# Replace Embedded Previews with Standard Previews



## Zenon

I found this which is new to me. Wondering what is the best option. Currently mine is set by default to minimal. I'm assuming by default as I have never looked at it.       

How to specify import options in Lightroom Classic CC

The Library module retains Embedded Previews until you edit them or you choose to generate other previews. A preference setting in Lightroom Classic preferences allows you automatically replace Embedded Previews with Standard Previews automatically whenever your system is idle. To select this preference setting, do the following:


From the menu bar, choose Edit (Win)/Lightroom (Mac) > Preferences. 
In the Preferences dialog, go to the General tab.  
In the Import Options section, select Replace Embedded Previews With Standard Previews during Idle Time. By default, this option is deselected.


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## Jim Wilde

I think the "best option" can only be determined by the users, as they may have differing workflow needs. For example, prior to the introduction of the embedded preview option, I would routinely generate 1:1 previews during import, as I often like to be able to zoom into 1:1 (for a focus check) without any "loading" delay when doing the first culling pass in the Library. Now I don't need to do that if I use the Embedded preview option, therefore importing becomes very much quicker. So that's my new default import setting. 

Others may not be concerned with the ability to get to work more quickly post import, so may not need to bother with the Embedded previews, preferring Standard or 1:1 previews. Another factor is the quality and size of the embedded preview, it may not be good enough even for first culling pass, in which case it's either wait for better quality previews to be built during import, or shoot Raw+Jpeg (the Jpeg is used as the embedded preview if the embedded preview is not of sufficient size).


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## Zenon

Thanks. I see to do OK on minimal. I'll have to do some tests.


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## Zenon

Actually I cull and delete unwanted/unusable files using Canon's DPP before importing into LR. I don't tag or colour code files either.


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## Linwood Ferguson

A key reason to choose standard or 1:1 is if you use import time presets or if you use other tools (e.g. Photo Mechanic) to crop photos before import.  Embedded will then not show the effect of the preset or crops, but standard and 1:1 will.

With Classic and a reasonably powered computer, standard preview build is a lot faster, and Adobe's questionable implementation of embedded display mean it is often not much slower to build standard (it is a lot slower to build 1:1).


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## Jim Wilde

Ferguson said:


> With Classic and a reasonably powered computer, standard preview build is a lot faster, and Adobe's questionable implementation of embedded display mean it is often not much slower to build standard (it is a lot slower to build 1:1).



What do you mean by "questionable implementation of embedded display"? Are you purely talking about the speed of preview extraction, or something else?


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## Linwood Ferguson

Jim Wilde said:


> What do you mean by "questionable implementation of embedded display"? Are you purely talking about the speed of preview extraction, or something else?



Yes, sort of.  What tools like Photo Mechanic do is just yank the preview and use it.  What Adobe does is read the preview out, then use it to build a "fake" preview internally in their preview cache, including the pyramid of sizes from thumbnail and up.  This means the speed of the embedded preview build is very slow compared to the time it takes for something like Photo Mechanic.

The goal, as I understand it, of the new embedded build was to make Lightroom competitive with Photo Mechanic (as something of a gold standard).  I think it failed.  Making it well integrated and appearing to be like a regular preview was wise from a "making it look just like Lightroom" perhaps, but it seems a key aspect of keeping it from being nearly as fast as Photo Mechanic. 

My experience is on Windows; I have heard that Mac is faster.  But for me it didn't save me a photo mechanic subscription, not nearly so.


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## Linwood Ferguson

I should add to the above, in an ironic twist, the good work they did on standard preview build times made the embedded preview less important.  It used to be standard was REALLY slow; if we were comparing standard-in-2015 to embedded-in-Classic, the comparison is more favorable, you gain a lot of speed.  But comparing embedded to much-faster-standard in Classic, it is less impressive of a gain you get for sacrificing the rendering reflecting the LR settings.


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## Jim Wilde

Ferguson said:


> My experience is on Windows; I have heard that Mac is faster.  But for me it didn't save me a photo mechanic subscription, not nearly so.



Yes, you heard it from me! OSX is way faster than Windows 10, so for me it definitely means I'd never remotely need to think about paying for something like PM.


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## tspear

Is it my workflow, patience, or am I missing something else?
I start working while Lr imports. Give the computer a one minute head start and I never catch up.

Tim

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk


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## Zenon

Thanks for the info Linwood


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## Linwood Ferguson

tspear said:


> Is it my workflow, patience, or am I missing something else?
> I start working while Lr imports. Give the computer a one minute head start and I never catch up.


If I'm shooting something like a bunch of individuals where my keeper rate is near 100% and the total images are a hundred or so -- no issue, Lightroom is great.

I came home from two basketball games with 2300 images, and wanted to keep about 180 or so of them (often the percentage is lower). 

PM will save me maybe 5-10 minutes on card import alone (windows is very slow from the card; mac is fast from what I understand; I have very fast cards, if you are using SD/CF then LR might keep up). 

PM shows a preview as fast as I can glance at the shots.  I go through the images very quickly, several a second normally, occasionally slowing down to compare a couple.  Many images are in bursts of 3-4 so it's about picking the one that has the best position/angle.  For Lightroom it's awfully slow in comparison, plus it is even slower while still fetching embedded previews or standard previews.  My guesstimate is that I spent 45 minutes doing this last time, and with lightroom 90 minutes minimum.  Maybe a lot more.  

PM then lets me crop and straighten as fast as I can draw rectangles, mostly slowing down to change aspect if I'm forcing specific aspects.  If I was using Lightroom there's a several second lag (I'd guestimate about 5-6 seconds) getting into an image, and getting the crop tool active.  200 x 5 seconds = 1000 seconds = 16 minutes more.

So overall for that shoot (where I didn't start editing until 11pm) PM saves me about 60-70 minutes from those estimates, and from general memory of the last time I tried it in Lightroom it's really more like 2 hours.

It also doesn't allow for the substantial slowdown that Lightroom gets with heavy use, and the need to stop and restart every 45 minutes or so to keep it going.

The real difference is two things: A very low keeper rate, so these never make it into slow lightroom at all, and working to meet deadlines for image use. 

If you shoot high keep rates and low volume and are in no hurry, this is all moot.


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## tspear

@Ferguson

Ah, that is what I was missing. Unless my daughter gets the camera and I forget to change the shutter mode from multi-shot to single. I rarely get more then a couple hundred shots for an all day event. 

Tim


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## Zenon

Well I had some time to experiment. Like stated embedded and sidecar of not much use. As expected 1:1 takes the longest for previews to load. With my older iMac I really did not see a lot of difference between Standard, Minimal and 1:1. Seems to always to be a short delay. The delay times might be different but I'm not in ant hurry so I'll do a few more tests with minimal and standard today. I would probably see a difference with my newer plain MacBook Air with SSD. It smokes my iMac. I'll try that too.

I watched a video on it which included smart previews. I like the part where you can remove an external drive that has the files, continue to edit and when you pop the drive back in it updates the files.


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