Participant

Question

Lightroom crop tool eats up RAM too fast

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
August 9, 2023
3 replies
1449 views

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

macOS

M

mark_8331

Participant

You will hear many excuses why that happns while others would ask you for more "details" about your computer specs. DOn't bother. The bottom line is, LR is badly coded softwaree that needs a complete overheul from the ground up. Adobe added so many features and it's all patched on top of each other.

I have the latest AMD Ryzen 9 9950x, probabely the best you can buy right now. A 360mm AIO cooler,. 64GB of RAM. The RTX3060Ti GPU and one of the best MB you can buy, the Asus ROG Strix X870E-E.

No matter, just cropping a few photos in LR and the CPU goes to 100%, the fans are going crazy and temp goes above 70c. No other app or program behaves like that. I run long Photoshop action with no les than 40 steps on dozens of Sony RAW photos and the CPU goes to 40% max.

Lightroom has many issues and again, no one from Adobe or those "officials" helperes will admit it.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

[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-

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

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MemdroidAuthor

Participant

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.

Ian Lyons

Community Expert

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)?

M

MemdroidAuthor

Participant

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

Community Expert

@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.

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,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.

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