Lightroom crop tool eats up RAM too fast

[Memdroid]

I recently upgraded my 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Pro (10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD) to a 2023 MacBook Pro M2 Max (12-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 32GB RAM, and 1TB SSD). The MacBook Pro 16-inch was a significant improvement over my 2016 model and handled my R5 files with ease. However, as my editing demands grew, I began experiencing more frequent slowdowns.

I decided to move to a brand new 14-inch MacBook Pro M2 Max for its portability and expected performance boost for my workflow (So I thought). After migrating my files and selling the 16-inch model, I was excited about the upgrade. However, I have noticed that even on this newer machine, I sometimes encounter jerky performance, leading to increased fan noise and heat buildup, which is frustrating. While many praise the MacBook Pro M2 Max for its fast file importing and exporting capabilities, few discuss or measure its performance during high-volume editing sessions.

I have the latest Lightroom Classic installed (12.4)

I am a volume shooter, mainly capturing events and weddings and lots of portraits. My typical editing workflow consists of using only Lightroom with GPU enabled (AUTO) and a 100GB Camera Raw cache. First, I quickly cull images from the Library Module with no issues.

However, after applying one of my basic presets and syncing it across the gallery (involving adjustments in Basic, Tone Curve, HSL, Color Grade, Detail, Lens Correction, and Calibration), I notice a decline in performance after editing around 60-90 images.

As I continue to work on approximately 150-180 images, the RAM usage nears its limit.

Beyond 250 images, RAM flooding occurs, leading to significant slowdowns, accompanied by loud fan noise and excessive heat.

The Crop tool, which was smooth at the beginning, becomes choppy.

To resolve this, I have tried closing Lightroom and using CleanMyMac to purge RAM, but the problem persists after restarting.

I experienced similar issues with the MacBook Pro 16, with its "weaker" chip and much less RAM and this has left me quite disappointed, especially considering the noise and performance inconsistencies which the 16 inch did not exhibit. Battery life is also significantly reduced.

I did about the same test with my wifes MBP 14" with the base M1 Pro chip 8c CPU and 16GB of RAM and the performance is identical to that device. The M2 Max is maybe 30% snappier but once Lightroom slows down they are the same performance wise, with the added bonus on the M2 Max being very noisy and hot.

Maybe I just had higher expectations or the crop tool is very resource hungry and it is totally not optimized for heavy use. It confuses me.

I suspect there might be something wrong with my editing workflow, and I would greatly appreciate your input on how to optimize it to make the most of the supposed power of this machine. Alternatively, I wonder if high-end devices like this struggle with handling R5 RAW files regardless of the setup and Lightroom Classic is just not utilising these modern CPU techniques efficiently, especially when the crop tool is used.

Thank you for your insights and suggestions.

Kind Regards

[Ian Lyons]

It's not clear from your post how much memory your 14 inch MacBook Pro has. My guess is 32GB, but it would be helpful if you could confirm the actual amount.

Would it be possible for you to share the preset you're using? You may need to use Dropbox or similar though.

I use a Canon EOS R5 and edit the files on an M1 based McBook Pro, Mac Studio and Mac mini and don't experience the issue you describe, even after a heavy editing session. That being said, I know that the way that macOS manages memory, especially that allocated to the GPU can result in high memory use on Apple Silicon based computers. What does Activity Monitor Memory Pressure indicate when you experience high memory use (i.e. green, yellow, red)?

[Memdroid]

Hi Ian, thank you for your response. You might have missed it but my M2 Max has 32GB of memory as stated in my first paragraph.

What I have observed is that the Crop tool appears to be loading the full image into the cache instead of utilizing the embedded preview. This behavior seems to make it challenging for the cache to be cleared effectively. If there is someone technical that can confirm this and how the Crop tool is actually behaving when it is being used.

My typical interaction with images is relatively brief, lasting around 5 to 10 seconds, primarily after the initial preset has been applied. Given my fast-paced workflow, where I frequently use the shortcut "R," I tend to make minor adjustments using this tool. However, this rapid activity quickly leads to a significant consumption of RAM.

Additionally, I've noticed that when I proceed to the next image and employ the Crop tool, there is a momentary display of the previous image I was working on. This never bothered me, and it is there since the early versions of Lightroom in my experience.

To verify my observations, I conducted further tests on both my 14 M2 Max (32GB) and my wife's M1 Pro (16GB) machines. I focused specifically on the Crop tool, ensuring that only Lightroom Classic was running. I used Cleaner One to monitor RAM usage.

On both systems, I imported the exact set of images with the default setting of Embedded Previews. Within the Develop Module, I reviewed over 200 RAW images and utilized the Crop tool with random actions such as straightening and applying medium to heavy crops. I repeated these steps while also applying a preset.

Here are the detailed results of my testing:

Results on the 14 M2 Max (32GB):

-Memory usage with no applied presets – Between 13 to 15.8 GB, no slowdowns. It was perfectly smooth all throughout the end and very very snappy.

-Memory usage with preset applied first + Crop tool – Between 26GB to FULL and using swap. Major slowdowns after about 100+ images using crop. Images load very slow (about 3 seconds after selection and additional 3 seconds before the crop tool is loaded).

Results on the 14 M1 pro base model (16GB):

-Memory usage with no applied presets + Crop tool – About 14 to Full memory usage

-Memory usage with preset applied first + Crop tool – FULL and using swap heavily. Major slowdowns after about 30+ images using crop. Images load very slow (about 3-5 seconds after selection and additional 3-5 seconds before the crop tool is loaded).

When exclusively utilizing the Library Module and swiftly navigating through the images, there appears to be no significant memory consumption. The memory usage remains relatively stable, hovering around the 9GB mark, without encountering any issues in this regard.

Could someone provide a clarification regarding these findings? Furthermore, is Adobe actively addressing the substantial RAM usage associated with the crop tool, aiming to enhance its performance in this regard?

*I'm willing to share the preset I've used, but it's a basic preset without any AI or adaptive components. Additionally, no masks have been employed.

The preset includes adjustments limited to Basic settings, Tone Curve, HSL, Color Grade, Detail, Lens Correction, and Calibration features exclusively.

To reproduce, have a preset like this it with the crop tool and do random crops on a large set of images.

[DdeGannes]

@Memdroid , you stated “What I have observed is that the Crop tool appears to be loading the full image into the cache instead of utilizing the embedded preview.”.

When you are working in the Develop module, where the crop tool is located, LrC utilizes the original image it does not work with previews or embedded previews.

[Ian Lyons]

@DdeGannes 

When we select a file in the Develop module it loads the Camera Raw cache file associated with the proprietary raw files (i.e. CR3, NEF, ARW) or the 'Fast Load Data' embedded in DNG files. Both of which are previews. These previews are displayed until the raw file is rendered in the background. Typically, on modern Mac and Windows based systems the rendering time is near instant for an unedited file and a second or so for edited files. The best indicator that a file has been fully rendered is to watch the Histogram.

[Ian Lyons]

@Memdroid wrote

“What I have observed is that the Crop tool appears to be loading the full image into the cache instead of utilizing the embedded preview.”.

I can reproduce above right back to LrC 11.0 and suspect the behaviour goes back to much earlier versions. Since the screen goes grey, my guess is that tapping the R key quickly after the image is selected is flushing the cached preview before the original is fully rendered. However, if I change the workflow so that the Crop tool is left enabled with Grid set to Auto as I edit and/or apply the crop file by file doesn't flush the cache. I appreciate that leaving the Crop tool enabled rather than tapping R twice for each file may not be the most obvious workflow, but it has served me well for many years. 

Also, in my case, the memory pressure on my 32GB 16 inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro doesn't exceed 32%, even after just under 300 EOS R5 files have been edited using the workflow @Memdroid describes. However, using my workflow, which I find much faster the memory pressure increases to 55%, which is into Activity Monitors yellow range, but not unusual for an Apple Silicon based Mac. I suspect the difference is down to me not being as fast as @Memdroid with the workflow using the R key.

[Memdroid]

Hi @Ian Lyons, 

I appreciate your valuable insights, and I'm pleased to learn that I'm not alone in utilizing Lightroom in this manner and sharing similar experiences with you. Your suggestion has made a remarkable impact!

Memory usage is now hovering around 17GB, marking a HUGE improvement.

When I got the 16" M1 pro 18 months ago, I did not have any issues with it and it has progessivley gotten worse (where for me an upgrade was iminent). Regrettably, the M2 Max also exhibits high power consumption in comparison to the M1 Pro when not plugged in, but that's something I can manage.

It's intriguing how having the crop view enabled all the time seems to enhance speed and responsiveness, whereas opening and applying it results in sluggishness and high resource consumption. Perhaps someone from Adobe could shed light on this matter?

For me, the next step involves effectively integrating this into my workflow. 

@Ian Lyons could you kindly offer any tips to swiftly select the next or previous image using keyboard keys while the crop tool is enabled?

In any case, I'm immensely grateful for this invaluable piece of advice!

[Ian Lyons]

Great to see that a change to how the Crop tool is used is of help to.

Regarding KBCS, I'm the worlds worst advisor. I just use the mouse. However, you could check out @johnrellis 'Any Shortcut' plugin can be used to remap the default Cmd+Right or Left arrow KBSC. I've provided the link below. John is also regular on this forum and may be able to offer some tips on how best to use the plugin.

https://johnrellis.com/lightroom/anyshortcut.htm 

[Memdroid]

Gotcha! CMD+Arrow key is the one. Thanks!

[Rob_Cullen]

[Ctrl/Cmd + Right Arrow] will advance to next image while keeping the Crop Tool Active. It does not however maintain the crop set on the first image.

[Ctrl/Cmd + / ] provides this screen-

[Memdroid]

I wanted to provide you with an update and share some additional findings. 

I decided to utilize the low power mode on the 14 M2 Max and conducted another editing session with a photo event I had captured. During this session, I edited around 370 R5 RAW files, applying substantial cropping and employing sky and subject selections along with adaptive presets. I followed my usual workflow for this session but was eager to try the suggested method that @Ian Lyons provided once it slowed down. In the end I did not have to!

While the experience wasn't super smooth, it was, however, free from noticeable jitters and didn't encounter any slowdowns throughout the session. The memory pressure remained at 28GB, and no swap was used. Among the edited shots were some lifestyle portraits for which I created a preset involving quite a bit of masking. After the initial editing, I applied these presets. It took the laptop about 4 minutes to process these presets, and during this time, the laptop began to slightly throttle. Despite this, there were no major issues, and the RAM was not overloaded.

Upon exporting the images (4k), I noticed that about halfway through the process, approximately 1.5GB of swap space was utilized. However, this wasn't a significant concern, and no significant throttling occurred. The laptop did experience a rise in temperature, although it didn't become overly hot. Additionally, the battery depletion was not drastic, and the overall experience with the export was comparable to that of my MBP 16 M1 Pro.

Considering my priorities, which involve smooth and fast editing over rapid export speeds, I find this performance acceptable and satisfactory for now.