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Lightroom Classic photo resolution issue.

Community Beginner ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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Hey all, 

 

I have my Lightroom catalog and smart previews set to store on my MacBook Pro's SSD and my main image library stored on a LAcie Thunderbolt Quadra drive. I import with standard previews and smart previews and when viewing the file using Lightroom on my external montior set to 3000x1670 resolution the actual picutre in lightroom at 100% is vastly smaller than the screen area. I've tried unchecking edit with smart previews, i've also attempted to render 1:1 previews and nothing seems to be working. 

 

It's frustrating not to be able to zoom into the file at a true 100% and check for focus and sharpness. I'm assuming this is a setting somewhere but i'm at a loss as of where to find it. 

 

As a side note, the files are from a variety of cameras however all were shot in RAW at a resolution greater than my screen display size.

 

Thanks! 

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

This is probably going to be a disappointing answer (and way too long), but…from a technical point of view, it looks like nothing is wrong here.

 

What you want is understandable: You want to see the pixels in the image. Traditionally and obviously, this was done by using the “100%” magnification. Here is the problem: Practically all photo applications have defined “100%” to mean one image pixel to one display pixel (and not anything related to real world size). This worked great for all those y

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LEGEND ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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what size in pixels, width and height (not megabytes), is this photo?

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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They vary but all are bigger than the set displayed resolution. For example one is 3504x2386 or so and then i have stuff from newer cameras that is 5000x on the longest edge. 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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You have unchecked the use of smart preview, on the specific photo you are working on? - so far as what you see in Develop.

 

Sizing of previews (for Library module) can be controlled in LR Settings.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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I have tried everything from rendering smart previews, removing smart previews, rendering 1:1, standard, etc. Nothing i do seems to show the photo at anything more than about 60% of the screen at 100%. 

 

Ive had a play in the LR Settings and as yet nothing has helped it. 

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LEGEND ,
Jan 29, 2021 Jan 29, 2021

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Also, is this a "Retina" screen? I am not a Mac user, but somewhere in my memory I seem to recall that "Retina" screens can cause this problem.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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My MacBook Pro is a retina screen but the external display is a LG27UL850 4k monitor and it's set to display at around 3008x1692 res. 

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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Screenshot 2021-01-30 at 13.15.52 (2).png

 

As you can see here the Monitor resolution has been set, the file is at 100% and only has coverage of this amount of the screen.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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I suggest you try on the standard setting not Scaled... as your file is cropped and smaller than the screen. See if that solves it ???

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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Are you using the smart previews to edit?

 

Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5, Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; Camera OM-D E-M1

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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From what I gather the develop module defaults to the main image to edit, I have the box unticked to edit with smart previews too. 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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This is probably going to be a disappointing answer (and way too long), but…from a technical point of view, it looks like nothing is wrong here.

 

What you want is understandable: You want to see the pixels in the image. Traditionally and obviously, this was done by using the “100%” magnification. Here is the problem: Practically all photo applications have defined “100%” to mean one image pixel to one display pixel (and not anything related to real world size). This worked great for all those years on older displays, where the ppi resolution was so low that you can see individual display pixels at 100%. Conveniently, we all got into the habit of using 100% for detail checking.

 

But that habit broke down as display resolutions started to increase toward print resolutions. The higher the display ppi, the less visible the individual pixels are. Older displays are in the range of 90–110 ppi. Newer Retina (Mac) and HiDPI (Windows) displays are 150 ppi and up. In that higher range, pixels get hard to see at 100% (1:1) magnification.

 

But photo applications (Adobe and non-Adobe) still define 100% magnification as 1 image pixel to 1 screen pixel. Technically, this means nothing is wrong: The meaning of 100% magnification has not changed. But practically, if we continue to think 100% means “I can see the pixels,” we are frustrated because we cannot see the pixels due to the higher ppi of today’s displays.

 

To boil it down, the root cause of the problem is that many of us got used to 100% as some kind of “actual size” when it never meant that, unless output was to the screen. 100% definitely never meant “actual size” if you wanted to print at something like 300 ppi. So one part of the solution is to recognize that 100% is not and never has meant “actual size.” unless you were a web designer. (And today even that doesn’t hold up, which is another long story.)

 

What’s the solution then? If you want to see image pixels, use a higher magnification, such as 200%.

 

Note that this is completely consistent with photography in general. What was “actual size” in the darkroom? The size of the print. Can you see the individual grains at print size/actual size? Not unless it is a very large print, otherwise you must increase the magnification, by using a loupe. Same here…you want to see the pixels, you increase the magnification.

 

Also, this will not be addressed by changing the display resolution in the macOS Displays preference. That’s because all of the Scaled resolutions affect only the UI resolution, not the content resolution. But all of those options always use the full resolution — every pixel — of the display. Changing the Scaled option to 3000 x 1692 pixels draws UI elements and text slightly larger than the display’s native 3840 x 2160 pixels, but they are still rendered using every pixel of the 3840 x 2160 display for full detail. The content itself, the photo, is also rendered using every pixel of the display; so when displaying 1 image pixel to 1 display pixel (1:1 0r 100% magnification) the image must be smaller than on an older, lower resolution display. Again, this is true in nearly all photo applications. The way display settings scale the UI separately from image content on Retina/HiDPI displays is consistent throughout macOS and I think Windows too, because it allows UI scaling while still using every pixel of the display.

 

How much smaller? A 27-inch 4K display is about 163 ppi. An older 27-inch display is typically 108 ppi. The difference? A little more than 60%. That would account for the 60% difference you see.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 01, 2021 Feb 01, 2021

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You've hit the nail on the head, i read this and then went into my resolution settings and opened it at the same res but what they class as 'low resolution' mode and the photos went to their original size and then it's all clicked into place. Thank you! 

 

It doesn't detract from the fact that as i'm quote old school in how i viewed my images it's a bit of a head scratcher to how i'll adapt but at least it's solved my problem and i'm not thinking Lightroom is doing something it shouldn't any more. Thanks again! 

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New Here ,
Sep 07, 2022 Sep 07, 2022

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This is blatantly incorrect... There's a lot of text here, that maybe was just copy/pasted as a response to someone else who had a different, albeit similar problem, but this is blatantly incorrect about what is actually wrong here:

 

quote

But photo applications (Adobe and non-Adobe) still define 100% magnification as 1 image pixel to 1 screen pixel. Technically, this means nothing is wrong: The meaning of 100% magnification has not changed. But practically, if we continue to think 100% means “I can see the pixels,” we are frustrated because we cannot see the pixels due to the higher ppi of today’s displays.

 

No, technically, something is definitely wrong. The person clearly states that their monitor is 4k, or 3840 x 2160 pixels. They then show a screenshot of an image stating itself to be 3072 pixels wide displaying at what it claims to be "100%", which by defintion should take up 3072 pixels of their 3840 pixel width screen, or approximately 80% of the screen width. The image is very clearly no where near that, and closer to 50% of their screen. In order for it to be that small, they'd need a screen 6000 pixels wide, which they say they do not have.

 

I have a similar problem except that my images are 9504 pixels wide and "100% zoom" on my 3456 pixel wide screen doesn't even fill hafl the screen. I've only seen this behavior on a Mac, never on my Windows machines, but something is blatantly buggy in the zooming/scaling here.

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 30, 2021 Jan 30, 2021

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There is a workaround: In the Finder, open the Applications folder (Go > Applications), select Adobe Lightroom Classic application, choose File > Get Info, and select Open in Low Resolution.

 

Lightroom-Classic-Get-Info-Open-in-Low-Resolution.jpg

 

This is just a workaround because the application will no longer take full advantage of the 4K display resolution you paid for, but if you prefer working this way, it might be worth using.

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New Here ,
Sep 07, 2022 Sep 07, 2022

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Issue: Lightroom claims to be displaying my picture at 100%, but it is clearly much lower than that and doesn't match.

  • Lightroom Classic Version Number:  11.5 Release
  • OS Version Number: macOS 12.1


Steps to reproduce: I'm not exactly sure what causes it, but some of my catalogs are plagued with this issue while others are not. All I do is try to zoom to 100% in any way (clicking in Loupe, using the navigator, etc) and the zoom just blatantly doesn't correspond to 100%. All other percentages are equally incorrect, but I cannot figure out what causes it.

 

Worth noting that I do share catalogs/previews across computers on a shared external SSD/network store and I'm not sure if this is related to monitor mismatches, but the "rebuild previews" seems to think nothing is wrong. I've also never seen this issue on my Windows machines, only a Mac Book.

 

My images are 9504 px wide, my screen is only 3456 wide, yet "100%" doesn't even fill my screen. Happens in both Library and Develop tabs. Happens on external monitors as well.

 

Expected result: When zoomed to 100%, images should be displayed 1:1 pixels.
Actual result:  Zoom is blatantly way lower than 100%.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 07, 2022 Sep 07, 2022

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@dylanrjames wrote:

Issue: Lightroom claims to be displaying my picture at 100%, but it is clearly much lower than that and doesn't match.

  • Lightroom Classic Version Number:  11.5 Release
  • OS Version Number: macOS 12.1


Steps to reproduce: I'm not exactly sure what causes it, but some of my catalogs are plagued with this issue while others are not. All I do is try to zoom to 100% in any way (clicking in Loupe, using the navigator, etc) and the zoom just blatantly doesn't correspond to 100%. All other percentages are equally incorrect, but I cannot figure out what causes it.

 

This is perhaps a Retina Display? It's 'wrong' how? It doesn't zoom OR, you expect 1 image pixel to represent 1 screen pixel and that's not what you're seeing?

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

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Community Expert ,
Sep 07, 2022 Sep 07, 2022

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@dylanrjames You are lookinbg at SMART PREVIEWS with a 'long edge' of 2560 pixels, NOT the full-size 9504px file!

2022-09-08 12_25_43-Clipboard.jpg

Your Histogram info needs to show- [Original + Smart Preview] like this-

2022-09-08 12_28_56-Roberts Catalog-v11 - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic - Library.jpg

Or just [Original] if you did not have Smart Previews.

 

 

 

Regards. My System: Lightroom-Classic 13.2 Photoshop 25.5, ACR 16.2, Lightroom 7.2, Lr-iOS 9.0.1, Bridge 14.0.2, Windows-11.

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