Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) processing speed

[ajimon]

Hi,

I have just upgraded from a custom build pc running 4 core intel i7 890, 2.9 Ghz (turbo 3.6ghz), 12gb ram, 1gb graphic card, crucial 256gb ssd, to a refurbished hp workstation z420 running 6 core intel xeon 3.3ghz (turbo 3.9ghz), 8gb ram, 1gb quadro 2000 graphic card, with same crucial 256gb ssd.

My primary intention to upgrade was to get a faster pc for raw file editing. I'm a busy guy at work and get very minimal time at home for raw file editing. Hence the requirement for a faster pc.

My old build would take a few seconds to load all preview when adobe bridge is started. Depending on preview size, it would take like 5-8 seconds to fill my 27 inch screen. After selecting the required images to be loaded to ACR, it take about 4 seconds for the first image to get clear in the edit window. During this 4 seconds time, I can see a yellow triangle with exclamation mark appear to the top right corner. This 4 seconds delay continued for every next image selected.

Now, with the workstation setup, the above mentioned 5-8 seconds has reduced to 1-2 seconds. My 27 inch display gets filled with preview images in 2 seconds max, this was definitely welcoming. But, after loading images into ACR, the above mentioned yellow triangle now appears for about 3 seconds compared to 4 seconds. This is not a big improvement.

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear). This can save me a lot of time especially during selection of keepers. My way of doing things is to load all images into ACR and then check each image for focus, those that are out of focus are tagged for deletion. If i have to wait for 3 seconds to check each image, then its going to take me a long time to select the keepers. A delay of 0-1 second is fine since time is not a luxury i have at home for hobby.

Appreciate any solution than can make the yellow triangle disappear quickly.

--

AJ.

 

[Ho72]

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear). This can save me a lot of time especially during selection of keepers. My way of doing things is to load all images into ACR and then check each image for focus, those that are out of focus are tagged for deletion. If i have to wait for 3 seconds to check each image, then its going to take me a long time to select the keepers. A delay of 0-1 second is fine since time is not a luxury i have at home for hobby.

Appreciate any solution than can make the yellow triangle disappear quickly.

Why are you using ACR to judge focus/keepers? This would be better done in Bridge at 100% view; using ACR for such a purpose is, as you've discovered, a waste of time. If you really want to speed up the culling process, try Photo Mechanic.

FWIW, the yellow triangle icon disappears in about 1 second or less when I edit my D700 files in ACR. I never thought to time it before since it doesn't seem to interfere with editing. Maybe the size of your raw files is a factor. Are you shooting a D800 or something similar?

 

[Paulmorgan]

Hi,

I have just upgraded from a custom build pc running 4 core intel i7 890, 2.9 Ghz (turbo 3.6ghz), 12gb ram, 1gb graphic card, crucial 256gb ssd, to a refurbished hp workstation z420 running 6 core intel xeon 3.3ghz (turbo 3.9ghz), 8gb ram, 1gb quadro 2000 graphic card, with same crucial 256gb ssd.

My primary intention to upgrade was to get a faster pc for raw file editing. I'm a busy guy at work and get very minimal time at home for raw file editing. Hence the requirement for a faster pc.

My old build would take a few seconds to load all preview when adobe bridge is started. Depending on preview size, it would take like 5-8 seconds to fill my 27 inch screen. After selecting the required images to be loaded to ACR, it take about 4 seconds for the first image to get clear in the edit window. During this 4 seconds time, I can see a yellow triangle with exclamation mark appear to the top right corner. This 4 seconds delay continued for every next image selected.

Now, with the workstation setup, the above mentioned 5-8 seconds has reduced to 1-2 seconds. My 27 inch display gets filled with preview images in 2 seconds max, this was definitely welcoming. But, after loading images into ACR, the above mentioned yellow triangle now appears for about 3 seconds compared to 4 seconds. This is not a big improvement.

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear). This can save me a lot of time especially during selection of keepers. My way of doing things is to load all images into ACR and then check each image for focus, those that are out of focus are tagged for deletion. If i have to wait for 3 seconds to check each image, then its going to take me a long time to select the keepers. A delay of 0-1 second is fine since time is not a luxury i have at home for hobby.

Appreciate any solution than can make the yellow triangle disappear quickly.

--

AJ.

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear)

Works stations are not necessarily faster at opening files, but depending on what your doing the could be faster at doing the processing.

You upraded your system to improve file opening times by just seconds, some people have more money than sense

 

[malch]

I agree with the other poster. ACR is the wrong tool for ranking/culling.

There's really no need to perform a full RAW conversion just to check basic exposure/focus/framing. RAW files contain an embedded JPEG that can be displayed in a small fraction of a second using fast hardware such as you have.

PhotoMechanic has already been mentioned. It's fairly expensive and aimed at pro shooters who need to cull and add extensive metadata tagging.

Personally, I use and recommend FastPictureViewer:

http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/

 

[ajimon]

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear). This can save me a lot of time especially during selection of keepers. My way of doing things is to load all images into ACR and then check each image for focus, those that are out of focus are tagged for deletion. If i have to wait for 3 seconds to check each image, then its going to take me a long time to select the keepers. A delay of 0-1 second is fine since time is not a luxury i have at home for hobby.

Appreciate any solution than can make the yellow triangle disappear quickly.

Why are you using ACR to judge focus/keepers? This would be better done in Bridge at 100% view; using ACR for such a purpose is, as you've discovered, a waste of time. If you really want to speed up the culling process, try Photo Mechanic.

FWIW, the yellow triangle icon disappears in about 1 second or less when I edit my D700 files in ACR. I never thought to time it before since it doesn't seem to interfere with editing. Maybe the size of your raw files is a factor. Are you shooting a D800 or something similar?

I'm shooting with 5d3. It's the 21mp that's resource intensive.
--
AJ.

 

[Ron AKA]

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear).

I use Photoshop Elements on a FX-8350 with 16 GB of RAM, 128 GB SSD (O/S & Programs only), and two 1 TB HDD configured in Windows 8 Storages Spaces to Simple (RAID0). I do not use the ACR portion of Elements for culling. I use the Organizer for that. However, I highlighted 12 RAW images and opened them in ACR. It took about 7 seconds for them all to be "prepared". When the ACR screen came up the thumbnails took about a 1/2 second each to display on the left. Then clicking on one thumbnail to the next took 1-2 seconds for the yellow triangle to go away. However the image basically looked right almost instantly, even though the triangle was still showing.

If you want to identify the bottleneck, if there is one, I would download Microsoft Process Explorer, and run it to track performance while you are manipulating the files in ACR. It will produce a graph of each resource usage during the process. From that you should be able to see what is being used, what is not, and what is maxed out. If your images are on a HDD then my guess is that may be the biggest limitation.

 

[ajimon]

Hi,

I have just upgraded from a custom build pc running 4 core intel i7 890, 2.9 Ghz (turbo 3.6ghz), 12gb ram, 1gb graphic card, crucial 256gb ssd, to a refurbished hp workstation z420 running 6 core intel xeon 3.3ghz (turbo 3.9ghz), 8gb ram, 1gb quadro 2000 graphic card, with same crucial 256gb ssd.

My primary intention to upgrade was to get a faster pc for raw file editing. I'm a busy guy at work and get very minimal time at home for raw file editing. Hence the requirement for a faster pc.

My old build would take a few seconds to load all preview when adobe bridge is started. Depending on preview size, it would take like 5-8 seconds to fill my 27 inch screen. After selecting the required images to be loaded to ACR, it take about 4 seconds for the first image to get clear in the edit window. During this 4 seconds time, I can see a yellow triangle with exclamation mark appear to the top right corner. This 4 seconds delay continued for every next image selected.

Now, with the workstation setup, the above mentioned 5-8 seconds has reduced to 1-2 seconds. My 27 inch display gets filled with preview images in 2 seconds max, this was definitely welcoming. But, after loading images into ACR, the above mentioned yellow triangle now appears for about 3 seconds compared to 4 seconds. This is not a big improvement.

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear). This can save me a lot of time especially during selection of keepers. My way of doing things is to load all images into ACR and then check each image for focus, those that are out of focus are tagged for deletion. If i have to wait for 3 seconds to check each image, then its going to take me a long time to select the keepers. A delay of 0-1 second is fine since time is not a luxury i have at home for hobby.

Appreciate any solution than can make the yellow triangle disappear quickly.

--

AJ.

Where is the bottle neck? Is it processor, ram, graphic card, ssd or some other component? What can I change to get a max delay of only 1 second, for the image to get clear (yellow triangle to disappear)

Works stations are not necessarily faster at opening files, but depending on what your doing the could be faster at doing the processing.

You upraded your system to improve file opening times by just seconds, some people have more money than sense

My reason for upgrade was already mentioned. Yes, seconds matter very much especially when funds are available, and time is a deciding factor for a happy family life. Btw, I bought a refurbished hp workstation for less than $1000. These things are cheaper in my part of the world.
--
AJ.

 

[Ron AKA]

Here is what I got from Process Explorer at the summary level when I opened 125 RAW files at 20 MB each. Initially the I/O was heavily loaded. It took probably two minutes or so to prepare the files. Initially that seems to be I/O and then there is a modest processing load. When this was over and the ACR screen came up, I clicked on a half dozen or so images, waiting for the yellow triangle to go away before trying the next. You can see that activity is marked by fairly heavy processor demands. When I checked the detail, it looked like the load was being shared by each of the 8 cores, and none were loaded to max. The GPU load was negligible, and RAM use minimal.




ACR on FX-8350

 

[Ho72]

I still think your workflow is flawed. ACR is for editing not for viewing.

 

[ormdig]

Hi AJ, I'm not sure if this will apply to you but I would think Canon would have the same setup.

I import my D800 files using Nikon Transfer to their own separate HDD using a Lexar USB 3.0 card reader which is very fast. The program then switches automatically to Nikon Transfer which I use strictly for viewing and culling. Images open instantly because of no editing and I can go through 500 images (21-25 GBs shooting 14bit lossless compressed) in just a few minutes, deleting anything I don't want. That way when I go to my image editor I am only loading the files I want.
As I said, I would think Canon's proprietary program that came with your camera would work the same and it's free.

 

[ajimon]

Thank you for these suggestions, I'll download a trial version of photo mechanics and check it out.

--

AJ.

 

[ajimon]

I shall download a trial version of fastpictureviewer and will check it out. Good to know its a cheaper solution compared to photomechanic.

 

[ajimon]

However, I highlighted 12 RAW images and opened them in ACR. It took about 7 seconds for them all to be "prepared". When the ACR screen came up the thumbnails took about a 1/2 second each to display on the left. Then clicking on one thumbnail to the next took 1-2 seconds for the yellow triangle to go away. However the image basically looked right almost instantly, even though the triangle was still showing.

Strange that that the images looked right almost instantly even when the yellow triangle was active. For me the case is completely different. As long as the yellow triangle is visible the selected image is blurry. That image appears sharp as soon as the triangle disappears. It's annoying at times to actually wait (3 seconds) for the image to appear sharp and then take a decision to keep or delete !

 

[ajimon]

I still think your workflow is flawed. ACR is for editing not for viewing.

Yes, I know that now. Too bad I did not explore other option....

 

[ajimon]

Here is what I got from Process Explorer at the summary level when I opened 125 RAW files at 20 MB each. Initially the I/O was heavily loaded. It took probably two minutes or so to prepare the files. Initially that seems to be I/O and then there is a modest processing load. When this was over and the ACR screen came up, I clicked on a half dozen or so images, waiting for the yellow triangle to go away before trying the next. You can see that activity is marked by fairly heavy processor demands. When I checked the detail, it looked like the load was being shared by each of the 8 cores, and none were loaded to max. The GPU load was negligible, and RAM use minimal.


ACR on FX-8350

This was the information I was looking for. Thank you so much. Processor - not maxed out, Gpu - less usage, Ram - less usage !! Can we conclude that its the software that is unable to display images quickly. May be the coding is not efficient enough ? Adobe can explain for sure

I'll repeat this test on my machine will post results tomorrow.

--
AJ.

 

[ajimon]

Hi Pete, I know what you are talking about. in fact Canon RAW converter DPP does a fast job of displaying images quickly (less than a second) at 100%. I have received a lot of suggestions from these posts. Will definitely give it all a try and choose what suits me the best. Thank you.

--

AJ.

 

[Ron AKA]

However, I highlighted 12 RAW images and opened them in ACR. It took about 7 seconds for them all to be "prepared". When the ACR screen came up the thumbnails took about a 1/2 second each to display on the left. Then clicking on one thumbnail to the next took 1-2 seconds for the yellow triangle to go away. However the image basically looked right almost instantly, even though the triangle was still showing.

Strange that that the images looked right almost instantly even when the yellow triangle was active. For me the case is completely different. As long as the yellow triangle is visible the selected image is blurry. That image appears sharp as soon as the triangle disappears. It's annoying at times to actually wait (3 seconds) for the image to appear sharp and then take a decision to keep or delete !

I checked again just to be sure. The images once I click on the thumbnail strip down the left side of the screen are near instant on the screen. The yellow triangle in the top right stays there for another 1-2 seconds, but I see no difference in the image after it goes away. Checked ones which had significant edits. The yellow warning icons do not seem to limit how fast you click through the images either. So, not sure what it is doing when they are on.

 

[SushiEater]

However, I highlighted 12 RAW images and opened them in ACR. It took about 7 seconds for them all to be "prepared". When the ACR screen came up the thumbnails took about a 1/2 second each to display on the left. Then clicking on one thumbnail to the next took 1-2 seconds for the yellow triangle to go away. However the image basically looked right almost instantly, even though the triangle was still showing.

Strange that that the images looked right almost instantly even when the yellow triangle was active. For me the case is completely different. As long as the yellow triangle is visible the selected image is blurry. That image appears sharp as soon as the triangle disappears. It's annoying at times to actually wait (3 seconds) for the image to appear sharp and then take a decision to keep or delete !

--
AJ.

Just did the same thing with my 5D III. Took 2.5 seconds to be "prepared"

Actually I timed it until the first triangle vanished but all of the images on the left were loaded.

Clicking on each image from the left takes 1 second for the triangle to vanish.

So I took D800e files and same thing happens except it takes less than 2 seconds for triangle to vanish.

I am on 3930K at 4.5Ghz 32GB. RAID 0 for files with scratch on SSD.

 

[ajimon]

I timed a few and the average time for the triangle to disappear is 2.5 seconds. I'm at 3.6 Mhz (turbo) on 256 GB SSD. OS, programs, data everything resides on this SSD.

Do you thing moving data to another drive can help? Can you try moving a few RAW files to your SSD and check if you are getting a different response time?