Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: DNGs faster than NEFs?  (Read 5351 times)

purpleblues

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20
DNGs faster than NEFs?
« on: August 12, 2012, 09:01:36 pm »

Following a hunch in another forum I converted my D3s-NEFs to DNGs and imported them into LR4.1. The whole system (8-core Nehalem MacPro, Snow Leopard 12 GB RAM) felt a lot more responsive and "snappy" than with the NEFs, the wait when switching tools was a lot shorter. According to the activity monitor the usage of RAM was only about half of what the work with NEFs used.

Is that a hint for Adobe? Anyone with similar results on the hunt for the speed brake in LR 4?
Logged

Kirk Gittings

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1561
    • http://www.KirkGittings.com
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2012, 09:45:52 pm »

And the hint is.........what? Adobe keep letting us convert to DNGs because they run faster in LR4????
Logged
Thanks,
Kirk Gittings

Schewe

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6229
    • http:www.schewephoto.com
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2012, 10:42:55 pm »

Anyone with similar results on the hunt for the speed brake in LR 4?

If you convert to DNG and include the option to Embed Fast Load Data, then yes, a DNG in Develop will load faster...not sure about slider speed though...
Logged

howardm

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1984
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2012, 11:56:39 am »

Jeff,

Can you elaborate on what Fast Load Data is ?

Schewe

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6229
    • http:www.schewephoto.com
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2012, 03:02:48 pm »

Fast Load Data is a cache of the raw file stored in the DNG which ACR 7 and LR 4 can access more quickly.
Logged

digitaldog

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20630
  • Andrew Rodney
    • http://www.digitaldog.net/
Logged
http://www.digitaldog.net/
Author "Color Management for Photographers".

purpleblues

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2012, 07:48:40 pm »

Thanks Jeff and Andrew for pointing to "fast load data". Within all the new stuff in LR4 this feature has been overlooked easily  - at least by me. Making the whole Camera Raw process more multicoreable is a terrific (and eagerly awaited) feature. I just wonder how the folks of phaseone are doing it. C1 still makes much better use of multicore mac systems but if C1 7 isn't coming this year and bringing significantly better noise reduction (and automatic lens correction for dslrs) they're probably going to lose even more terrain.

You were right about the sliders, Jeff. The boost is significantly weaker with them but still there.

Why can't LR make use of multicore as well as the dng converter does? When converting my NEFs it maxes out all 16 (virtual) cores of my Nehalem MacPro.
Logged

B-Ark

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 102
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2012, 07:10:55 am »

Just curious - is there any significant file size penalty if fast load data is enabled?
Logged

stormyboy

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 94
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2012, 12:01:15 pm »

Just curious - is there any significant file size penalty if fast load data is enabled?

The article Andrew cited mentions this (around 200KB).
Logged

madmanchan

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2115
    • Web
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2012, 04:42:42 pm »

Images converted to DNG with Adobe software will load faster for two reasons: (1) there is an embedded preview image called Fast Load Data, mentioned earlier, and (2) the full-res image data is stored in a tiled fashion, and ACR/LR will use multiple cores to read and decompress the image data.  This is much faster than processing a serial (one-time) compressed stream as found in a CR2 or NEF.
Logged
Eric Chan

s4e

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 37
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2012, 02:49:34 pm »

I can confirm DNG is quicker then NEF. Converted all my RAW files to DNG and the system seems much more responsive.
Logged

kuau

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 220
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2012, 12:23:09 am »

I did a test with 8 Nikon D800E files.
Converted them to DNG first using adobe dng converter utility with fast load data selected a full size jpeg.
I imported into LR4.1 it took 42 seconds, same test with importing NEFS 52 seconds.
I did not see any speed advantage and my dng time does not include the time it took to covert to dng from nef.
Logged
__________________________________________________________________________
Leica S006, Leica SL HP Z3200 PS Printer
http://www.kuau.com

Schewe

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6229
    • http:www.schewephoto.com
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2012, 10:57:01 am »

The Fast Load Data is for raw files that are opened in Develop. It has nothing to do with importing.
Logged

kuau

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 220
Re: DNGs faster than NEFs?
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2012, 12:16:14 pm »

Jeff,
Thanks for the reply.
I must have read into this all wrong. When I am in the Develop module, I don't have performance issues
My concern is now shooting a D800E, I am looking for suggestions to get my photos imported into LR4.1
I actually just use the add function, I first copy all my NEFS into a directory I created on my 4TB drive,
I have a separate SSD one for OS, and one for LR4 cache and previews.
The process of adding my NEFS to LR4 seems to take a very long time, creating 1:! previews, etc.
I have read almost every post about LR4 performance "tweaks' and none of them seem to help the initial add images + 1:! previews.
I have a very fast machine, Intel I7 3770 quad core processor, 32gb ram, and of course multiple SSD drives, etc.
I was on a Mac Pro for 3 years, but with Apple now with no idea if they ever will introduce a "modern day" Mac Pro' not a machine that is now 2 years behind in current technology.
For a modern day app like LR4.1 and being a 64 bit app on both the mac and pc, it still only utilizes up to 4gb of ram at any time and it seems to me the only thing that makes it go faster or in other words more productive, is raw CPU speed, not how many cores or how much ram or how fast your HD's are.

Logged
__________________________________________________________________________
Leica S006, Leica SL HP Z3200 PS Printer
http://www.kuau.com
Pages: [1]   Go Up