Import Lightroom Classic Import Thumbnails (not previews) slow to generate

[BJB]

Lightroom Version Number

13.3.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Greetings,
My issue is on the import screen, after you select a source, how long LR classic takes to generate the thumbnails.
I have seen this discussed before but always assumed my issue was just an SD reader limitation. So I bought a new one, no difference.
Then I just didn't worry about it. However today I actually imported from my SSD drive which I almost never do. And the exact same thing, and these were just JPEGs.
I have a very fast Windows 10 system, lots of memory, fast video card etc. Just curious if there is any fix. I have seen this complaint across windows and mac so sense it is a LR Classic thing.

To be clear, not talking about previews or generating previews which is what most solutions talk about. This is before any previews have been generated and anything has been imported. It is just the screen where you select which images to import. I have also tried to reduce the size of the thumbnails and that makes no difference.

Thanks!
BJB

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Thumbnails are previews. Lightroom builds a pyramid of sizes, and thumbnails are just the smallest of these sizes.

 

[clee01l]

All camera image files, RAW and JPEG include a JPEG thumbnail. It is this image that you see in the import dialog. I have no explanation as to why there is a large in reading and displaying the thumbnails that were in the Camera card image after they were copied to the SSD. There might be lots of hardware related reasons why there might be such a lag if being read off of the camera card. Through a camera or a card reader.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BJB]

Thumbnails are previews. Lightroom builds a pyramid of sizes, and thumbnails are just the smallest of these sizes.

Thanks you. I am aware that previews are built after import based on your settings (1:1 etc.). I was just making the distinction that this issue I am experiencing is while import is trying to display already existing thumbnails. Of course LR previews can take time to build after import.

Thanks,
BJB

 

[BJB]

All camera image files, RAW and JPEG include a JPEG thumbnail. It is this image that you see in the import dialog. I have no explanation as to why there is a large in reading and displaying the thumbnails that were in the Camera card image after they were copied to the SSD. There might be lots of hardware related reasons why there might be such a lag if being read off of the camera card. Through a camera or a card reader.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks for your reply. I always wrote it off to a card reader or USB issue even though I use a fast 3.1 reader.

However as noted this last time the import was from a fast SSD on the same PC as lightroom. I have read others that have had this issue on windows and Mac. Never saw a solution though. I am almost always importing large numbers of images. At leat 100 and usually more. RAW plus JPEG.

If I can render 4K video seems like a thumbnail should display quickly. And they do in File manager. Strange but guess I'll continue to live with it.

Thanks,
BJB

 

[clee01l]

Thanks for your reply. I always wrote it off to a card reader or USB issue even though I use a fast 3.1 reader.

However as noted this last time the import was from a fast SSD on the same PC as lightroom. I have read others that have had this issue on windows and Mac. Never saw a solution though. I am almost always importing large numbers of images. At leat 100 and usually more. RAW plus JPEG.

If I can render 4K video seems like a thumbnail should display quickly. And they do in File manager. Strange but guess I'll continue to live with it.

Thanks,
BJB

I don't know how to help you. I have a mac studio w an M3 Ultra chip and 64GB of RAM A USB-C card reader (10GB/S) and an old SDHC camera card. If I open the LrC import dialog, the thumbnails are as near instantaneous as one might expect.

Are you running any anti Malware/antivirus software the sits between the card reader and the image files? I can see where a malware app might want toinspect every image file for malware before handing it off to LrC.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

That is an odd one. Where's the catalog stored? Is the SSD internal or external?

When you were importing from the SSD, how many were selected for import? How slow are we talking about?

 

[BJB]

I don't know how to help you. I have a mac studio w an M3 Ultra chip and 64GB of RAM A USB-C card reader (10GB/S) and an old SDHC camera card. If I open the LrC import dialog, the thumbnails are as near instantaneous as one might expect.

Are you running any anti Malware/antivirus software the sits between the card reader and the image files? I can see where a malware app might want toinspect every image file for malware before handing it off to LrC.

I will try turning off antivirus next time. Thanks, a unique thought.
BJB

 

[BJB]

That is an odd one. Where's the catalog stored? Is the SSD internal or external?

When you were importing from the SSD, how many were selected for import? How slow are we talking about?

Victoria,
The catalog is installed on an internal SSD. 64gb of RAM on the PC.

I selected around 500 from an internal ssd drive and I could watch a row populate slllllowly. If I had to estimate, it took maybe 5 minutes this last import until a thumbnails appeared (not the end of the world). Same from an external SD card reader in the past. Copies outside of LR from this reader lightening fast. It has done this for a very long time it just got to me this last time

I have read others having this problem but no valid solution. Other programs and processes on this pc work normally including Premiere pro etc.

i never have easy problems
Thanks,
BJB