P: Add Embedded Preview workflow

[manarns]

I think some kind of "sorting mode", in which lightroom displays JPEGs instead of RAWs to decrease load time and transfers any changes (e.g. star rating, flag rating) to the respective raw files would be a great addition. For sorting though, sometimes a couple thousand images, after an event, I need to see the images in full resolution as quickly as possible to judge sharpness, composition, eyes open etc.. With many RAW images, this load time tends to get very slow at some point (even on a 2025 M4 MacBook).

Just for reference: If I sort though 1500 images and each takes a second to load because lightroom has to read the large RAW files, thats at least 25 minutes of me just waiting there for images to load. Considering that I only need to see most images for just 1 or 2 seconds to decide whether it is trash or could maybe be good, this really adds up.

So it would be great to couple the respective RAW and JPEG files (or generate new JPEGs for this purpose) and have a toggle to switch which of them is being displayed. Then, when I assign a flag or star rating, or even delete an image, that will be done to the RAW aswell, making sorting much faster and less painful.

Please feel free to discuss this idea, add your thoughts, or ask questions in case anything is unclear 🙂

[Jao vdL]

This is possible in Lightroom Classic but not in Cloudy. In Classic you can import and select to use the embedded jpeg previews (all raw files have a full resolution jpeg preview embedded in the file that the camera generated so no need to shoot raw+jpeg). You then immediately have full resolution jpeg previews of all your images that you can seconds after import start culling your images with. Only when you go into Develop mode will it update the preview from the in-camnera jpeg preview. It is by far the fastest workflow but unfortunately not possible in Cloud-based Lightroom. If you use this workflow, you want to make sure you set the raw default to "camera settings" so you don't get large changes in appearance after taking an image into develop.

Lightroom Cloudy is great for small numbers of images but is not the best tool for 1000 images a time. Classic is a much better solution for large volume shooters in my opinion. I use both as each have their strengths.

[manarns]

Thank you, this is helpful! Hopefully @Adobe can soon integrate this functionality into Lightroom too.