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| Awaiting Duty. These small boats are used to ferry their owners out into the harbor so they can board their larger sailing vessels. Southeast Harbor, Maine (click to enlarge) Fuji X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 55mm; 1/600th sec. @ f/11; ISO 200 |
I've generally been pleased with Lightroom. Generally, but not totally. I like its database feature, the non-destructive editing and the suite of tools that have been implemented. But there are other aspects of Lightroom that were tolerable but now are getting to the point where I may just upend my entire years long editing process to switch to another RAW converter. Yes, I'm frustrated to the point of completely changing my editing process of many, many years to reduce my frustration with Lightroom.
First, now a bit better than a couple of years ago, is Lightroom's RAW conversion of Fuji X-Trans files. Better but not as good it should be nor as good other products from much smaller and less well funded companies. Why is that? Why can't Adobe put a bit of effort into creating a RAW conversion as good as Iridient's or others.? They need to improve this as Fuji cameras continue to sell well and will continue to be a growing part of the market.
Second, and this is my major beef, Lightroom is SLOW. SLOW, SLOW, SLOW AND SLOWER. And, it continues getting slower with every new update. What the heck is Adobe doing with all the billions of U.S. dollars they report making each year? They don't seem to be putting any effort into making Lightroom CC any faster.
I have the latest PC, Windows 10, 64-bit, 24 gigs of RAM, i-7 processor and am only using the latest Samsung 850 EVO SSD drives. I don't think I could buy a machine much faster than that. Yet, Lightroom continues to get slower and slower. I can't even use my graphics card as Lightroom is now designed to do as performance gets even worse.
I've gone to the Adobe website where they tell you how to get the best performance out of Lightroom. Made all the suggested changes. Increased cache, etc. Did everything they said. Didn't help. Before I bought my computer, I checked Adobe sites for graphics card compatibility. I made sure my card was on the approved list. It is one of the best. But, still can't use it.
I am hearing more and more dissatisfaction from bloggers, podcasters, photographer friends, etc. as how everyone is getting more and more frustrated by Lightroom.
I'll give Adobe until the end of this year to come out with a totally modern, fast redesign of this turtle of a product or I'm taking my money elsewhere. I'll get out of line with the rest of the cattle and get off that garden path and create a new one. I'm sure I'll also find more satisfaction and pleasure than I'm now getting with this ancient software product.
How about any of you? Happy with it?
End of rant. Sorry, but I just had to finally say something....
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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Since slow is relative, I'm a bit afraid to try another software for fear of discovering just how slow LR is lol. From what I understand of what else is out there, the other software programs lack the library feature I find so appealing in LR. On the other hand, I do hope the increased competition will cause Adobe to step up their game...and hopefully by the end of the year and before you are ready to pull the plug. I too am wondering why more of their profits have not been invested in LR improvements that at least match the little guys. Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeletePeter, I think Capture 1 has a similar catalog feature that can be invoked. That and, if I can remember well, the ability your file structure in your computer if that is your desire. I may be wrong as it has been a while since I played around with a Capture 1. The editing results were pleasing.
DeleteYou use LR much more than I do, Dennis, but I have to admit I've seen some slowness in every aspect to include importing images and changing modules.
ReplyDeleteI'm also hoping that Adobe will release a new 7.0 version this year with a MAJOR improvement in processing speed. I've also been a loyal customer since the first version, and as much as I would regret it, I will change to a competitor if it doesn't happen. I don't want to, but I will.
ReplyDeleteSpot on, Dennis! LR is bloated, extremely slow (1 minute or more to open catalog with less than 1k images), and a memory hog (even 32gb of ram often completely taken over). I moved to it reluctantly about a year after Aperture was killed, got to know it and have adjusted to the need to switch back and forth at times between modules in the middle of processing. I finally went to CC a few months ago (reluctantly), and nothing has improved. They need a complete re-write of LR to bring it into today's world. I keep looking at alternatives (Capture One, On1, Luminar etc) but I find them totally "foreign" in terms of workflow. Capture One seems to be trying to help people like me figure out a workflow, so perhaps I can figure that one out. In the meantime, I just dread opening LR for a session.
ReplyDeleteSo thanks for saying what needs to be said!
Rick
I'm experiencing all the frustrations that you have articulated. In addition, with the latest update, it crashes every time I put in a new SD card to ingest photos. Crashes whether I'm importing RAW or JPG. Unlike you, I went with Aperture (which I loved) but had to switch to LR when Apple stopped supporting Aperture.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mention it in my post, but several times now, after the last two updates, the program will "lock up" and just stop. Never did that before. As I said, its getting worse every time Adobe tries to fix it.
DeleteNever thought about buying a mac ?
ReplyDeleteI thought Apple kind of left their professional MAC user high and dry as they did with their Aperture users? No, I like to control the electronics I own and not have their manufacturer dictate to me what I can and can't do with my property.
DeleteHey Dennis,
DeleteFor your last sentence I really adore you ! You are 65 but man you are still so fresh. I do not use Apple products for very same reasons. Lot of people do not care but they will once all these large globalistic companies will enslave them.
Anyways I'm a software ingeneer so as for that Lightroom slowness.
I guess that it has something to do with Lighroom's architecture. It's an old piece of stuff I would even say archaic beast. So it would require quite a hefty amount of money to rewrite it. And you know it's managers who say what to do.
So programmers just patch it, hack it, add some feature, patch it ...
But the core is still the same. I would not hold my breath.
Greetings from Czech Republic
Regards
Daniel, thanks for the comment and insight. Don't think you know, but my maternal grandparents were both Czech. Immigrated to the U.S. in 1905. DNA says I am 44% Eastern European, meaning Czech! Family names were Olah and Sudzina. I'm feeling a kinship here. Again, thanks for the comment.
DeleteHi Dennis - I'm an old film guy, then Nikon digital early 2000's, then (and still) some Fuji X, beginning with the original X100. Presently Fuji XT-2, Sony A7R2, some Oly, Leica Q, a Ricoh GRII, still some Nikon D800E. I've been a loyal LR user since its birth, circa 2007 I think. Your assessments are spot on.
ReplyDeleteI've experimented with Capture One over the years. While it was clearly better at raw converting than LR (especially with the Fuji files), earlier versions of CO just didn't have the complete package to use it for 100% of my work. Now, however, with current CO Pro 10, I find the workflow better than LR, more robust features and most importantly a significant difference in the result by simply opening the files in CO vs LR. CO somehow natively pulls out more detail, better highlights, shadows, colors & tones. And you can customize your workflow panel in CO by adding/deleting tools from other panels as you see fit. My raw workflow in CO is now 2-3 minutes tops for an image. Trying to duplicate my CO output in LR now, hard as I try, can take 2-3 times as long and I never seem to get the same result as I can with CO. Not only for the Fuji files, but for Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Leica, Ricoh. I can't speak to Canon.
I've recently done comparisons of the same files from all of the above cameras side by side with LR to confirm that I really want to switch to CO permanently. I believe CO outperforms LR in almost all areas and allows me to stay in CO, rarely having to round trip to PS (which is very easy and seamless to do now in CO if I have to).
I'm not sponsored by CO or anyone, so I have no dog in the fight. I'd certainly give CO a serious try these days. Love your site and your writings.
All the best.
Chuck
Chuck, thanks for taking time to write and send your very informative comment. I found your opinion and experience valuable and I'm sure other readers will as well.
DeleteI'll give Adobe to the end of this year and if no massive improvement is made in LR, I'm gone! I played with Capture One a couple of years ago and liked it. Contrary to what some others have reported, I found it easy to learn and use. With the improvements you indicate they have made since I tried it, I think CO will be viable alternative.
I've experimented with Iridient Transformer a few times and I've found it can pull out some additional detail but the differences seem relatively minimal. I'll look at it again when it is out of beta.
Again, thank you for your comment.
I worked with LR since Vn 2, and finally gave up to Capture One over a year ago. I like the LR catalog the best, but the develop/edit module in Capture One is clearly superior in my opinion. All in Capture One is fine with me except the catalog which I can't seem to get the hang of, and seems much slower than LR's. BTW, Adobe made their first mistake with their subscription model. I can't understand why one should regularly reward poor performance.
DeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteI've had performance issues with LR on Macs and PCs over the years. Since you have a fast PC with SSDs, etc. it might not actually be LR or your PC... but some other process that is putting a lock on a file, scanning a directory every time LR touches a file, etc. Given most of us use or have used Nik Software products at one time or anther, you might have a notorious app installed that was designed to combat piracy but is now obsolete... Download something like CCleaner and look for a startup item called "ProTec6" and disable / remove it. It scans the filesystem too often on file changes and can significantly affect performance.