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Pros/Cons of Saving All Smart Previews Locally?

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mstatdfield

New Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2019
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Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom 2.4.1
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
  2. Android
Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and new to Lightroom. Is there a performance advantage to selecting the option to save all smart previews locally? Offline editing advantages? If so, a brief why explanation would help me. Are there any cons outside of space availability?
 
Hi mstatdfield, welcome to the forum! As you guessed, it's primarily for offline editing, but does also help with performance because the photos are cached locally instead of having to download from the cloud as you try to view them. The only con is space.
 
Hi mstatdfield, welcome to the forum! As you guessed, it's primarily for offline editing, but does also help with performance because the photos are cached locally instead of having to download from the cloud as you try to view them. The only con is space.
I think there is one other “con” although a trivial one. Smart Previews generated on import take additional CPU cycles and can be seen to slow down the import. As for generating up to date Smart previews, there is a trade off. Having a ready to edit Smart preview or needing to generate an editable RGB file from the original each time you need to edit that file. While both detract from performance, Smart previews are generated for every image whether it gets redeveloped or not, while the preparation lag for bringing up an image into develop without a Smart Preview is short and only fo that one image at a time.
 
the preparation lag for bringing up an image into develop without a Smart Preview is short and only fo that one image at a time.
Depends on the size of the raw file and the machine you operate on. For me, fast processing of hundreds of raw images, having SP built and ticking for them to be used instead of Originals makes a massive difference (I process images sequentially and build a SP for all of them first)
 
I think there is one other “con” although a trivial one. Smart Previews generated on import take additional CPU cycles and can be seen to slow down the import. As for generating up to date Smart previews, there is a trade off. Having a ready to edit Smart preview or needing to generate an editable RGB file from the original each time you need to edit that file. While both detract from performance, Smart previews are generated for every image whether it gets redeveloped or not, while the preparation lag for bringing up an image into develop without a Smart Preview is short and only fo that one image at a time.
Cletus, I think you're getting the Lightroom versions mixed up....the OP was talking about downloading SPs from the cloud to be stored locally by Lightroom "Cloudy", you appear to be talking about use of SPs in Classic.
 
Cletus, I think you're getting the Lightroom versions mixed up....the OP was talking about downloading SPs from the cloud to be stored locally by Lightroom "Cloudy", you appear to be talking about use of SPs in Classic.

Yes, you are correct. Oh, how I long for the days when there was only one “Lightroom”.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Yes, you are correct. Oh, how I long for the days when there was only one “Lightroom”.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
What he said.
 
Thanks for the insights. Makes me wonder, what would the pros/cons of storing the originals locally?

Pros: Redundancy, Offline access
Cons: Disk space, Performance (no duplication of maintaining originals?)

I'm using LR Cloudy primarily to have a unified gallery between my phone, my wife's phone, and my DSLR. Most of my editing is just cropping, adjusting shadows, and brushing out imperfections. I don't think I'm scratching the surface on a lot of features. Thought I'd give that disclaimer in case it helps you provide direction on what storage local options I should select. I'm leaning towards having all smart previews saved locally, but not originals.

PS Adobe's naming makes finding answers to questions extremely difficult! When you think you find the answer on an existing article or tutorial you end up sorting through answers to Classic. A more unique name for Cloudy would have made for a much easier for people like me to find answers!
 
Cletus, I think you're getting the Lightroom versions mixed up....the OP was talking about downloading SPs from the cloud to be stored locally by Lightroom "Cloudy", you appear to be talking about use of SPs in Classic.
Apologies all, I also got mixed up. And it's on the Cloud thread and all!!!
 
I'm using LR Cloudy primarily to have a unified gallery between my phone, my wife's phone, and my DSLR. Most of my editing is just cropping, adjusting shadows, and brushing out imperfections. I don't think I'm scratching the surface on a lot of features. Thought I'd give that disclaimer in case it helps you provide direction on what storage local options I should select. I'm leaning towards having all smart previews saved locally, but not originals.
I'd keep a local copy of originals on at least one computer, just in case aliens invade Adobe's computers (well, probably not aliens...). If you have fast internet, I wouldn't worry on other devices. If you store the originals locally, I wouldn't worry about the smart previews.
 
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