Second monitor resolution

[nick912912]

Hi, I have purchased for myself a very nice laptop with a lovely 4k monitor. My old laptop had a full HD  monitor of 1920 x 1080 px, this worked very well with my Full HD second monitor. When in plugging the HTML lead into my new computer I found LR classic it 4 times the size on the FHD monitor, like an early learning version of LR. So the question is, do I need to get a 4k monitor or is there some setting I can twidle with that reduces the resolution of LR on the second monitor? I have not experienced the problem with other software, MS word resizes immediately when it is moved on to the second screen, you can see it happen. MS is smarter than LR on this occasion, is there an update on its way? My Version is 9.1. Can I wait??

[GoldingD]

The answer depends largely upon your OS.

Even though you mention MS Word, I should not assume you are on Windows.

[nick912912]

Sorry, I should have said, I am using a windows 10 laptop

[Jao vdL]

Lightroom is supposed to automatically scale on displays with differing screen resolution scaling on both Macs and Windows. From the fact that you have a 4 k screen, you must be on a windows computer as there are no current Mac laptops that are marketed as having a 4k screen. Apple doesn't use that terminology. Microsoft has a bunch of tips to deal with this situation here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3025083/windows-scaling-issues-for-high-dpi-devices I don't know how they will work for this but probably good to try. 

[nick912912]

Thanks Jeo_vdl, you are correct in assuming I am using windows, sorry I did not say. You offered some interesting reading and I know much more about it now. Having considered the issue, it seems to me, that lightroom is at fault and does not support my particular monitor combination. I did a quick test of photoshop, and that seems to work perfectly along with the MS Office apps.

My conclusion would be that I either wait and hope, for an update for LR, or I get a UHD, 4K monitor, would you agree? A 4k monitor would be a cost but it would be a lot nicer than the one I'm using now. I am not certain it would solve the prob, would it?

[GoldingD]

Ok, since the OS is Windows, you can change the resolution of the displays as you see fit. This is done in the OS, not in LRC. If you had MAC OS you would not be able to do that, all you could deal is to Scale the display. In MAC OS scaling just makes the display look like a smaller resolution, all those 4K pixels are still generated.

Now you can Scale in Windows OS, but changing the resolution is what you really want to do. Even though you may have spent big bucks for the latest greatest monitor, does not mean you will like it in LRC, and you might find your shelf cutting down on the resolution. This is mainly an issue in Develop module, especially if lots of adjustment brushes are applied.

Issue is, 4K and beyond can really slow LRC down. Adobe has improved GPU acceleration, but not for all rigs. Yours? I have no idea.

As for what monitor to buy, any one that has the ports your Laptop supports, 

[GoldingD]

When you attach that external monitor, you will then have two displays, each one can be set differently.

[GoldingD]

As for comparing performance problems in LRC to other programs, that is a no go. This includes Photoshop. LRC is a Parametric program, it is not a Raster program like Photoshop. In Photoshop each time you accomplish an edit the raster image file is changed completly and temporarily saved, each edit modify spirals and saves, on and on. In LRC each edit is an addition to a string of database entry's, each time you add another edit, the database is reread, each step is run thru, ending in the current preview, more edits more time to finish creating that preview, each edit and LRC creates each and every pixal on that display, more display, more pixels, mire time.

As for MS Word, etc, pikes when it comes to resource requirements. Latest nastiest games? Far far better at ud=sing the GPU..

[nick912912]

Hi David, thanks for all the advice, it has all been very useful.

After a little investigation, my finding:

The "display setting" in win 10 give some options but they do not help on this occasion. My 1st screen is the 4K 15.6" on the laptop, it is small with a LOT of resolution (v pleased). So it is set to 3840 x 2160 and 200%, change the size of text, apps and other items, to make text and menus etc. easy to read. The 2nd monitor is HD so set to 1920 x 1080 and has 100% as size of text, this can go up to 175% but that would make the prob worse. What I would need is 25% because the menus and sidebars display is too large and that would reduce the size, but that is not an option (and would probably confuse other apps).

Raster graphics and scaling in LRC is not a problem because it is not the content (pictures and thumbnails) that I am experiencing the problem with, it is the scaling of the menus and sidebars of the app when displayed on the 2nd, HD, monitor (4 x the size).

I think I will break my piggy and get a new, 4K, monitor, my LT has a dedicated graphics card and a good speck so it should be able to cope.

Nick

[JSchreck]

Hi Nick,

actually you are not wrong with your observation. The problem is very simple: Obviously Lightroom CC classic is very much able to scale with high DPI displays. But obviously Lightroom CC classic (even with present v10.0) cannot scale "on-the-fly" with changing resolution when using e. g. a multi-monitor setup like I do: Laptop has a 4K display (3840x2160, Win10 scaling 200%) and there are two additional monitors with 27" (2560 x 1440, Win10 scaling 100%) connected via dock DP.

I have the same problem like you:

If I start Lightroom CC classic and it opens on my laptop screen, then is adapts and scales correctly in its high DPI mode and everything looks fine. If I move the Lightroom window to one of the 27" monitors, then every appears MUCH to large, so the automatic scaling doens't work at all.

Reversed, if I start Lightroom CC classic and it opens at my 27" monitors, then it scales perfectly for this resolution. If I move the windows it to the laptop display, then everything appears tiny and the software cannot be used.

Other software has no problem when moving from a high DPI monitor to a standard resolution monitor. E. g. Premiere Pro scales perfectly as well as InDesign or Illustrator or the MS Office apps. Even Photoshop has no problem!

So, this is all alone a problem of Lightroom CC classic v10.0 (or earlier): There is simply a serious bug in the automatic scaling when moving the app window from high DPI to normal resolution and reversed.

My workaround presently: When Lightroom opens on my laptop screen, then I moved it to the 27" monitor first and then I close and reopen Lightroom. Normally it should open on the last used monitor. Then everything scales fine again.

Finally this is NO SOLUTION! Adobe should really fix this scaling problem as it works with all their other apps!

And currently I can't use a different DPI monitor as a second display because of this behaviour.

Best regards,

Jochen

[CAT62]

Hi Jochen,

THANK YOU so much for your workaround, I've been having this problem for weeks and just tried what you suggested and it works - I know it's not an idea solution but it means I can now do my photo editing on the bigger screen instead of straining my eyes on the laptop screen - you have made my day :).

Carol