finally giving up on Lr...best alternative?

[yorgasor]

I was in the same boat. I built a top of the line workstation specifically tailored to handling Lightroom tasks, and it still bogged down and took forever to do some tasks at times. I had gone through all the optimization suggestions and tips, etc... to no avail. Finally an update a couple months ago made things usable again, although I still have to restart Lightroom pretty regularly when it bogs down. Anyway, this was the app I was just about to escape to, when Lightroom managed to salvage itself.

https://www.alienskin.com/exposure/

 

[pwp]

I've done everything in the Adobe Universe to find a fix, but to no avail. I've had it.

Even though you're giving up, it might help others to know what you've tried. Could you please post a list of all the tweaks you've made to LR?

For example, I was able to get substantially improved performance by pre-generating all my 100% previews before I even start my sorting process. It reduces the subjective time and frustration, though I'm sure it doesn't reduce actual processing time.

OK, here's what I have done (that I can remember...)

1. Optimise catalog regularly, though my catalog is tiny. I use another DAM system.
2. Toggle "Use Graphics Processor" and test
3. Toggle Smart Previews and test.
4. Increase Cache size to 40Gb 50Gb 70Gb etc , vary it and test.
5. Purge Cache regularly
6. Trash preferences.
7. Hide all Lr processes and locations from AntiVirus/Malware
8. Make sure there is a lot of spare space on the HDD. I'm at 50% capacity.
9. Lr (and all programs inc OS) are on a fast SSD
10. Face recognition is OFF
11. Keep Nvidia GTX 770 drivers up to date
12. Keep input device drivers up to date (Razer mouse and Wacom Intuos Pro)
13. Sorting and ranking is done externally in Photomechanic which keeps Lr Import size down.

There must be more...this has been going on for a long time.

This morning I read up on a Victoria Bampton- Lightroom Queen Lr Forums thread and she suggested as a last ditch thing that the user account may be corrupted, and to try running Lr from a fresh user account. I wouldn't have a clue how to do this. It's worth a try for sure.

Your issue sounds unusual, particularly if it varies from day to day.

I'd certainly be suspecting a hardware issue or a Software conflict (more likely). There are relatively few who have issues like this, but it can be frustrating to deal with and find the issue. Sometimes, Victoria Brampton posts suggestions to the LR forums for those with issues. I've found her advice to be very sound.

You're very likely right, the erratic performance is inexplicable so a conflict is probably the culprit. But identifying it is beyond my skill level. But it's just Lr. Photoshop just rips through the most demanding processes I can throw at it, and Premiere Pro is also never lacking for brisk, completely satisfying performance. Same with After Effects, Illustrator...

-pw

 

[Orangutan]

I've done everything in the Adobe Universe to find a fix, but to no avail. I've had it.

Even though you're giving up, it might help others to know what you've tried. Could you please post a list of all the tweaks you've made to LR?

For example, I was able to get substantially improved performance by pre-generating all my 100% previews before I even start my sorting process. It reduces the subjective time and frustration, though I'm sure it doesn't reduce actual processing time.

OK, here's what I have done (that I can remember...)

1. Optimise catalog regularly, though my catalog is tiny. I use another DAM system.
2. Toggle "Use Graphics Processor" and test
3. Toggle Smart Previews and test.
4. Increase Cache size to 40Gb 50Gb 70Gb etc , vary it and test.
5. Purge Cache regularly
6. Trash preferences.
7. Hide all Lr processes and locations from AntiVirus/Malware
8. Make sure there is a lot of spare space on the HDD. I'm at 50% capacity.
9. Lr (and all programs inc OS) are on a fast SSD
10. Face recognition is OFF
11. Keep Nvidia GTX 770 drivers up to date
12. Keep input device drivers up to date (Razer mouse and Wacom Intuos Pro)
13. Sorting and ranking is done externally in Photomechanic which keeps Lr Import size down.

There must be more...this has been going on for a long time.

This morning I read up on a Victoria Bampton- Lightroom Queen Lr Forums thread and she suggested as a last ditch thing that the user account may be corrupted, and to try running Lr from a fresh user account. I wouldn't have a clue how to do this. It's worth a try for sure.

Your issue sounds unusual, particularly if it varies from day to day.

I'd certainly be suspecting a hardware issue or a Software conflict (more likely). There are relatively few who have issues like this, but it can be frustrating to deal with and find the issue. Sometimes, Victoria Brampton posts suggestions to the LR forums for those with issues. I've found her advice to be very sound.

You're very likely right, the erratic performance is inexplicable so a conflict is probably the culprit. But identifying it is beyond my skill level. But it's just Lr. Photoshop just rips through the most demanding processes I can throw at it, and Premiere Pro is also never lacking for brisk, completely satisfying performance. Same with After Effects, Illustrator...

-pw

This looks like a pretty good list.

I doubt the account is the problem, but you could test this by running LR offline once -- start your computer disconnected from the Internet and see how it behaves.

I have three suggestions:

1. Run disk first aid, in case there's a problem with the SSD. Even better, run the SSD manufacturer's diagnostic tool.
2. Temporarily test with files and catalog on a non-SSD -- again, this is to rule out weird SSD behavior
3. Find a techie friend to help you do a thorough uninstall/reinstall. Many programs leave bits and pieces behind; that occasionally leads to weird behavior.

Good luck, this sounds very frustrating.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'd certainly be suspecting a hardware issue or a Software conflict (more likely). There are relatively few who have issues like this, but it can be frustrating to deal with and find the issue. Sometimes, Victoria Brampton posts suggestions to the LR forums for those with issues. I've found her advice to be very sound.

You're very likely right, the erratic performance is inexplicable so a conflict is probably the culprit. But identifying it is beyond my skill level. But it's just Lr. Photoshop just rips through the most demanding processes I can throw at it, and Premiere Pro is also never lacking for brisk, completely satisfying performance. Same with After Effects, Illustrator...

-pw


I had what was believed to be a user account issue in Windows 10 recently, I always had to login twice, the first time always gave a error. Microsoft could not manage to help fix it, then the new Windows 10 Creators version arrived, it is a major upgrade to much of windows. The problem immediately went away. In my case, a different Windows user account was of no help.

I did not see any reference to exporting your catalog to a new one. This often cleans up issues that cannot be found by the optimize process. Just export your catalog to one with a new name, only keep what you need, the previews will rebuild themselves, so don't keep them.

To do this,

1. in library, select catalog / all photographs in the left pane.

2. go to file / export as catalog / To minimize the risk of exporting a bad preview, uncheck export previews.

3. Give the exported catalog a new name, and save it, it will take a while to create the new one based on the size.

4. open the newly saved catalog and start using it. That process has fixed issues for me in the past.

20,000 images in a catalog is a small number, I have many times that number.

Here are some more tips. If you use the spot removal tool frequently, it can slow things down because it keeps the history forever. You can clean out the history to speed things up.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html

 

[LightroomQueen]

This morning I read up on a Victoria Bampton- Lightroom Queen Lr Forums thread and she suggested as a last ditch thing that the user account may be corrupted, and to try running Lr from a fresh user account. I wouldn't have a clue how to do this. It's worth a try for sure.

My ears were burning. There's a checklist in the back of my free Performance eBook, but you seem to have done a lot of it already.

Are the performance problems limited to slider movements? What resolution monitor? Any secondary monitor? What kind of adjustments are already applied to the photo? Does it get worse as you continue editing a single photo? Or what exactly happens?

Without knowing the answers to these questions, there's a couple of things that spring to mind:

• Some people have found that completely uninstalling their graphics driver and all its various bits, and then reinstalling the latest does the trick.
• A new user account can be useful as a test, because it gives you a fresh start on all sorts of settings. It's worth a try. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/instantanswers/5de907f1-f8ba-4fd9-a89d-efd23fee918c/create-a-local-user-or-administrator-account-in-windows-10

 

[LightroomQueen]

Oh, one more thing, since you're on 8-core. Try Simon Chen's config.lua test half way down this page: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom-clone-and-brush-tool-can-not-stress-the-cpu-is-slow-only-on-cpu-with-xeon-architectures-can-confirm?topic-reply-list[settings][filter_by]=all&topic-reply-list[settings][page]=2#topic-reply-list There's a lot of posts on that page, so search the page for Develop.AdjustMaximumThreadCount = 0.51

 

[LDS]

But it's just Lr. Photoshop just rips through the most demanding processes I can throw at it, and Premiere Pro is also never lacking for brisk, completely satisfying performance. Same with After Effects, Illustrator...

LR is written using a different technology, and that may be one of the reasons. Yet, if issues don't happen in fully repeatable way, there could be other reasons. There are tools to investigate such issues, but they require some specific knowledge and experience to be used to pinpoint the issue.

Hope competition forces Adobe to rewrite LR soon to exploit better latest hardware, it would also be useful to open a bug with Adobe support, maybe they won't fix it ASAP, but the more the reports, the better chances they'll have to do something in a new release - unless, of course one decides to ditch LR forever.

 

[YuengLinger]

Did I miss, PWP, that you tried a clean install of Windows? I know people grumble about it, reinstalling so many programs, but really, compared to all the rabbit holes we go down trying to fix an issue, it's much easier and less time consuming. Then once all is installed and running correctly, do a system image to revert back to next time bloat and conflict get out of hand.

If that doesn't work, then a dodgy controller of some sort that gets involved more with LR than other programs which seem to be running ok.

 

[Zeidora]

I think Affinity Photo is worth a look ... I really like it, great features. It is however more like Photoshop...not a strong as a catalog as LR.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/

I have affinity photo.. my MacBook Pro with LR5.7 decided to crash and take everything with it. I need something with the workflow that LR has. I don't really understand affinity photo well enough but I don't think it does batch editing..

I've done batch processing in AP. Works nicely, output interface is much better than PS. Never used LR, so cannot compare.

 

[pwp]

Did I miss, PWP, that you tried a clean install of Windows? I know people grumble about it, reinstalling so many programs, but really, compared to all the rabbit holes we go down trying to fix an issue, it's much easier and less time consuming. Then once all is installed and running correctly, do a system image to revert back to next time bloat and conflict get out of hand.
If that doesn't work, then a dodgy controller of some sort that gets involved more with LR than other programs which seem to be running ok.

No, not yet...too disruptive while business is brisk. As I understand it, clean installs were an entirely valid strategy in earlier Windows OS versions, but Win 10 is a great deal more stable. There's a major upgrade to Win10 coming up, or is already being rolled out. Mt Spokane mentioned it as fixing some issues for him. When that update rolls through my studio, I'll hope for the best. Otherwise, your suggestion may be on the money.

-pw

 

[pwp]

BTW thank you to everyone for the interest and suggestions. And a particular thanks to Victoria Bampton the Lightroom Queen for visiting CR and posting very useful suggestions and links.

-pw

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Without knowing the answers to these questions, there's a couple of things that spring to mind:

• Some people have found that completely uninstalling their graphics driver and all its various bits, and then reinstalling the latest does the trick.
• A new user account can be useful as a test, because it gives you a fresh start on all sorts of settings. It's worth a try. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/instantanswers/5de907f1-f8ba-4fd9-a89d-efd23fee918c/create-a-local-user-or-administrator-account-in-windows-10

Victoria, Welcome to CR.

Although you are not here to advertise your Excellent Lightroom books, I'd like to mention that I purchased a e-book in the past when I was learning Lightroom, and read it from cover to cover. It was well organized and easy to read.

I've often found your posts while researching a lightroom issue, and you have posted some suggestions for me in the past that solved my issue.

So ... I'd like to thank you for the many hours you spend helping Lightroom Users, and to plug / recommend Your books. There are few other authors who support their books like you do, and Lightroom users, particularly those of us who think we already know everything can learn so much more.

They are available here:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/

Or on Amazon in printed or Kindle Edition

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lightroom+queen+

 

[digigal]

So ... I'd like to thank you for the many hours you spend helping Lightroom Users, and to plug / recommend Your books. There are few other authors who support their books like you do, and Lightroom users, particularly those of us who think we already know everything can learn so much more.

They are available here:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/

Or on Amazon in printed or Kindle Edition

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lightroom+queen+

I can certainly second that! The Missing FAQ by the LR Queen sits on my desk next to the my computer and another copy resides on my travel laptop. Vital references for using LR.

But in spite of all the help, LR seems to be morphing with each new update into some slowly worsening bloatware that always has something that's not working right and the next update fixes that but breaks something else. I wish you could just download the functions you wanted and not have to take the whole gigantic basketful of whatever they throw in.
Catherine

 

[Keith_Reeder]

Got to agree - The Missing FAQ is the definitive Lr source, IMHO.

 

[drmikeinpdx]

I wonder if the increasing file size from current sensors plays a role in slower Lightroom performance?

I'm not having any really annoying problems and my sliders work fine, but sometimes rendering seems a little slower than I remember it from years past. And LR does take longer to open my large, multi-year catalog than it did. Could be it's just dealing with a lot more data.

-Windows 10, custom build, i7 @ 3.4 ghz, 16 G RAM, old graphics card, SSD for apps and my LR catalog is on two spinning hard drives.

Nice discussion.

 

[LDS]

but Win 10 is a great deal more stable. There's a major upgrade to Win10 coming up, or is already being rolled out. Mt Spokane mentioned it as fixing some issues for him. When that update rolls through my studio, I'll hope for the best. Otherwise, your suggestion may be on the money.

Unluckily, Windows 10 is the less stable system unless you are on the LTSB (long term support branch). On other versions Microsoft is free to send new updates to a subset of users (updates you can't ignore) picked using the data telemetry sends back (i.e. what hw, what sw is installed) to test them before full release. It doesn't happen for Insiders users only, which gets the new features, it happens on a larger scale when Microsoft needs to test updates and patches. And you can't opt out but using the Enterprise version and LTSB.

This is also a reason not to rush and install a new update before it is offered to you. There are good chances it is not tested enough yet.

There are again good reasons to switch to a Mac, if you don't want to be a guinea pig for Microsoft bigger customers.

 

[CSD]

Unluckily, Windows 10 is the less stable system unless you are on the LTSB (long term support branch). On other versions Microsoft is free to send new updates to a subset of users (updates you can't ignore) picked using the data telemetry sends back (i.e. what hw, what sw is installed) to test them before full release. It doesn't happen for Insiders users only, which gets the new features, it happens on a larger scale when Microsoft needs to test updates and patches. And you can't opt out but using the Enterprise version and LTSB.

This is also a reason not to rush and install a new update before it is offered to you. There are good chances it is not tested enough yet.

This is wrong on so many levels it's laughable. Seriously, Microsoft has three rings for Insiders: Fast, Slow and Release Preview. All are tested on the Insiders network, which is opt in, before being made available for general release. It's not perfect but then again most insiders will run Win 10 in a VM not real world hardware which can lead to issues.

LTSB get 6 months grace before they have to upgrade to the previous release otherwise they don't get support for unsupported systems. LTSB will be updated via a WSUS server in most cases. It's also not available to the average user because you need a minimum amount of seats to qualify.

Out of all the Windows to date, statistically Windows 10 has been more secure and stable than any other Windows. Windows has always staged updates to it's users since Win 7 to reduce load on their servers and determine there's any major issues with the patches. Historically they've also been quick to retract problematic updates.

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/02/10/announcing-windows-10-mobile-insider-preview-build-10586-107/

 

[YuengLinger]

One problem with Windows 10 is that it encouraged upgrading on top of the user's existing OS, meaning that problems didn't get fixed, they got built in to the upgrade. I understand that in cases drivers were swapped out, but often conflicts did not get addressed.

Which is why a clean install of Windows 10 makes such a big difference for so many users--they never had one in the first place.

 

[LDS]

This is wrong on so many levels it's laughable.

Keep on laughing, and read the Windows 10 TOS. My job is in cybersecurity and I have a clear view of what Microsoft is doing with Windows 10. Even the things Microsoft don't want you to know, because Windows 10 is not just a new OS, it's a new business model. Where most users are guinea pigs.

Let's see who will have the last laugh.

 

[Orangutan]

This is wrong on so many levels it's laughable.

Keep on laughing, and read the Windows 10 TOS. My job is in cybersecurity and I have a clear view of what Microsoft is doing with Windows 10. Even the things Microsoft don't want you to know, because Windows 10 is not just a new OS, it's a new business model. Where most users are guinea pigs.

Let's see who will have the last laugh.

Mostly agree with LDS.