

Or, is this just the level of performance to be expected?  Was this not tested during the beta process, or just deemed satisfactory by Adobe? 

What's the best way to get feedback directly to Adobe on this?

[122379591]

We used the same import comparision. And it is very quick in 2015.13 and very slow  CC classic.

The only thing what we did not test is both systems with a new catalog. Why should we? LR Classic should rebuild our old catalog so we do not have to import all the directories again.

[andreaswengel]

I capture a video to "prove" it...

GPU load 20% max

CPU peaks 90%

[ken070]

andreaswengel, that's the same sort of sluggishness and unresponsiveness I experience after a lot of editing (or sometimes just after a period of time working, even on small catalogs/sets).  IMO, it just feels like a fundamental design flaw with the software and/or massive memory leak somewhere.  I was hopeful that the "redesign" of Lightroom would fix it, but (IMO) I can only conclude that they must still not fundamentally understand the issue, as they designed the same problem(s) back into this latest rewrite.

Total workflow for what I do (events, usually 200-800 photos in a given set) using Photo Mechanic + Capture One Pro would be 3-4x faster start to finish (easily -- probably more).  And it's the total time that matters to me: from import, to editing, through exporting the finished files.  Lightroom is woefully inferior in all 3 areas.

FWIW, I have many (non-professional) photography friends who can't justify the cost of PM + CO Pro.  I will be trialing Luminar 2018 as an inexpensive LR alternative (available 11/16).  If it performs even remotely as advertised, it will IMO immediately become a major threat to LR as it only costs $69 ($59 pre-order). ...and I say this reluctantly, as I'm an Adobe fan and user of the full CC suite (I essentially get LR free since I'd buy the whole CC suite anyway for InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Dreamweaver & Audition...)  I honestly wish LR just worked for me.

[NasMaximus]

Tried the deleting previews, didn't work.  Still taking forever to load images and do almost anything in any mode, but more so in develop mode.

[Naczelniq]

Hey guys!

Got same problem. My LR Classic CC just slow down for no reason. I do remember that last time the problem was "graphic card acceleration" So I just disable acceleration in preferences and LR works faster, maybe not exactly same speed like month ago, but still faster that week ago

[Markus_Bischof_Fotografie]

naczelniq  schrieb

Hey guys!

Got same problem. My LR Classic CC just slow down for no reason. I do remember that last time the problem was "graphic card acceleration" So I just disable acceleration in preferences and LR works faster, maybe not exactly same speed like month ago, but still faster that week ago

I switchted from Lightroom CC to Capture One some time ago because the performance of Lightroom was really bad. For some reasones  I had to retouch the current wedding with about 1000 photos in Lightroom Classic - it is a real pain in the ass!

Just switching from one image to an other in the Develop module lasts seconds. Applying a Tone Curve takes another 5 seconds. I'm working on a good equiped workstation (Inte Xeon with 6 Cores and 3,6GHz, 32GB of RAM and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980). The performance of Lightroom Classic is just not acceptable. I'm happy that I switched to Capture One and only have to use Lightroom for some special projects.

Thanks for the hint with the GPU - taht saved my day! Now I can finish my work!!!

[john beardsworth]

brente978  wrote

Or, is this just the level of performance to be expected?  Was this not tested during the beta process, or just deemed satisfactory by Adobe? 

What's the best way to get feedback directly to Adobe on this?

This time Adobe put out a couple of calls for beta testers and seemed to be reaching out to users who were reporting serious problems. So one would presume more beta testers than usual, though that's not necessarily the same as more testing of the final product. I know that I am seeing performance improvements in all the areas Adobe targeted, and the initial wave of feedback was along those lines.

I don't know if Adobe engineers are following this thread (I suspect they are), but I think they would welcome the the kind of detail you gave. A couple of things you don't mention though - what operating system, what size monitor, what graphics card, and is GPU acceleration enabled? Try testing without GPU enabled (restart LR after disabling it) as its main benefit is with hi res monitors and delays occur as data is passed over to the GPU.

[Dude1381]

OMG.... This is hurtful.   I optimized my catalog and restarted LR classic and it crashed.  I have am running 32gb RAM but you would think I had 2gb the way Lightroom Classic is acting.   When I go to export an image its very slow.  You just sit and watch the screen refresh. Then you can click on the export button.

[Aeschbi01]

I had the same problem like the most of the people on this thread.

Following three steps helped me:

1. Update to version 7.0.1

2. Use of OpenGL instead of DirectX

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/lightroom/kb/unable-to-back-up-catalog.html

Step 6

3. Create a new catalog and import from the old catalog

Now, Lightroom Classic CC is working for me sufficient. I still have to restart Lightroom after 20 minutes working.

[skyrunr]

This worked for me too!  This is what Adobe should do when they convert a catalog, sheesh!  I couldn't mark Aeschbi01's reply as the answer (Thank you A!)   Can someone do that to help others?  If I try to view other content in the forum the forum page jumps to the top and if I type it keeps doing it.

All of my processors are working equally, they weren't before, there are still issues, but the memory leak is resolved.  I stay under 1.5GB of resources in the Library viewing an image.  It now creates a new catalog sub-folder and it has everything in it.  I prefer having all of the .lrcat files in a root folder so I can exclude the preview folders from online backup more easily.  THERE ARE STILL ISSUES BUT IT IS USABLE AGAIN!

It would be REALLY helpful if we could set default new catalog settings and not have to adjust each page every time we create a catalog...

[skyrunr]

Spoke too soon!  If you work on a photo for too long the memory issue comes back.  Can't zoom in/out, can't preview presets.  UGH!

[john beardsworth]

Do you have any 3rd party presets? Ones that you've paid (a lot) for?

[skyrunr]

I'm familiar with them and no 3rd party presets are installed.  I even have the ability to dual boot to a clean OS and fresh LRCCC install (That is pretty entertaining process now btw).  This really shouldn't be on US to resolve at this point.

[john beardsworth]

Well, the onus is on us if we haven't eliminated known problems. We can obviously rule presets out in your case.

[Allan E L]

When Lightroom Classic CC first came out in was much faster on PC. I was blowing through weddings like never before, but it took one update to slow it down to the point of it being almost unusable. Other Photographers I know are having this problem too, yet I can't find a word about it anywhere. I'm looking at other software options... I need consistency and my time is as precious as Adobes.

[NasMaximus]

So after my 2hr call to Adobe support the other day I'm nowhere nearer to a solution.

Drivers checked, LR uninstall, Adobe clean-up, and LR reinstall.  Tried LR CC 2015 (slow now too).  She went through a few more settings, but nothing has helped. Last thing she asked me to try before I hung up was to import new catalogue which hasn't made a difference.

I'd already tried a completely new catalog.

Not sure what else to try.

[bob frost]

You haven't mentioned creating a new Preferences file? That often solves problems. Rename any old prefs files, just in case LR still cannibalises them. You could also try disabling any Plugins that you have installed.

Bob F

[skyrunr]

Everyone; if you haven't done so (count is only 40,) please view the original post and click on "I have this question too."  This might help it get more attention from Adobe.  Someone spent two hours with Adobe support and got nowhere, as I suspected would happen.  Having worked in third level technical support and escalations for MANY years, I have no patience for modern technical support. 

I probably won't replace Photoshop, may even go back to CS6 with DNG's, and I'm testing every other DAM out there.  All we can continue to do is be squeaky wheels and watch for an update.  They've pretty much admitted that the core engine is aging and limited...

[mrjackson]

skyrunr,

I am limping along with LR Classic 7.01 on a PC. The Develop module is working fine, but importing is a pain. I spent a couple of hours with Adobe tech support, too. He took control of my computer and did a few tweaks, but importing was still very slow. I need LR Classic to work to be able to import Nikon D850 files. ACR in PS reads them, but not LR 2015. That doesn't help me cataloging my files in LR however.

I bought OnOne based on their claims of blazing fast previews...not so much. I typically use LR for importing, which creates all of the xmp files. When I go to their program to cull, I end up with remnant xmp files they don't delete when the main file gets deleted. I called their tech support and they acknowledged it wouldn't delete the xmp files. OnOne might work fine if you import them there first, cull, then import the keepers into Lightroom.

I also bought Photo Mechanic specifically to speed up culling. Actually that works fine. Some people like it for their front end, but it's not well integrated with Photoshop, at least the way I work. After deleting files in Photo Mechanic, all I had to do was sync the folder in LR.

Good luck with your quest.

[skyrunr]

LRCCv6 isn't un-installed automatically (a preferred glitch?) on Windows, and all 5GB of it was still on my machine.  You should be able to create a shortcut to the old lightroom.exe (or DMG on mac) executable, jump right back over to LRCC-V6 along with the prior version of you catalogs before they were converted re-written as catalogname-copy.  Unfortunately, I just got a new camera and did a ton of non-editing work in one of my master catalogs.  It would be a little too painful for me to revert.

[NasMaximus]

If you go to your CC App window and go to settings and then preferences I think, there's a check box in there somewhere that you can select to 'show old apps'.

[NasMaximus]

So just to clarify my attempts to resolve this issue:

1. new catalog
2. import old catalog
3. drivers - display/motherboard/CPU etc
4. windows updates
5. uninstall and complete Adobe system clean including registry and temporary files clean up.
6. adjusting preferences in LR
7. trying LR 2015 CC
8. disconnecting other monitors  - I really questions her on this, but played along anyway, didn't make a difference whether I use one or 3 monitors.

Nothing worked so far.  So from a fresh install on a new machine back in July, LR 2015 CC ran stupendously fast.  For example, HDR merges were done instantly.  By instantly I do literally mean instantly to the point I'd check twice to make it's actually done as it was so quick it seemed as if it hadn't done anything.  Importing 8GB took mere seconds, organising images in library and editing in develop modes were very smooth and quick.

Now it takes 3-5mins to import around 8GB, exporting is also a painful wait.  Moving around and doing anything in any of the modes is terribly laggy.  For example, applying any changes such as altering exposure it can take 5-10seconds to the see the result on screen.  It's like I'm sending instructions down a long chain of command and the elves inside the computer are overworked and tired.

I also sent the link to this thread to Adobe and the support tech said she'd alert her colleagues to it.

My system spec:

i7 (quad-core, 8 logical processors), 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD (64% free capacity), Quaro M1000M card, intel HD 530 as well,

[Jao vdL]

NasMaximus  wrote

... Importing 8GB took mere seconds, organising images in library and editing in develop modes were very smooth and quick.

Now it takes 3-5mins to import around 8GB, exporting is also a painful wait. 

Seconds for 8GB? Typical high speed memory cards clock around 80MB/s. If you have a good card reader (so not using a USB2 connection to a camera), you might be able to get that. At that speed, 8GB takes 100 seconds just to copy the files! If you use a direct camera connection or a USB 2 reader, you won't even get 80 MB/s and your copy will take twice as long. There are your 3 minutes. While something is clearly wrong with Lightroom, there are physical limits to what you can do on import. If you spend a lot of money on cards, you can get faster ones especially if you use compact flash memory but if you don't have a good reader you will never get anywhere near GB/s speeds.  Remember that even fast, modern SSD drives are only doing 500 MB/s or so. No way a memory card is near that.

[NasMaximus]

I use a USB3 reader on a USB3 port and UDMA CF cards.  There's nothing I can do the prove this at the moment obviously due to the problem I'm having, but I can tell you now it took less than 3mintues!  Seconds was probably exaggerating on my part, but realistically much less than 3mins I can tell you that much.

[Jao vdL]

UDMA CF can range from only 40 MB/s to up to 166 MB/s so there is a big range there. If you have a USB3 card reader and are importing to a fast SSD drive and you have your catalog and previews on a fast SSD drive you could get that top speed if you have expensive cards. This would get you to 50 seconds raw copying speed for 8GB of images. Indeed less than 3 minutes if everything is ideal. I would expect some overhead of copying out the jpeg previews from the raw files (if you have selected to use embedded previews) which ideally should about double the time (one time for copying and then another read access to get the previews out), so 2 minutes is reasonable to expect when using fast CF cards in a good card reader and a SSD drive as destination.