Skip to main content
D
DavePinMinn
Inspiring
October 25, 2018
Question

1:1 Preview behavior...

  • October 25, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 703 views

Windows 10, Alienware 17" laptop, 32GB memory, nVidia GTX970, SSD for O/S, separate SSD for catalogs, cache, and so on.

I'm trying to figure out 1:1 previews...  They take a LONG time.

Scenario:

I shoot some images - 100, 1000, whatever.  And I import them into the current version of LR.  During the import I SPECIFY 1:1 previews.  Eventually, they get imported.

Hop into Library and open one.  Comes up fine.  Click the mouse to go to 1:1, and sit and wait.  Eventually the "Loading" popup shows up.  Several seconds later the image finally clears and displays the 1:1 image.  Hit the arrow to go to the next image and wait as it churns and finally displays the 100% image.

OR

Shoot same images.

Import them with Standard.  They import.

THEN, in library, TELL IT to Create 1:1 previews.  Again, eventually they get done.

Hop into Library and open one.  Comes up fine.  Click the mouse to go to 1:1, and sit and wait.  Eventually the "Loading" popup shows up.  Several seconds later the image finally clears and displays the 1:1 image.  Same behavior...

Yes, they're fairly large, D850 images, and the very tiny D500 images display at 1:1 faster, but STILL often show the "loading" popup so they're certainly not instant.

BUT, I thought the whole purpose of creating the 1:1 previews was so they were sitting there on the SSD (where the whole catalog is) and would display essentially instantly, not after churning for 5 or 10 seconds for every image.

As near as I can tell, it's NO FASTER than NOT creating the 1:1 previews.  Seems to take the same amount of time if I import as Standard, then click the image to go to 100%.  They both just sit there and churn with the "Loading" popup and eventually load the large image.

Am I missing something that should make this actually work faster?  And before you blame the laptop, the Windows desktop, with a lot more horsepower and memory ALSO has about the same performance.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 25, 2018

    I think that generating 1:1 previews on import has very limited use. Each time that Lightroom makes a small change, the previews need to be updated again and so it doesn't matter whether you made 1:1 or not. I also think that there may be a bug in the sequence. When certain settings are applied via the camera defaults, those settings should be applied first and then the 1:1 preview should be generated. However, as you have noticed, it seems that in reality the previews already need to be updated the first time you use them...

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    D
    DavePinMinnAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 25, 2018

    In that case, when I do the import THEN tell it to create 1:1 previews there shouldn't be ANY changes 'til after I look at the images.  UNLESS putting a color label on an image causes all the OTHER images to lose their previews..

    For me, the whole point of 1:1 previews is so I can go through a LOT of images, checking closely, QUICKLY, so I can figure out which ones are worth keeping to process.  I'm not DOING any settings - no camera anything, no basic changes, no nothing.

    The only thing that gets done with the previews is sometimes a color assignment (red, which means it's garbage and can be deleted once a bunch are labeled).  So when DO I generate the 1:1 previews so the images will display a WHOLE lot faster?

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 26, 2018

    Yes, I know LR is very slow at creating the previews.  It's just another limitation.  My problem ISN'T the hours it takes to have LR CREATE the previews, it's that the things STILL don't display quickly once they're created.

    If you look at the original post, you'll see the scenarios.  My expectation is that once they're imported, and with NOTHING being done to the images, I want to view them at 100% to check focus.  So, I build 1:1 previews.  Unfortunately, even AFTER all that waiting for them to build, it STILL takes forever for every image to bring UP the preview, displaying the "loading" popup for several seconds every time.

    What's the point of wasting hours to have Lightroom build them if it can't use them effectively?

    I know "Embedded & Sidecar" is an option.  A poor one.  Have you ever looked at the embedded preview at 100%?  They're marginally useful viewing the whole image, and useless for checking critical focus at 100%.

    It sounds like the ability to build a 1:1 preview for an image, then open the image, click it to 100% and have it DISPLAY that 1:1 image QUICKLY (as in a WHOLE lot faster than the 5 - 10 seconds it currently takes) is something Lightroom still doesn't do very well.


    DavePinMinn  wrote

    I know "Embedded & Sidecar" is an option.  A poor one.  Have you ever looked at the embedded preview at 100%?  They're marginally useful viewing the whole image, and useless for checking critical focus at 100%.

    I believe that depends on the camera. Most cameras embed a full size preview, so there is no reason why that preview would be worse for checking the sharpness than the full size preview that Lightroom generates. AFAIK, that is how Photo Mechanic works, and many photographers use that application for just this purpose. Some cameras only embed a small preview. The idea behind 'Embedded & Sidecar' is that you shoot RAW+JPEG with these cameras, so Lightroom can use the JPEG as 'embedded' full-size preview.

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices