Lightroom export is VERY Slow

[edshanahan1@aol.com]

I can only export 10-12 images from LrC (11.4.1) to JPEG files/minute.  This is an issue when trying to deliver 1500 images to a client soon after an event completes.  It takes me over 2 hours to export these images. My catalog and images are stored on an internal 2T SSD drive, and I export JPEGS to this same SSD drive.  My export speed is 10-12 images/minute; my collecgues who also shoot these same events are averaging 3X this speed.  Interested in your thoughts as to how I might accelerate my exports. Tx.   

My 2019 MPB w 2.4Ghz, 8-Core Intel i9 processor should have more than enough resources to run this export VERY fast.  BlackMagic Design shows read and write speeds in excess of 2600 MB/s.   During export: CPU runs at 60%, 25G of 64G memory is being used, with 16G additional as cache; 

I have run many different tests, none of which have helped performance.  Tests include: 1) exporting old NEF files to see if my Canon cRaw fles are the issue.  They are not.  2) running export with my computer in Safe mode.  No speed improvement.  3) Playing with graphics card settings.  No improvement. 

I do not know what else to do other than to purge LrC and reinstall it from scratch.  I would really prefer not to do this.  Appreciate any help!

[johnrellis]

"My export speed is 10-12 images/minute"

I have a very similar Macbook Pro (15", 2019, 2.4 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9, 32 GB) except with a Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB.  It exports large batches of raws at about 54 photos/minute with Use GPU For Export turned off and 55 photos/minute with it turned on, a very modest 11% speed improvement.  (According to Adobe, that option defaults to off when the GPU has less than 8 GB.)

Initial troubleshooting steps:

1. Restart the computer.

2. Try the exports with the option Preferences > Performance > Use Graphics Processor > Use GPU For Export both checked and then unchecked.   

3. Try making a from-scratch export preset and time that.  Rarely, LR has been known to "corrupt" existing presets.

(It wasn't clear from your description what the setting was for Use GPU For Export.)

[edshanahan1@aol.com]

Thank you for your response johnrellis.  I have done multiple restarts of my computer including in safe mode.  I ran all three options with my graphics card 1) automatic - let LR and/or my computer decide 2) visual processing only 3) export assist only. I saw no difference in speed with any of these.  I just tried your idea on the exports, using a LR defied export I have never used before.  I am still only getting 10 images/minute speed.   😞

I am going to create a new catalog (btw i also optimized my existing catalog) and import these same images, do some global edits on them then try to export them using a new preset.  Will see if that makes a difference.  If it does then I will have a dilemna.  I can't afford to lose the editis I have done on all those images over the years.  So I guess the best I will be able to do is to begin using the new catalog for new images and the old for prior images.....

[edshanahan1@aol.com]

I jjst ran another test.  I created a new catalog, re-imported 1509 of the images I shot the other day (cRAW files), performed similar edits on them to those I had done previously, then exported them again as 5MB max JPEGs.  It took 2 1/2 hours to export the images, so again the rate was slightly over 10 images/minute export speed.  The fan was on on my MBP most of the time, but again my resource utilization was similar to what I reported initially.  I can only think of two more tests I can do 1) Place my MBP on an icepack wrapped in a towel and see if this keeps the fan off and if so whether the export speed is faster.  2) Fully unstall LrC, then reinstall it and see if I gain any speed.  If not, I do not know what else to try.  I guess get on the phone with Adobe 🙂

[dj_paige]

In my opinion

2) Fully unstall LrC, then reinstall it and see if I gain any speed.

is a waste of time. However, adding cooling to your MBP could indeed help, as the CPU will throttle back (in other words, run slower) to prevent overheating.

[johnrellis]

"The fan was on on my MBP most of the time, but again my resource utilization was similar to what I reported initially."

Your laptop's cooling vents may be clogged or the fans not working properly, so the firmware and Mac OS could be throttling the clock speed of the CPU to prevent overheating, as dj_paige mentioned.  

To see if this is what's going on, install the free Intel Power Gadget.  It will show you real-time graphs of the internal temperature and the processor clock speed while you run an export.

[edshanahan1@aol.com]

dj_page

Thank you for your response.  I ran two additional export tests, using the same parameters I mentioned above.  I also had just downloaded Clean My Max X which includes a lot of performance monitoring capabilities.  So I used that in lieu of the Intel Power gadget. 

In the first test my CPU utilization remained very low but CPU got up to almost 180 degrees, very much in the red zone. I was averaging 10 images/sec before I cancelled the export.  I suspect this is what has been happening all along.  My MBP sits on a raised bracket so has maximal ability to cool.

In the second test I placed my MBP on an icepack wrapped in a towel.  Fan vents were probably blocked a bit.   CPU utilization reached 100% and my speed increased to 17 images/sec before I closed down the test.

Net-net at the least I have a heat problem that is causing the MPB to throttle its performance.  I am going to research wanys that I might clean the inside of the MBP of dust, etc.  I have compressed air but want to make sense for me to try this myself first before heading to the Apple Store.  Tx for your help!

[dj_paige]

I have a very similar Macbook Pro (15", 2019, 2.4 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9, 32 GB) except with a Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB. It exports large batches of raws at about 54 photos/minute with Use GPU For Export turned off and 55 photos/minute with it turned on, a very modest 11% speed improvement. (According to Adobe, that option defaults to off when the GPU has less than 8 GB.)

This comparison seems to be missing a key piece of information. How big are the photos (in megapixels) are your photos? How big are the photos (in megapixels) are the photos edshanahan1@aol.com is exporting?

[edshanahan1@aol.com]

The photos were taken with a Canon R5 (45 MP camera) using the cRAW format which yields 38MP files.  I did minor global edits in LR then exported as JPEGs with max size of 5,000k.  This is the same setup my colleague uses - same camera, cRAW and export attributes.  I get appx 10 images/minute on export; my colleague gets over 30 images using the same specs (best we can tell).

[Candiese25851952sz26]

Hi There, Im having the same issue with my Canon R5 and Lightroom export. My Canon 1Dxmkii the images are remarkably fast, and I tested it again yesterday. As of now, its exporting my Canon R5 files (and they are jpg, I dont shoot raw) and I have left it to export overnight to find that it has touched sides this morning. Exporting to 1,500k. Hugely frustrating as the client needs the images asap!!

[Per Berntsen]

 Exporting to 1,500k.

By @Candiese25851952sz26

Limiting the file size will slow down the export process. Lr will have to  do a lot of extra work to figure out what quality setting to use to keep the filesize below 1500 k.

[Jeanine Daigle]

Did you ever figure out what to do?! I shoot wiyh r5 and now I'm having trouble with exporting my images. 

I did do. Little more noise reduction on these photos ... but that should not make it this slow to export! 

[candiesem47178557]

Hi Jeanine, I didnt - I ended up trading in my R5 for the R6 Mkii. It is a little faster now but still not great at all!

[Daniel2890996806mm]

It seems that each version of LR makes it worse in export. We are sports photographers, so we basically use Photomecanics to crop and eliminate blurry photos. Then we import the day into Lightroom to export the photos divided by performance at 72 dpi 1200 wide edge (one performance = approximately 100-150 photos). The current version of Lightroom is so rotten that to export our photos (we are talking about 800k files) it takes 3-4 days to export 30000 photos, which is unacceptable. With each version of Lightroom the export slows down. On the MAterial side, we use MAc Studio M1. Central processor 20 cores, Graphics processor 48 cores, Neural Engine 32 cores, 64 GB of unified memory, 4 TB of SSD storage.

We have to find a solution and eventually leave Adobe because of these excessive slowness from version to version. If you have any recommendations I'm interested.

[Ian Lyons]

Make sure that you GPU setting is indicating 'Your system automatically supports full acceleration' as shown in attached screenshot.

[Daniel2890996806mm]

Yes it's activated

[DdeGannes]

@Daniel2890996806mm , you indicated, "4 TB of SSD storage.".

Is the SSD internal disk?
Is your operating system on the same disk?

How much free disk space is available on the SSD?

You should aim at having at least 20% free i.e. 800 GB. More would be better.

[Daniel2890996806mm]

Internal disk, after each event we transfer everything on the disk to a SAN. The disk is always available at full capacity. We rarely go over 1.5Tb on the 4Tb disk. The catalog is on the same internal disk.

[candiesem47178557]

Same - Im a horseracing photographer and have major pressure trying to upload images, create the preview, edit and export within a 15 minute time frame. I use a Macbook Pro as well with M1 chip - I dont store anything on my Macbook, its all on external hard drives with high TB. I ended up changing my camera and reducing it to the R6 Mkii - its a bit quicker to import now but not great (the more images I import through the day, the slower it gets), but export is still painfully slow!!

[DdeGannes]

edshanahan1@aol.com , you indicated "My catalog and images are stored on an internal 2T SSD drive, and I export JPEGS to this same SSD drive.".

How much free disk space is there available on that SSD? You need at least 20% free disk space i.e. 400 GB. More would be better. Just my thoughts.

[Daniel2890996806mm]

Internal disk, after each event we transfer everything on the disk to a SAN. The disk is always available at full capacity. We rarely go over 1.5Tb on the 4Tb disk. The catalog is on the same internal disk.

I did a test this morning, I export 1 album at the time about (200 pictures of 800k) and it's not so bad. But when I try to let say export 10 albums in the same time it take forever to do the task. The problem is we use to do that before with Lightroom allowing us to return to take pictures during that process. Now it seems that we can't do it and we have to do each single export 1 by 1. It means that I will need an extra staff to do only exportation during the event.

[johnrellis]

Two more troubleshooting steps to narrow down the problem:

1. Set Preferences > Performance > Use Graphics Processor to Off. Sometimes the GPU actually slows things down.

2. If you have a watermark, try exporting without it. LR has had problems recently with watermarks.

[johnrellis]

"I export 1 album at the timeI export 1 album at the time about (200 pictures of 800k) and it's not so bad. But when I try to let say export 10 albums in the same time it take forever to do the task. (200 pictures of 800k) and it's not so bad. But when I try to let say export 10 albums in the same time it take forever to do the task."

Another less likely possibility is that your M1 Studio is overheating, e.g. due to clogged fan vents. When processors overheat, they reduce the clock speed. Google for an M1-compatible temperature utility. 

This was a common problem with Intel MacBook Pros due to poor design, but I haven't seen any reports about Apple Silicon machines, which are supposed to be much more temperature friendly.

[Daniel2890996806mm]

Hi, 

I did the test an desactivated the GPU and do an export without watermark and it was really fast. I did an other test with Watermark and it was really slow. I think the Watermark is why it sloe down.

Thanks, but the problem is I'm a sports photographer and my customer requiere his watermark on the pictures. Don't really have the choice to insert it and will have to live with this time consuming malfonction.

Heating is OK it not overheat. 

[johnrellis]

If it's a text watermark, try disabling Shadows. That's a particular problem that some have encountered.