Lightroom previews vs smart previews when using Lightroom offline

[jj_345]

I'm using the latest LL classic on a MacBook Pro.  My main camera is a 40megapixel Sony.

When I'm home, I store all my files on a NAS.  When I travel I have a local working directory on my SSD that I import/edit files in until I get home, then I move to my NAS (both on same catalogue).

I have a question about previews.  When I use Lightroom to edit or view, I like to have 1:1 previews so that I can zoom.  My previews take about 300GB for ~200k of photos which I'm ok with. I had also created smart previews while importing.

I just went on a business trip, and it seems that something wasn't working as expected;  When I tried to view the images didn't seem 1:1 previews, and when I tried to export small (1200x1200) files that exist on my NAS (that I'm not connected to) for social media, I was unable to do that either, so I deleted all previews, and am now recreating them in case there was any corruption.

Can someone please confirm my understanding:

- 1:1 previews allow zooming and load faster than accessing RAW files

- Smart previews can be used offline for Lightroom editing and exports up to 2k

Based on above, I believe I need both for what I'm trying to do- is that correct?

Any ideas on what went wrong?

[dj_paige]

When you edit, Lightroom creates a preview, it does not use the 1:1 previews. If the original photo is available, then it creates the preview for edit from the original photo. If the original photo is not available, but a smart preview is available, then it creates the preview for edit from the smart preview. So 1:1 previews do not speed anything up during editing.

Smart previews can be used offline for Lightroom editing and exports up to 2k

Yes, smart previews can be used for editing if the original image is not available. If you export from a smart preview, the size of your export is limited to the size of the smart preview (I don't know what you mean by 2k).

[jj_345]

Agree it doesn't speed up the editing, but my process is to first choose files for editing so I view/zoom in and out etc before I rate the files I want to edit (or once edited, post on social media, send to clients).

For that I thought I needed 1:1 previews.

1.  While offline, does this work the same way?  i.e. will I see the full files and be able to zoom in and out?

When on the road, and I want to lightly edit, send/export files my understanding is that I need the smart previews and that I can output files up to 2096X2096.

Is this correct?

In my case, I had both smart previews and 1:1, and I was not able to zoom in on my offline files, nor export 2096 files with my export presets...

[Jao vdL]

jj_345  wrote

Agree it doesn't speed up the editing, but my process is to first choose files for editing so I view/zoom in and out etc before I rate the files I want to edit (or once edited, post on social media, send to clients).

For that I thought I needed 1:1 previews.

1.  While offline, does this work the same way?  i.e. will I see the full files and be able to zoom in and out?

Yes but only in Library. 1:1 previews do nothing for Develop. Also if you have smart previews and you go into Develop and do any edits, the 1:1 preview is now gone and you will only have a preview at the smart preview resolution. You should be able to zoom 1:1 on that but of course that is a fraction of the resolution in the original file.

When on the road, and I want to lightly edit, send/export files my understanding is that I need the smart previews and that I can output files up to 2096X2096.

Is this correct?

Yes, this is correct. I think the size is actually 2048 but that is a detail.

In my case, I had both smart previews and 1:1, and I was not able to zoom in on my offline files, nor export 2096 files with my export presets...

That is a bit strange. It should still work just fine. I have done the same thing before (although I usually do not bother with 1:1 previews) and offline editing using smart previews worked just fine. You can try to turn on the prefence to use smart previews for editing in Lightroom Classic's prefs but it should be smart enough to figure it out.