"black block" in middle of random files in Lightroom?

[TRCPhoto]

Hello all! 

I've recently added a Fujifilm 50Sii to my arsenal and am experiencing this odd phenomena that I haven't been able to find anything about online. I'm using Lr Classic 13.5 on a 2020 MacBook pro. Once importing from the memory card is done (or as it is populating really) random images will have a large black box down the middle of the image (see attached screenshots, the third image is the same file opened in Develop via crop function) in the Library's smaller previews, on the larger selection, and in usually in Develop mode. Sometimes when I move to Develop the box goes away and stays away. Sometimes it does not go away, and sometimes it goes away but then reappears when I switch back Library.  

 

Most of the time I can delete the files and reimport, but I'm having to do this several times to ultimately "get" all the files from a shoot. What is going on? Is this an issue with Lr?  Is it an issue with my graphics card? Should I not be using smart previews, or is it something else? This only happens to maybe 5% of the images, but it's a real pain... 

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[jerryy]

What happens if you use the Finder or Image Capture to move the images from the card over to the drive?

Both of these should show you image previews for files on the card, the finder should show you file previews for images on the drive as well. The thumbnails can take a minute or five to generate depending on how many files are on the card.

It could be that there are so many large files that LR is having a hard time generating previews as you are scrolling around that it cannot keep up and you see the black background instead of the image thumbnail.

The next time it happens, use the Finder to go into the library where the files are stored and see if the Finder will let you take a look at the image. If the image is complete, then your image is safe, but may require fiddling with LR to get it displayed.

A lot of apps use Apple’s built-in operating system procedure to generate their thumbnail previews, rather than make them theirselves. If the os gets bogged down trying to generate a lot of thumbnails for large files, the app bogs down in displaying them. And GFX files are large.

p.s. Welcome to the forum.

Edited January 16, 2024 by jerryy

[TRCPhoto]

Thanks Jerry! 

 Sorry I let this topic slide because the few files I couldn't recover were dogs anyway. However, I took the Fuji out for a spin today on a very important shoot and the Black Bar of Death is back and worse than ever! I can view them in Finder and open in Adobe Camera Raw, but that is such a pain to do with each one... 

Before the bar would go away usually when I'd open in Develop mode but now that isn't even working. As it stands now I can only view/edit 5 out of 32 images! WTF? 

Is this a LrC issue with Fujifilm RAF?

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[jerryy]

I do wish I had an easy answer for you. Based upon what you are describing, it does sound like Lightroom is using the operating system procedures to generate previews/views rather than doing it on its own.

It gets worse because normally the operating system really only does that on a temporary basis so that its own database of thumbnails does not get too large — say you have a folder of several hundred images, every time you open it, the Finder regenerates new thumbnails for those images because it is easier and takes less space than storing the thumbnails for multiple folders each holding several hundred images; saving that many would really bog things down. Programs that rely on using the operating system to get the previews/views are supposed to store the results they get as needed.

Try turning off everything else you can that is running in the background such as mail apps, messaging apps, etc., anything you can turn off, do so. This allows the operating system to devote its resources (speed and memory) to your previews/views.

It does sound like your data is safe, which is great news. Writing a letter or two to Adobe may get you a better response, but it could also end up with someone telling you to get a newer machine with more memory and drive space.

Edit: You may have some better results from putting only a few images in a folder — split the group into several / many folders and open them that way. It will take longer to go through the entire group but smaller sets puts less strain on the operating system.

Edited January 26, 2024 by jerryy