Apple M1 Chip

[AllGold]

The status has not changed.  We are not currently working on M1-native version at this time.

-Kirk

Why not?!

Apple silicon has been out for over a year and Apple hasn't released any new machines using Intel processors in quite some time. Apple no longer sells ANY laptops with Intel processors and only sells a handful of other models that haven't yet been transitioned.

What are you waiting for? 

P.S.: the current non-M1-native version of PM is ok for smaller files, but chokes on 45Mp files from newer cameras.

[Kirk Baker]

The status has not changed.  We are not currently working on M1-native version at this time.

Why not?!

Apple silicon has been out for over a year and Apple hasn't released any new machines using Intel processors in quite some time. Apple no longer sells ANY laptops with Intel processors and only sells a handful of other models that haven't yet been transitioned.

It doesn't make development sense to us to port our current version to M1.  Our next version will be M1-native.

-Kirk

[Kevin M. Cox]

You know what question is coming next Kirk, I gotta ask it...

When can we expect the next version?

[Kirk Baker]

Kevin,

You know what question is coming next Kirk, I gotta ask it...

When can we expect the next version?

I cannot give you an estimate at this time.  At least not one that would be accurate.

-Kirk

[ahoward]

The status has not changed.  We are not currently working on M1-native version at this time.

-Kirk

Why not?!

Apple silicon has been out for over a year and Apple hasn't released any new machines using Intel processors in quite some time. Apple no longer sells ANY laptops with Intel processors and only sells a handful of other models that haven't yet been transitioned.

What are you waiting for? 

P.S.: the current non-M1-native version of PM is ok for smaller files, but chokes on 45Mp files from newer cameras.

Can you tell us more about how it is choking on these files? I created a sample folder of ~600 RAW files from a Nikon D850 on my 2017 iMac and it loaded up the previews as fast as I could view them. I didn't try on my M1 Macbook air but I would assume it would have similar or better performance given that the storage and RAM is much faster than on the iMac.

[jrp]

With 45Mpx DNGs is takes a couple over a second to get to / a loupe view from the grid view.

I'm surprised that generating a native app is more than setting the tool chain to produce native binaries and, for bonus points, migrating to use of the faster GPU capabilities.

Ingesting SD cards using photo mechanics seems much slower on the new MacBook Pro than it was on the old Intel ones.

[PaulW]

Ingesting SD cards using photo mechanics seems much slower on the new MacBook Pro than it was on the old Intel ones.

I have to agree with that view too. PhotoMechanic seems to be slower on the new MBP, than it was on my old Intel one. 

[tsdevine]

That's a bummer, my M1 Max MBP is coming on Thursday.   Hopefully my current MBP is old enough that PM will still seem to run faster.   It will definitely be a bummer if it's slower than what I have now.

-Tim

[Hayo Baan]

That's a bummer, my M1 Max MBP is coming on Thursday.   Hopefully my current MBP is old enough that PM will still seem to run faster.   It will definitely be a bummer if it's slower than what I have now.

I'm pretty sure it's faster then your MBP. The first M1s where already quite capable but the M1 Max outclasses those again. So I'm sure you'll be fine.

(Yes, it would be awesome to see an M1 native version of PM, but this will take some time. It's not a straightforward task and involves more than just changing the compiler options, third party libraries and cross platform considerations complicate things a lot)

[Kevin M. Cox]

I didn't notice any speed difference between my Intel and M1 computers when working with my normal Canon 1D files. But when I used a Sony A1 (50 MP) for a few games, the Intel was getting crushed and the M1 was much faster.

[ahoward]

With 45Mpx DNGs is takes a couple over a second to get to / a loupe view from the grid view.

I'm surprised that generating a native app is more than setting the tool chain to produce native binaries and, for bonus points, migrating to use of the faster GPU capabilities.

Ingesting SD cards using photo mechanics seems much slower on the new MacBook Pro than it was on the old Intel ones.

How long does an Ingest of the same images on the same memory card take on an intel Mac vs on your M1 Mac? And how does this compare to copying the contents of the card via Finder on the respective systems?

I do notice a small delay to bring up the preview when using Loupe on the contact sheet, but its about the same as on my intel Mac, not noticeably slower.

[jrp]

The other reasons for using native apps is that they use less power than interpreted ones. The reason that Photo Mechanic is fairly power hungry is that it pre-processes files for viewing / previewing.  I have no idea whether it would be less power hungry using the GPU directly rather than interpreted via Rosetta 2, but I imagine that it would require a substantial rewrite of Power Mechanic to make the best use of the M1 Silicon GPUs and it seems clear from the responses here that camera bits is not going to put resource into doing that, for whatever reasons.

[IanCharles]

Hi,
don't know if anyone else has had this but I'm finding PM occasionally hangs if its been opened after sleep. I have to force quit then wait a few seconds before restarting after whch it works fine. I'm using an M1 MBP which I bought in May 2021.
Any suggestions?

[Kirk Baker]

don't know if anyone else has had this but I'm finding PM occasionally hangs if its been opened after sleep. I have to force quit then wait a few seconds before restarting after whch it works fine. I'm using an M1 MBP which I bought in May 2021.
Any suggestions?

Just give it some time.  It is probably blocked while trying to read your disk(s) that are still coming back online from sleep mode.

-Kirk

[jrp]

On my MacBook Pro 2021, I find that Photo Mechanic seems to use 20-25% of a 10-core cpu when it I am just looking at a picture, not doing anything else.  It also takes about 9Gb of memory.  This seems a bit extravagent.