# Previews are blurry until I export (even 1:1 previews)



## photos4phil (Dec 5, 2014)

Hello all

I've searched, I've googled, I've pulled my arm off, trying to figure this out before posting. 

Quick specs:
Lightroom 5.5 running on Windows 7 64 bit with Intel HD graphics card (Dell computer bought June 2013)
Monitor is a bit older, 1280 x 1024
Photos are taken with 5D Mark iii with 24-70 2.8L or 70-200 2.8L
All photos taken in full RAW

My photos are all blurry, or rather a bit soft, when in Lightroom, either Grid, Loupe or Develop - all the same. Once I export them to JPG (no extra sharpening), the photos are absolutely crystal clear tack sharp. When viewing the exact same photo on Lightroom and the same photo as a JPG, the difference in sharpness is outstanding, very very evident. 

I've tried what I could think of, including:
Standard Previews set to High Quality and resolution the max (2880)
1:1 Previews
Importing @ 1:1 (instead of Minimal or Standard)
Setting Sharpning to max (150) which gets the image closer to where the exported JPG version is, but still not as sharp (and this shouldn't be necessary)

This is all a bit de-motivational and slowly chipping away at my passion for taking great photos, because every time I see my photos on the monitor, they're not sharp! I feel like I took bad images. Until I export them, then I feel better. 

Below are 3 screenshots, all from the same image. In all 3 screenshots, the exported JPG version is on the left, Lightroom loupe view on the right. You'll notice in all 3 screenshots, the JPG (on the left) is visibly much clearer than the lightroom (on the right).


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 7, 2014)

Hi Phil, welcome to the forum!  So what are you using to view the JPEG?


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## photos4phil (Dec 8, 2014)

Hi Victoria, thank you! This problem still remains quite frustrating

I always upload my JPEGs straight to my SmugMug account, but you asking posed a new question for me - could the exporting process be making the photos sharper? Spoiler alert, nothing that I could find :/ But, I did find an anomaly

So, I uploaded the same photo as above to my Hard Drive, and repeated it to SmugMug. Same exact export settings (File Settings = JPEG, sRGB, Limit File Size to 49000K, Image Sizing = not checked, Resolution = 250 ppi, Output Sharpening = Sharpen for Screen Amount: Standard). I double checked these settings - exactly the same going to SmugMug and going to my local Hard Drive. 

BTW, if it matters, to export to SmugMug I am using JF SmugMug exporter preset from here

The Hard Drive JPEG (using Windows Photo Viewer) looks nearly identical to the Lightroom version (JPEG maybe slightly clearly). The SmugMug version is night and day (same as shown in my first post) between SmugMug and either the Lightroom version or the Hard Drive JPEG version. 

So  this adds a new question...

1) Why are my photos not as clear in Ligthroom as they are in SmugMug (and how can I get them clearer in Lightroom), and
2) Why are JPEGs exported to SmugMug dramatically sharper than JPEGs exported to my Hard Drive and viewed with Windows Photo Viewer?


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## photos4phil (Dec 8, 2014)

I'll also note, keeping everything else constant, when I bump the "Sharpening" slider all the way up to 150 and export the image to my local Hard Drive, it looks identical to the Lightroom and local Hard Drive JPEG - it's still not nearly as sharp as the JPEG in SmugMug.


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## tspear (Dec 8, 2014)

Did you check the jpeg quality on export? I believe by default the SmugMug plugin by JF exports at 100%. Are you doing the same locally?

Tim


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## photos4phil (Dec 8, 2014)

Under "File Settings?" For both (SmugMug and local Hard Drive), that option is disabled (both show as 92) as I have "Limit File Size To:" set to 49000K


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## tspear (Dec 8, 2014)

remove the file size limit, and it should be available.

Tim


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## photos4phil (Dec 8, 2014)

tspear said:


> remove the file size limit, and it should be available.
> 
> Tim



The issue though is not the JPEG, it's why Lightroom's preview renders the photo as "blurry",  but it's tack sharp in SmugMug. 

(Following these steps (removing file size limit) and setting Quality to 100 still produces a JPEG identical to Lightroom's preview and the other local Hard Drive JPEG's, and isn't nearly as sharp as SmugMug's JPEG.)


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## Jim Wilde (Dec 8, 2014)

In Lightroom, where are you viewing the image? Library or Develop? To properly judge the sharpness of the image in Lightroom, you should be viewing at 1:1 in the Develop module.


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## photos4phil (Dec 8, 2014)

Images look the same whether I am in Library or Develop, grid or loupe, zoomed in or zoomed out, including 1:1.


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 8, 2014)

photos4phil said:


> Same exact export settings (File Settings = JPEG, sRGB, Limit File Size to 49000K, Image Sizing = not checked, Resolution = 250 ppi, *Output Sharpening = Sharpen for Screen Amount: Standard*). I double checked these settings - exactly the same going to SmugMug and going to my local Hard Drive.



So you are applying sharpening while exporting, according to those settings...?


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## onyonet (Dec 9, 2014)

I'm not seeing anything here that is tack sharp. I do see the difference, but the unknown here is what Smug Mug is doing to the jpg when they get it. How sure are you photos are actually sharp? 

Do do have a sharpness target? 

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/06/26/test-your-lens-sharpness/

i would make make sure you're starting with sharp photos before looking at the software.


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## tspear (Dec 9, 2014)

I wonder if there is a way to capture the temp file used on the expert before it is pushed to smugmug and calculate the hash value (md5 is probably sufficient) and then compare to downloaded from smugmug and see if it the same file.

Tim


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## photos4phil (Dec 9, 2014)

Victoria Bampton said:


> So you are applying sharpening while exporting, according to those settings...?


Yes, standard sharpening...but this isn't the real issue



onyonet said:


> I'm not seeing anything here that is tack sharp. I do see the difference, but the unknown here is what Smug Mug is doing to the jpg when they get it. How sure are you photos are actually sharp?
> 
> Do do have a sharpness target?
> 
> ...



ah, yes, a potential issue and solution  thanks for your post. I will print this out and test it. it's hard to convey "tack sharp" when I post screenshots 



tspear said:


> I wonder if there is a way to capture the temp file used on the expert before it is pushed to smugmug and calculate the hash value (md5 is probably sufficient) and then compare to downloaded from smugmug and see if it the same file.
> 
> Tim


Actually, great point. What I did do was, through Jeffrey's SmugMug export plugin (highly recommended) I could also grab a copy of the export JPEG file. That file, too, is the same quality as Lightroom.


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## terry7cook (Jan 6, 2015)

Hi, I'm so frustrated for you as I have the exact same issue!!!!!
I'm using the exact same lenses as you are and Canon 1DX, This suppose to be super combination! Those lenses and camera are monsters at work!
But lightroom keeps crapping my photos, no matter what I'm doing, every time I import a photo it comes blurry and not sharp. When I view a Raw file with AcdSee everything is perfect, then it goes into
lightroom- Crap!

Did you find any solution yet?


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## photos4phil (Jan 9, 2015)

terry7cook said:


> Hi, I'm so frustrated for you as I have the exact same issue!!!!!
> I'm using the exact same lenses as you are and Canon 1DX, This suppose to be super combination! Those lenses and camera are monsters at work!
> But lightroom keeps crapping my photos, no matter what I'm doing, every time I import a photo it comes blurry and not sharp. When I view a Raw file with AcdSee everything is perfect, then it goes into
> lightroom- Crap!
> ...



I'm glad I'm not the only one!!

Well, I was convinced (from this thread) that either a) I wasn't taking sharp pictures b) it wasn't _tha_ unsharp, or c) don't worry about it. 

But what I actually realized is that yes, while Lightroom showed the images blurry (and I stand by this, still looking for a solution), during export (either JPG to my local hard drive, or to SmugMug), the export process does sharpen up the image quite a bit. Now, is that because of the "sharpening" setting to "standard, screen" is doing it, or is that just because I'm not viewing it in Ligthroom? I'm not sure. 

Did you find a solution?


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 9, 2015)

photos4phil said:


> Now, is that because of the "sharpening" setting to "standard, screen" is doing it



You could test that by turning off the sharpening.


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## WG3607 (Apr 11, 2015)

Hi all,

I have seen many complaints about photos in the Develop module looking sharp, while the Library Loupe view looks blurry. The problem is often attributed to the sharpening settings, or how lightroom renders in the two modes, or whether the user is in 1:1 mode, etc. I believe, however, that there is at least one bug that causes this problem. 

I use two monitors in my setup, and I usually have the right monitor set in Loupe view. I am attaching two screen captures (one above the other) where I am demonstrating the bug. 

Both captures show part of a photo at 1:1 resolution with the Detail adjustments (ie, sharpening and NR) turned off. On the left side of each capture you see the photo in Develop mode (on my left monitor); on the right side of each capture you see the photo in Loupe mode (on my right monitor).

In the top capture, you see that the photo in Develop module (on the left) is sharp, but on the right, the photo in Loupe view, is blurry. I believe that LR did not fully render this view.

The bottom capture is the exact same photo, and all the settings are exactly the same. The only difference is that after taking the top capture, I pressed the right arrow key to go to the next photo, and then the left arrow key to come right back to the original photo. Now you can see that the Loupe view (on the right) is exactly as sharp as the Develop module photo (on the right).

When the Loupe view photo is blurry, it looks just like a photo that is in the middle of rendering. It just seems to get stuck before finishing.

In case it matters, this is a raw photo (Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 *.RW2 file), although I have repeated this bug with a jpg file. I am running LR 5.4 with camera raw 8.4. My OS is Windows 7 Pro SP1. My graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I deleted many photos for being unsharp before I realized this problem. Thanks!!


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 11, 2015)

There was a bug in one of the LR5 releases to do with the secondary monitor not being sharp.  It was fixed, so an update's in order before going too much further.


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## GDRoth (Apr 13, 2015)

It might make sense to bring LR to 5.7....................


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## WG3607 (Apr 14, 2015)

*Fixed!*



GDRoth said:


> It might make sense to bring LR to 5.7....................



Yes, thanks. I did upgrade and it did solve the problem. I didn't see anything about this bug in the release notes for the versions newer than mine so I didn't think it would help to upgrade...but it definitely fixed the problem. Thanks again!


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## GDRoth (Apr 14, 2015)

Glad this worked.............I just make it my policy to always stay on the latest versions, especially if any technical issues are occurring....


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## jhelms (Apr 27, 2015)

photos4phil said:


> Hi Victoria, thank you! This problem still remains quite frustrating
> 
> I always upload my JPEGs straight to my SmugMug account, but you asking posed a new question for me - could the exporting process be making the photos sharper? Spoiler alert, nothing that I could find :/ But, I did find an anomaly
> 
> ...




Doesn't SM also have a gallery view sharpening that is applied?  It's the last page in gallery settings.


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