1:1 Previews Slooooow To Render After Import

I import new images and that happens very quickly, but then I have to wait and wait and wait for the preview rendering process to even begin. Once it starts it runs fairly quickly, but after the import I want to kick the computer to get the process to start. The number of imported images makes no difference. Any suggestions?
Lightroom version: 3.4.1 [749592]
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
Version: 5.1 [2600]
Application architecture: x86
System architecture: x86
Physical processor count: 2
Processor speed: 2.3 GHz
Built-in memory: 3071.1 MB
Real memory available to Lightroom: 716.8 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 136.8 MB (19.0%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 131.1 MB
Memory cache size: 49.6 MB
System DPI setting: 96 DPI
Displays: 1) 1600x1200, 2) 1600x1200
Thanks,
--Bob

So probably safe to assume that 716.8 MB available for LR is normal then for Windows 32bit systems. I checked my Vista 64bit system while building 5D MKII 1:1 previews (1280 x 1024 monitor), and 'Real Memory Used By Lightroom' starts out at about 400 MB, climbs to about 900 MB, then quickly drops back to 400 MB. This cycle repeats about every 10 seconds and never exceeds 1 GB, even though I have 4GB available to LR.
Bob, when you get back to the computer try monitoring both the LR System Info panel and Windows Task Manger on top of the Lightroom window. Try removing some previously imported files from LR, and then reimport them and watch the LR 'System Info' 'Real Memory Usage' and Windows Task Manger> Performance tab 'CPU Usage. Check the actual % CPU Usage and if both cores are being utilized evenly. See if any of these readings change at the point where the system seems to hang before preview building.

Similar Messages

Lightroom changes the preview of my images after import

Hi, Friends
My Discussion is that i have Sony A99 i shoot RAW with custom white balance in camera because overall ambience light is not ok as you seen in first image
when i look this image in Finder it shows ok, but when i am trying to open it to Lightroom it shows ruined as in second image
I have
Lightoom 5.7.1
Adobe camera Raw 8.0
I think Lightroom create its own preview and remove my camera preview, i understand that.
Yes I didn't select in developer option
I tried build preview options
I tried it to open in Photoshop, Same problem
I tried many setting in Lightroom to my best but i can't adjust white balance as my camera.
Then I tried RAW+JPEG options with other images but same problem exists. JPEG See good and RAW to its default
I read many posts before but it didn't help
My Discussion is that is there any way to maintain camera preview and edit with the same.
Thanks.

When Lightroom first displays the image, it shows the JPG preview which includes your camera custom white balance settings. (This is probably also what you see in Finder)Then a few seconds later it renders the RAW image, with none of the JPG editing and with none of your camera settings applied. That is what you see in Lightroom.
There is no way to turn this off.
You then need to apply your own Lightroom edits to this RAW image to make it look pleasing.

TS2518 My RAW (nikon .NEF) files changing to a dull, darker version of themselves after selecting them for the first time after import.

My RAW (nikon .NEF) files are literally changing to a dull, darker version of themselves after selecting them for the first time after import. I.e. The correct photo (light/color/etc) seems to be there and then a second later the photo changes. It's almost like it's showing a quick enhanced version then back to basic raw image. Started within last two updates.
Is there a fix or is this the straw that forces a switch to Lightroom?

Just recall that Aperture (or any other 3rd party raw converter) has NO information about the JPEG preview and how it was made. That information is camera-vendor proprietary.
Also note that there are like 6 "picture styles" in camera and this change you're seeing is entirely dependent on how you have them set. If you have your camera set to "vivid" or something you'll see more of a change than if your on-camera is set to "faithful."
That said, people here ALSO complain that Aperture's initial renders are TOO vivid, the exact opposite of your complaint, so you can't please everybody (in some cases, it seems you can't please ANYBODY ;-)
Aperture provides a starting point. Again, if you don't like it, you can tell Aperture to go with a "punchier" interpretation at its first render. In the import dialog, try setting Aperture to use the "auto enhance" preset which is built in. Aperture will add a little vibrancy adjustment, and it will add a curve, which will greatly add punch to the image. If you want adjustments in a different direction, you can create a preset and set it at import.
The only thing Aperture CANNOT do is what you're asking, which is "take the JPEG that my camera vendor generates through some voodoo and try and render the raw file just like that." It's, unfortunately, impossible to do.

Render on import?

Is it the consensus that it is best to render 1:1 on import? What are the
pros and cons on this? What about other thoughts? How much significant
change in file space is it really?
Thanks much.

Lightroom does
not support 1:1 preview rendering during import, the actual options being: Embedded or Standard-sized. However, it's worth noting the following (also see attached screenshot):
1. Embedded (default) is by far the quickest method for getting your images into Lightroom. However, the lack of Standard-sized, which is the minimum that Lightroom Library can actually work with, means that the application will render Standard-sized on demand (i.e. as thumbs become visible within the Content area). Asking Lightroom to undertake this task at the same time as you're trying to use the application is a recipe for, frustration, etc.
2. Importing your files with Standard-sized previews enabled in Import dialog will take longer than 1 above, but on completion Lightroom will already have previews that match the minimum requirement for working in the Library. Assuming that you won't be looking at every image at 100% (i.e 1:1) then this preview size will allow you to quickly review, rate, label, even make quick colour/tone adjustments, etc the files within the Library module. If you need to see an file at 100% then Lightroom will render that preview on demand (while it's being rendered you'll see the "Working" overlay appear at bottom of preview).
Import option 2 above takes longer than 1 but is less likely to result in wasted time and frustration, especially since Lightroom will not have to grind out the Standard-sized previews on demand.
If you're not going to be working on the files immediately after import but do need to get them into Lightroom as quickly as possible then the best option would be to choose import option 1 (i.e. default embedded previews). Once imported select all of the files, choose either Render Standard-sized or Render 1:1 previews from Library module Library>Previews menu. However, be aware that rendering 1:1 previews can take 2 to 3 times longer to complete than Standard-sized.
At some point in the future we might see an option for 1:1 previews during actual import, but I doubt that it will be any time soon.
As for file space - as an example of how this pans out for one of my catalogs containing 13,500 mixed Canon 10D, 5D, 1DM2 and 1DsM2 files:
- Standard-sized High Quality 1680 pixel previews takes around 14.5GB of disk space (default size at medium quality would be around 6GB)
- 1:1 previews takes just under 40GB

Different colors after imported into LR3

I really i do not know what is this problem related to, but after I imported pitures into lightroom , it makae some modification and change the color of the picture.
Here are the examples:
The picture rendered by CDPP, looks as i wanted the picture to look like (also looks like this in the camera), while the one in LR modified the color, I have check the setting in the importer and i do not apply any preset. What am i am doing wrong? or there is a known problem in LR? Note: the render preview option is minimal.
The other issue i have. is when i shoot a picture with a high iso it ended up in LR with a red color. if needed i can post some exmaples as well.
Thanks for the help.

Helena,
You're right.
@Cafu_co,
Lightroom won't automatically match your camera settings, and it never will.
What you can do is to edit a file in Lightroom so it approximates the starting point that you'd like to have, and then make that the default change to the image that you're presented with after importing. You set the default in the Develop Module: hold down the Alt/Opt key and the button on the lower right of the window changes to Set Defaults... Press it.
One of the things that you'll want to investigate during that process is the Profile setting in the Camera Calibration panel. Most Canon models have profiles available that mimic your picture styles that can be set in the camera.
Hal

Cannot edit chapter names in iDVD after importing movie from iMovie

I have no trouble customizing iDVD (version 5.0.1) menu page after importing iMovie directly (instead of going to QT as interim step). But the names of the chapter markers are file names for video clips, title pages and transitions. The iMovie help says to change the names in the space next to the 'thumbnails' of chapters found in iDVD. THERE ARE NO THUMBNAILS. And there is no way I could find, using menu options or clicking on the chapter frames shown in 'map' mode to type in anything.
There are other problems, like getting rid of the default "Travel Cards' stuff...like I can drop a still photo in for a custom background, but the default 'celluloid design' banner still rolls up in previw mode. If you can also help with that, great. But the main thing right now is getting these chapter names change.

VJK,
You are the third person who has taken a crack at this. I don't know if you read my last reply which detailed the situation. But if you did and the 'menu' you refer to is the main menu page, that is not the problem; I can change text there. I am talking about the submenu for 'Scene Selections', which I have only been able to access via map mode.
In map mode I cannot highlight the names. Period. Can't do it no matter where I place the cursor or carefully click.
In preview mode, when the Scene Selection sub-menu page appears whenever you drag the cursor over a chapter name it automatically highlights so any clicking will either do nothing (if a real careful click, trying to highlight text and not trigger off play of the movie chapter) or just start play for the movie chapter.
So...how does this newbie get to the 'menu' you mention where I can click on a chapter name in order to type new text?
You will be able to change the names in the menu, but
depending upon your mouse, etc, it can be a little
particular.
Place the cursor at the very beginning of the word
you want to change. Click once .. this should hi-lite
the word. Click again, it should make the word go
blue (or in a blue box) then you can delete and
re-type.
Be sure to save the proj
I have found that even after saving and successfully
burning the project, if I return to it later the
changes seem to have gone away ... so if you go back
to it later, just double check that everything is
kosher

Spoken work files will not play even after importing/converting?

I have some audio files recorded on my Android phone with the basic recording app and the files play when I press the spacebar to preview them in Mavericks. However, after importing them into iTunes using various import settings, including the podcast spoken word ones, they just will not play. When I double click on the file it looks like it is about to play, the apple icon at the top switches to what looks like a progress bar, though it is different from other tracks that do play, and then it immediately switches back to the apple icon and does not play.
Any ideas of anything I can do?
Thanks.

I've found an issue with movies when the audio is IMA format. Is that the format of your audio?

How do I import images from my hard drive without losing resolution? My original files after import are significantly smaller. What should I do?

How do I import images from my hard drive without losing resolution? My original files after import are significantly smaller. What should I do?

Hi Keith, and all others chiming in, I do have the correct option checked in advanced settings telling iPhoto to copy the images into the library. What is a refernced library? Perhaps this is where I am getting confused. I exported my entire photo library from an old iMac5 to my external hard drive, from there I attempted to import the entire library to my new iMac. Am I overlooking an obvious and easy way to import from the hard drive to the new iMac--I dragged the entire photo pholder from the hard drive to the open window of iPhoto on the new computer. Now, I only get preview file sizes in iPhoto, unless I have my external drive open. Perhaps I need to import the original images from the hard drive in a different way...?! (This is making me feel pretty stupid.)

Aperture 3.4.5 will not show NEF files after importing in OSx 3.8.5

Hi this is driving me crazy. I have quite a few NEF files from a Nikon E5000 that I would love to be able to process using Aperture but have run into a rather difficut situation. When I import my images into Aperture I can see the preview of the files in the browser but can not get them to display after they have been imported. I have tried importing localy through the internal hard drive on my IMac late 2007 as well as through an external NTFS formated USB backup of my files. It also chokes on direct imprting from the CF card using a card reader. In all cases they will sometimes display for a brief second both in the picture browser after importing or on the film strip view but will then disapear and display "unsupported image format" in its place. I have reinstalled aperture and run both repair persissions through disk utility and the aperture repair utility that ships with aperture. I have no problems with canon raw files or other file formats - jpg, tiff, png, photoshop, bmp. Also NEF files will open in lightroom 5 and photoshop cs6 with out issue as well.
Any help in restoring functionility would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the time and effort in advance.
Que Too

Nikon E5000
Do you mean a NIkon CP 5000 (Coolpix 5000)? Aperture supports many raw formats, but not all, because the raw support has to be camera specific. Not all NEF files are in the same format - all Nikon cameras will call their raw files NEF.
For some cameras Aperture never included raw support. The currently supported cameras are listed here:
http://www.apple.com/aperture/specs/raw.html
It looks like your camera is not on this list, so if you want to shoot raw with that camera, develope the raw files using a different raw converter (Adobe's dng converter or the suftware that came with your camera) and import tiff or dng files to Aperture.
Regards
Léonie

After importing pictures they became grey with doted white line around

I have imported pictures (RAW CR2 format) from my camera hundreds of times and they all went well. But this time the only the import worked well (I saw the preview when each picture was imported). Then Iphoto asked if i would like to delete the pictures on the camera after import. I deleted them. But then when I should take a look at the pictures they were grey with doted white lines around all of them. When I chose a picture and check the properties I can see that the pictures use normal space. I tried to drag one picture to a directory in the finder but this didn´t work either. The export doesn't work either. When I scroll fast among the pictures I can see them for a short period but when I stop scrolling they will turn grey with doted white line around. Whats wrong? and how to solve?
system: iPhoto11 and Lion.

The ! turns up when iPhoto loses the connection between the thumbnail in the iPhoto Window and the file it represents.
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. .
Regards
TD

After import, image from camera replaced with old (and incorrect) image

i imported photos this morning. maybe 200. into Lightroom 5.6 (with
camera raw 8.6, running on macosx 10.9.5; see below for "system info"). the images came from my
Leica M Typ 240, and were in raw format. after importing the images, i
went through them in my first editing pass.
going through, image 1867 ("L1001867.DNG") in LR was *not* the same as
image 1867 on my camera, but was, rather, an image (no longer on the
card in my camera) from 8 months ago in China.
the image on the camera was from 07.10.2014 15:49.15 (following one
taken at 15:49:07, which *did* show up in LR). the *meta* data in LR
appears correct for the image from the camera (i.e, shows a date of
07.10.2014, has likely exposure information, etc.), but the image itself
is the wrong image.
the image in LR *may* have been one i deleted (in LR), though i don't
know that for sure. if i *did* delete it, i deleted it months ago.
the LR image was shot on 22.02.2014 at 02:51-02:52 (i typically don't
change the clock). while i don't know for sure the image number of the
image in LR, it *appears* to be image 1419.
obviously, this is fairly worrying (as i count of LR to keep my
inventory!). what can i do to help you troubleshoot this? what can you
tell me about what is happening?
here is what "help:system info" says:
Lightroom version: 5.6 [974614]
License type: Perpetual
Operating system: Mac OS 10
Version: 10.9 [5]
Application architecture: x64
Logical processor count: 4
Processor speed: 2.9 GHz
Built-in memory: 8192.0 MB
Real memory available to Lightroom: 8192.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 1673.7 MB (20.4%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 3555.8 MB
Memory cache size: 1608.3 MB
Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 2
Displays: 1) 2560x1600
Application folder: /Applications
Library Path: /Users/minshall/Pictures/Lightroom/Lightroom 5 Catalog.lrcat
Settings Folder: /Users/minshall/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom
Installed Plugins:
1) Behance
2) Canon Tether Plugin
3) Facebook
4) Flickr
5) Leica Tether Plugin
6) Nikon Tether Plugin
7) Photoshelter Archive Publisher
Config.lua flags: None
AudioDeviceIOBlockSize: 512
AudioDeviceName: Built-in Output
AudioDeviceNumberOfChannels: 2
AudioDeviceSampleRate: 44100
Build: Uninitialized
CoreImage: true
GL_ACCUM_ALPHA_BITS: 0
GL_ACCUM_BLUE_BITS: 0
GL_ACCUM_GREEN_BITS: 0
GL_ACCUM_RED_BITS: 0
GL_ALPHA_BITS: 8
GL_BLUE_BITS: 8
GL_DEPTH_BITS: 24
GL_GREEN_BITS: 8
GL_MAX_3D_TEXTURE_SIZE: 2048
GL_MAX_TEXTURE_SIZE: 16384
GL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS: 8
GL_MAX_VIEWPORT_DIMS: 16384,16384
GL_RED_BITS: 8
GL_RENDERER: Intel HD Graphics 4000 OpenGL Engine
GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION: 1.20
GL_STENCIL_BITS: 8
GL_VENDOR: Intel Inc.
GL_VERSION: 2.1 INTEL-8.28.32
GL_EXTENSIONS: GL_ARB_color_buffer_float GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float
GL_ARB_depth_clamp GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_draw_buffers
GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex GL_ARB_draw_instanced
GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow
GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_framebuffer_object GL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB
GL_ARB_half_float_pixel GL_ARB_half_float_vertex GL_ARB_instanced_arrays
GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_multitexture GL_ARB_occlusion_query
GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite
GL_ARB_provoking_vertex GL_ARB_seamless_cube_map GL_ARB_shader_objects
GL_ARB_shader_texture_lod GL_ARB_shading_language_100 GL_ARB_shadow
GL_ARB_sync GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression
GL_ARB_texture_compression_rgtc GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_float
GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two
GL_ARB_texture_rectangle GL_ARB_texture_rg GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra GL_ARB_vertex_blend GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_vertex_shader GL_ARB_window_pos GL_EXT_abgr
GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate
GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract
GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint GL_EXT_debug_label GL_EXT_debug_marker
GL_EXT_draw_buffers2 GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_fog_coord
GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample
GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB
GL_EXT_geometry_shader4 GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters GL_EXT_gpu_shader4
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil GL_EXT_packed_float
GL_EXT_provoking_vertex GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_shadow_funcs
GL_EXT_stencil_two_side GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_EXT_texture_array
GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1 GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic
GL_EXT_texture_integer GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_EXT_texture_rectangle
GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent GL_EXT_texture_sRGB
GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_decode GL_EXT_timer_query GL_EXT_transform_feedback
GL_EXT_vertex_array_bgra GL_APPLE_aux_depth_stencil
GL_APPLE_client_storage GL_APPLE_element_array GL_APPLE_fence
GL_APPLE_float_pixels GL_APPLE_flush_buffer_range GL_APPLE_flush_render
GL_APPLE_object_purgeable GL_APPLE_packed_pixels GL_APPLE_pixel_buffer
GL_APPLE_rgb_422 GL_APPLE_row_bytes GL_APPLE_specular_vector
GL_APPLE_texture_range GL_APPLE_transform_hint
GL_APPLE_vertex_array_object GL_APPLE_vertex_array_range
GL_APPLE_vertex_point_size GL_APPLE_vertex_program_evaluators
GL_APPLE_ycbcr_422 GL_ATI_separate_stencil GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3
GL_ATI_texture_float GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip
GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_conditional_render GL_NV_depth_clamp
GL_NV_fog_distance GL_NV_light_max_exponent GL_NV_texgen_reflection
GL_NV_texture_barrier GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp
GL_SGIS_texture_lod

it appears the actual image is probably in place, but the *preview* is incorrect. clicking on the image to zoom in causes (the normal) "Loading...", followed by a zoomed in view of the *correct* image. zooming back out gives the normal view of the correct image. (*very* good to know!)

Bad quality with Sony HD Camcorder after import

I've posted this in the iMovie section, but did not get any response there. Since I need to decide soon if I should keep the camcorder or send it back, I hope any of you can help me with this problem:
I've just purchased a Sony HDR-CX105 camcorder to be used with iMovie 09. When I import the files from the camcorder, the quality of the clips after the import is just terrible (artefacts, lots of noise in plain dark areas). The odd thing is, when I preview the clips in the import window (directly from the cam), there is no noise at all and the quality (at least from what can be seen in the small window) is ok. Also when I connect the cam to my PS3 and Sony-LCD-TV it is ok and close to what I expected from it.
What happens here? It almost looks as if iMovie reduces the size from HD to YouTube quality. It is not even close to the HD clips I'm used to watch on my iMac. I already tried iMovie 06, but it can't detect the camera at all. I selected "full quality" at import btw.

It's possible your camera recorded the video at a lower bitrate setting. A lot of HDHDD camcorders encounter this issue these days. LCD TVs are designed to make your video look good, so it will probably look better on a TV than in your computer. Furthermore, you should check the original Quicktime movie capture in your iMovie file to see if there is any compression.

Very Poor Quality after Importing from Time Machine

I lost iMovies for some reason when I upgraded to Maverick. I imported my iMovie events from Time Machine into iMovie 10 but the quality is now horrible. Anyone know how to correct this? DO I have to import a differnet way?
Gratefully yours, Daniel

I'm not quite clear exactly how you imported - if your events were from iMovie 9 the correct procdure would be first to recover your iMovie Events and iMovie Projects folder from Time Machine.
You would then check that they open OK in iMovie 9 (which you should still have available in your Applications folder).
When this OK you can close iMovie 9, open iMovie 10 and update your media into iMovie 10.
See help at: http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov902ad0c31
If you have already done this, have you allowed time for iMovie 10 to re-render your clips in the background? (can take a long time). The quality immediately after importing may well be poor at first.
Geoff.

Lightroom library is almost 5gb after importing photos

I am new to Lightroom 5 and just imported about 4000 photographs. I just added them to Lightroom since they were already on my hard drive. I was amazed an confused why the Lightroom library file is almost 5 gb. I have yet to do anything else except import. I didn't think the library file would start to get large until I started processing and editing the files. What can I do to not have my library file get so huge, or is this what I can expect with Lightroom?

Minimal means a thumbnail-sized preview, so anything larger than that would be recomputed at the time you first view the photo. If you feel you'll be scrolling through all 4000 photos in Library Grid view at some point then compute Minimal previews.
I'd compute standard monitor-sized previews the first time you import a new folder of photos so you can do your tagging and flagging and rating and rejecting using the Fit or Fill zoom levels without waiting too long. If you find yourself needing to zoom in to check focus on many of the images then maybe computer 1:1 previews for the newly imported folder, otherwise zooming into 1:1 will require a preview to be computed rather than looked up from the previews folder.
Once you go to Develop the previews aren't used except as a placeholder until the on-the-fly rendering has occurred as you zoom in or out or flip to the next image in Develop.
You'll figure out what you want to do after working on a few folders of images, the tradeoff between getting started on any of the photos in the folder vs waiting longer as you move to each one for the first time.

Image Corrupted After Import into LR4?

Several times now I've imported images into LR4 from my External HD and and a few the files are corrupted. (See attached image)
I realize that LR is not suppose to do anything to the files on the disk when importing... but I've checked the RAW images from back-ups and they are not corrupted prior to import into LR. AFTER import into LR the actual file (on the external HD) IS corrupted in both LR and then on the External HD.
My workflow has been to copy files from my CF Card to the External HD (Western Digital 3 TB) ino the appropriate file... then go to LR4 and import.
Can anyone suggest what the problem is? I replaced the Card Reader... same problem occurs. I've checked numerous RAW files in Bridge... none are shown as corrupted (prior to LR4 import)

The corruption may or may not be “sudden”. If things look ok in Library then it happened sometime between initial preview building during import and you’re viewing the image in Develop.   If the last place things looked ok was in the Import thumbnail grid, then that is only showing the camera-embedded previews, so the images may be corrupted on the card, already.
The most important thing is to determine what the problem is, where the corruption comes from, so you can fix it. It could be the camera, the card, the camera-to-computer USB cable, the card-reader, the usb-slot, the computer-memory, the computer hard-drive, the USB-drivers, LR, itself, or some other software, like Microsoft Security Essentials has caused problems for some people in the past, although why is not really understood.
If the corruption is still occurring with the latest images, then you can experiment by changing one or more of the components mention above, and see if things are ok or still corrupted.
As far as recovery, if part of the image data is missing or zeroed out overwritten with random junk, there’s no way to get that bad data, back, from the existing file because the files, themselves, only have one copy of the data.
The three things I can think of to suggest are:
1)      If the preview in Library doesn’t show the corruption then there are ways to retrieve the previews from the LR preview cache as JPGs. This isn’t the same as the RAW data, but is better than nothing.
2)      If the camera-embedded preview has not been damaged—it is typically stored in front of the raw data so depending on where the damage is, it could be intact, then there are ways to extract the camera-embedded preview from the raw file, which again is better than nothing.
3)      The best thing is if you have a backup of the images that don’t show the corruption, either because the images are still on the card, or because you made a backup during import and the corruption happened sometime after import, then you could copy those over the top of the corrupted files and be ok.
These things may or may not be possible depending on your situation, though. If you don’t have any backups that are ok, and LR’s previews are bad, and the in-camera preview is tiny or also damaged, then you’ll entirely out of luck for those images. And things maybe really bad if it’s the hard-drive that’s failing and you have no backups of your images, there, either. It is important to determine what is wrong, and with the least effect on the images that are still good.

1:1 Previews Slooooow To Render After Import

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for