Quick question

[Bas Hamstra]

Up till now I use the camera's free RAW converters like Canon DPP and Olympus Master and import the jpeg result in Apple Photos, which is my 15.000 foto database, where I do some final tweaks with the basic AP controls. Works great, but I don't have the fancy graduated filter goodies that Lightroom has.

Now I am considering a LR subscription. I do landscapes and macro and am also very interested in B&W (but not good at it yet). I have a Mac Mini M1 with 16Gb RAM.

Now my question: will Lightroom be slow at this hardware? I tried LR 20 years ago but couldn't stand it's slowness. Apple Photos has it's bugs BUT it is lightning LIGHTNING fast in scrolling through thousands of photos (of adustable thumbnail sizes), searching etc. Therefore I will KEEP Apple Photos as JPEG database, even after LR. Now I read some posts that LR is very slow on Apple M1 chips. True? Would like to know this BEFORE the subscription!

Kind regards and thanks for your answers!

Bas

 

[Marceppy]

Like you, I tried lightroom when it first came out and didnt try it again until recently. It just doesnt work for me but others swear by it. Look at JPTHEOG's recent post on raw converters.. lots of good replys there. I cant speak to whether your system can handle the newer programs ... I recently upgraded and Im having no issues with new AI programs. I still have the old system too because some of the hardware I use (eg, Nikon film scanner) doesnt like my new OS.

 

[Zeee]

Up till now I use the camera's free RAW converters like Canon DPP and Olympus Master and import the jpeg result in Apple Photos, which is my 15.000 foto database, where I do some final tweaks with the basic AP controls. Works great, but I don't have the fancy graduated filter goodies that Lightroom has.

Now I am considering a LR subscription. I do landscapes and macro and am also very interested in B&W (but not good at it yet). I have a Mac Mini M1 with 16Gb RAM.

Now my question: will Lightroom be slow at this hardware? I tried LR 20 years ago but couldn't stand it's slowness. Apple Photos has it's bugs BUT it is lightning LIGHTNING fast in scrolling through thousands of photos (of adustable thumbnail sizes), searching etc. Therefore I will KEEP Apple Photos as JPEG database, even after LR. Now I read some posts that LR is very slow on Apple M1 chips. True? Would like to know this BEFORE the subscription!

It was slow because it is a parametric editor. A lot has changed but of course this depends on your system. Adobe has made many performance improvements over the years. At one time it was suggested to use PS for multiple edits.

Not anymore. I have done well over 75 edits including multiple masks and not even a hiccup. Many of those are got B&W edits which I use LrC only for. I have a few video links for B&W using LrC if you are interested.

What can take time which again depends on your system is Adobe Denoise AI. Like any AI software or app it chews through VRAM. You should also know that using Denoise AI creates a DNG. It was released a year ago and you may want to read about it. Adobe is looking at ways to improve that as well.

https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2023/04/18/denoise-demystified

If you get it (or trial it) there are 2 versions of Lightroom. Don't let CC throw you off. It does not mean mandatory cloud file storage. That stands for Creative Cloud which is an app you download. From there you install whatever app you wish to use.

Lightroom Classic or LrC. That is the similar to LR6 (or earlier versions) and requires local file storage. It is version 13 now.

Lightroom or Lr. This is the newer desktop app but is the cloud/local file storage version. It is not as robust as LrC. Version 7. Sometimes referred to as the cloudy version.

I'd start with LrC. Explore Lr later if you are interested. I've never even installed it because I was never interested in file cloud storage. Lr was full cloud storage from 2017 until last fall when the new version (7) became a local/cloud storage hybrid.

From a few weeks ago. About 50 edits and like I said not even a hiccup. I did not run this file through Denoise AI.

You may find this new feature that was added last year interesting.

Another video.

Kind regards and thanks for your answers!

Bas

--
You just need to keep the forests wet

 

[Joe Moche]

Up till now I use the camera's free RAW converters like Canon DPP and Olympus Master and import the jpeg result in Apple Photos, which is my 15.000 foto database, where I do some final tweaks with the basic AP controls. Works great, but I don't have the fancy graduated filter goodies that Lightroom has.

Now I am considering a LR subscription. I do landscapes and macro and am also very interested in B&W (but not good at it yet). I have a Mac Mini M1 with 16Gb RAM.

Now my question: will Lightroom be slow at this hardware? I tried LR 20 years ago but couldn't stand it's slowness. Apple Photos has it's bugs BUT it is lightning LIGHTNING fast in scrolling through thousands of photos (of adustable thumbnail sizes), searching etc. Therefore I will KEEP Apple Photos as JPEG database, even after LR. Now I read some posts that LR is very slow on Apple M1 chips. True? Would like to know this BEFORE the subscription!

Kind regards and thanks for your answers!

Bas

Lightroom is very different from what it was 20 years ago. In any case, "slow" and "fast" are pretty subjective terms. What is slow for you might be fast for someone else, and vice versa. The M1 should be fine with LR, but more memory would be better. The speed of LR is also going to depend on the size of your raw files. Importing from my 12 megapixel Fuji XPro-1 is lightning fast, but importing from my 102 megapixel GFX is coffee break time. My suggestion would be to download the free trial and play with it. Advice from others will never be as good as trying it yourself.

 

[Zeee]

As for landscapes. Also a few weeks ago from the Douro river valley in Portugal.

--
You just need to keep the forests wet

 

[Zeee]

Up till now I use the camera's free RAW converters like Canon DPP and Olympus Master and import the jpeg result in Apple Photos, which is my 15.000 foto database, where I do some final tweaks with the basic AP controls. Works great, but I don't have the fancy graduated filter goodies that Lightroom has.

Now I am considering a LR subscription. I do landscapes and macro and am also very interested in B&W (but not good at it yet). I have a Mac Mini M1 with 16Gb RAM.

Now my question: will Lightroom be slow at this hardware? I tried LR 20 years ago but couldn't stand it's slowness. Apple Photos has it's bugs BUT it is lightning LIGHTNING fast in scrolling through thousands of photos (of adustable thumbnail sizes), searching etc. Therefore I will KEEP Apple Photos as JPEG database, even after LR. Now I read some posts that LR is very slow on Apple M1 chips. True? Would like to know this BEFORE the subscription!

Kind regards and thanks for your answers!

Bas

Lightroom is very different from what it was 20 years ago. In any case, "slow" and "fast" are pretty subjective terms. What is slow for you might be fast for someone else, and vice versa. The M1 should be fine with LR, but more memory would be better. The speed of LR is also going to depend on the size of your raw files. Importing from my 12 megapixel Fuji XPro-1 is lightning fast, but importing from my 102 megapixel GFX is coffee break time. My suggestion would be to download the free trial and play with it. Advice from others will never be as good as trying it yourself.

I made a few posts. Currently I'm using my travel 2020 MacBook Air M1 with 16GB RAM and 250GB SSD. At home my 2019 iMac is 65GB RAM, 8GB VRAM and 500GB SSD.

Performance for both is pretty equal. Actually the Air with MI is faster than the iMac at most everything. Adobe Denoise is faster on the iMac. Apple has not fixed the issue that lets use the M silicone chip shared memory properly, which it needs for AI processing. I don't know the details.

 

[Zeee]

This is an import option that lets you cull while the previews build. LR6 and previous versions did not offer this.

» Embedded & Sidecar

Lightroom's 7th incarnation - the so-called Lightroom Classic - introduces a new Embedded & Sidecar workflow which is designed to let you review, compare, and cull reject photos much faster than before.

lightroomsolutions.com

If you are looking at speed editing the updated Auto feature (in the Basic tab) is called Sensei. AI trained by thousands of professional edits and can be helpful as a starting point.

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lightroomkillertips.com

LrC also offers Adaptive ISO Presets. Set it up using two or more files. One at low ISO and the other at high ISO. Some like to use a 3rd file in between high and low. Adjust anything you want based on each ISO and create the preset. Apply that when importing and each file will adjust automatically.

For instance if you created files at 100 and 12800 ISO. NR 10 for 100 and NR 40 for 12800. If you import a 6400 ISO file it will adjust NR to 25. You can also add sharpening, texture, masking for both the low and high ISO set up files or whatever else you want to add. Same fine tuning results as the noise example.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/iso-adaptive-presets.html

I shot a charity a few years ago and between Auto and Adaptive ISO I edited about 500 files in just over an hour.

 

[lumigraphics]

I have the same model Mac mini and all my photos and catalogs on external spinning drives. I am fine with it, you could just use the free trial and see how you like it.

 

[Kaj E]

You may find this useful: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1831862/0