Photo Mechanic 4.4.3.1 beta comments

[Neil MacAvoy]

Kirk,

I just tried out 4.4.3.1 Beta loading large TIFF files. The problem that we talked about with slow TIFFs on my multiprocessor system is now gone, performance is excellent, better than the single-CPU version you provided before.

Thanks for your fine support on this, I'm a very happy camper.

-Neil

[Kirk Baker]

Kirk,

I just tried out 4.4.3.1 Beta loading large TIFF files. The problem that we talked about with slow TIFFs on my multiprocessor system is now gone, performance is excellent, better than the single-CPU version you provided before.

Thanks for your fine support on this, I'm a very happy camper.

-Neil

It should be faster and I'm glad that it turns out to be the case.  We improved the speed of loading TIFFs and JPEGs, and now that you are running a multi-threaded version again, PM starts scaling photos while another CPU loads the next one which gives us maximum throughput.

Good to hear that this has solved your issue.  I can verify that it is much faster on all of my multi-proccessor systems, be they Mac or Windows.

Thanks again for your help in figuring out what was going on.

-Kirk

[carynlevy]

Hi Kirk-
I did the speed test exactly as you suggested.
Ingest / apply caption / rename / generate finder thumbnail / empty cache / restart after each test.

* Specs: Dual 2.7GHz G5 with 4.5 gig of RAM running 10.4.6
   Copy Specs: 2 gig card with 1.89 gig used, 158 R+J
   I used a stopwatch to accurately keep track of time.
   In 4.4.3 the ingest took 7:36:08
   In 4.4.3.1 the ingest took 7:31:01
   In 4.3.8 the ingest took 3:35:02
Any thoughts now that I've run the test to give more accurate results?  Why is there such a major increase in time between 4.3.8 & the others?
Thanks.
Caryn
www.carynlevy.com
www.pgatourimages.com

[Kirk Baker]

Hi Kirk-
I did the speed test exactly as you suggested.
Ingest / apply caption / rename / generate finder thumbnail / empty cache / restart after each test.

* Specs: Dual 2.7GHz G5 with 4.5 gig of RAM running 10.4.6
   Copy Specs: 2 gig card with 1.89 gig used, 158 R+J
   I used a stopwatch to accurately keep track of time.
   In 4.4.3 the ingest took 7:36:08
   In 4.4.3.1 the ingest took 7:31:01
   In 4.3.8 the ingest took 3:35:02
Any thoughts now that I've run the test to give more accurate results?  Why is there such a major increase in time between 4.3.8 & the others?

I don't know yet.  I do know that 4.3.8 was incapable of captioning RAW files in their data forks, and could only caption the resource forks which is indeed much faster.  So there is that difference.  I will perform the tests myself, 4.4.3.1 vs. 4.3.8 and see what I get.  I won't bother with 4.4.3 since 4.4.3.1 is the only version that I can improve since 4.4.3 has already shipped.

However, I thought you were going to re-run the copy tests that you did earlier, but with the reboots in between?

Thanks for testing,

-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

Hi Kirk-
I did the speed test exactly as you suggested.
Ingest / apply caption / rename / generate finder thumbnail / empty cache / restart after each test.

* Specs: Dual 2.7GHz G5 with 4.5 gig of RAM running 10.4.6
   Copy Specs: 2 gig card with 1.89 gig used, 158 R+J
   I used a stopwatch to accurately keep track of time.
   In 4.4.3 the ingest took 7:36:08
   In 4.4.3.1 the ingest took 7:31:01
   In 4.3.8 the ingest took 3:35:02
Any thoughts now that I've run the test to give more accurate results?  Why is there such a major increase in time between 4.3.8 & the others?

My testing did not find an appreciable difference between 4.3.8 and 4.4.3.1.  Here are my specifications:

2.0 GHz Dual G5 2.125 GB RAM running Mac OS X 10.4.6.
Lexar RW019 Firewire Compact Flash Card reader, with a 80x 4 GB card, 3.1 GB used.
Stopwatch used.
Applying IPTC Stationery Pad, renaming with: {datemil}_{seqn}, generating Finder icons, restarting each time, not showing contact sheets during Ingest.

4.3.8 took 7:55
4.4.3.1 took 8:02

A difference of seven seconds which is basically insignificant.  I would have to make multiple runs to make sure that 4.4.3.1 isn't indeed faster than 4.3.8.

Did you have a Secondary Ingest path when you tested 4.4.3.1 and only a Primary Ingest path when testing 4.3.8?  What kind of card reader do you have and what is its interface (Firewire, USB 1, USB 2, CardBus)?  What is the speed of the card itself?

Thanks,

-Kirk

[carynlevy]

Sorry Kirk-
Just when I thought I had covered all the bases...
I was using a Lexar Firewire Compact Flash Card reader (the little black & silver one).
The card speed is 120x.
The tests were all the same...primary ingest path only.
I'd be happy to run the copy test as well.  The reason I chose to ingest was because that is how I would usually dump the card.  Also, because you wrote:
"In order for the tests to be valid you will have to restart your system between each test and you have to be very rigorous in how much time you spend inside the contact sheet before you start the copy.  Building the Finder thumbnails can be very fast if a suitable image has already been generated by the normal workings of the Contact Sheet."
I figured it was more accurate to ingest instead.
It's crazy that your tests results were so much different than mine.  How could that be?
Let me know if you'd like me to perform the test again using "copy."  Thanks.
Caryn
www.carynlevy.com
www.pgatourimages.com

[Kirk Baker]

Sorry Kirk-
Just when I thought I had covered all the bases...
I was using a Lexar Firewire Compact Flash Card reader (the little black & silver one).
The card speed is 120x.
The tests were all the same...primary ingest path only.
I'd be happy to run the copy test as well.  The reason I chose to ingest was because that is how I would usually dump the card.  Also, because you wrote:
"In order for the tests to be valid you will have to restart your system between each test and you have to be very rigorous in how much time you spend inside the contact sheet before you start the copy.  Building the Finder thumbnails can be very fast if a suitable image has already been generated by the normal workings of the Contact Sheet."
I figured it was more accurate to ingest instead.
It's crazy that your tests results were so much different than mine.  How could that be?
Let me know if you'd like me to perform the test again using "copy."  Thanks.
Caryn
www.carynlevy.com
www.pgatourimages.com

What camera do you have?
Could you open up the 4.4.3.1 Preferences, click on the Preview tab, and then uncheck the "RAW Rendering" checkbox?  Then try your Ingest test again.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[carynlevy]

Hi Kirk-
I'm using Canon 1D MarkIIN.
FYI, I ran the test again as you suggested, unchecking the RAW rendering box (but when it was checked, it said use jpg preview for speed...if that makes a difference).
Everything is the same specs as before (I used the same card).  The new time is 4:04:04.
Thanks,
Caryn
www.carynlevy.com
www.pgatourimages.com

[Kirk Baker]

Hi Kirk-
I'm using Canon 1D MarkIIN.
FYI, I ran the test again as you suggested, unchecking the RAW rendering box (but when it was checked, it said use jpg preview for speed...if that makes a difference).
Everything is the same specs as before (I used the same card).  The new time is 4:04:04.

OK, then you have CR2 images, like me.

That time seems much improved.  Did you restart before the test?

Thanks,

-Kirk

[carynlevy]

Yes, I restarted.  What does unchecking the RAW rendering box do?
Caryn
www.carynlevy.com
www.pgatourimages.com

[Kirk Baker]

Yes, I restarted.  What does unchecking the RAW rendering box do?

It means it won't attempt to render the RAW file at all and will use the embedded JPEG preview as the source image.  I found a place in the Finder icon code where it could have allowed it to use the RAW rendering if it was enabled.  I have since fixed that.

I retested and got no speed increase, however.

-Kirk

[jgrove]

Hi i have a bug in this beta for windows.

I cannot get the navigator window to dock under the favourites window and vice versa, the window just flashes at me and stays were it is. I used to be able to dock one under the other on the left hand side.

[Kirk Baker]

Hi i have a bug in this beta for windows.

I cannot get the navigator window to dock under the favourites window and vice versa, the window just flashes at me and stays were it is. I used to be able to dock one under the other on the left hand side.

Nothing was changed in the docking behavior between 4.4 and 4.4.3.1.

Try holding down the Shift key when you launch PM again,  It should reset your workspace back to the default layout.  Then try it again.

HTH,

-Kirk

[jgrove]

Hi i have a bug in this beta for windows.

I cannot get the navigator window to dock under the favourites window and vice versa, the window just flashes at me and stays were it is. I used to be able to dock one under the other on the left hand side.

Nothing was changed in the docking behavior between 4.4 and 4.4.3.1.

Try holding down the Shift key when you launch PM again,  It should reset your workspace back to the default layout.  Then try it again.

HTH,

-Kirk

Yep that fixed it, Thanks!

[carynlevy]

Hi Kirk-
I've been going bonkers for a few days trying to figure out a problem I've been having with 4.4.3.1.
FYI - I'm on a Dual 2.7GHz G5 with 4.5 gig of RAM running 10.4.6 and I also tried this on an Intel iMac 2Ghz with 2 gig of RAM running 10.4.6.
When I copy pictures, with the "create finder icons" box checked, here's what happens on both systems:
If I click copy (and not move/delete), the finder icons get generated.
If I click copy, then check the box that says move/delete, the finder icons are NOT generated.
It's been driving me crazy trying to figure out why I get icons sometimes, but not always.
Something else I noticed in this new version (or maybe it's been like this in previous versions, but I haven't tried it lately)...
Here's the scenario:
I have a folder full of images with NO icons.
I want to generate icons.
In the past, if I would copy/move images into the same folder where they originated, it would add the append letter (as I have checked in preferences) to the file name to avoid overwriting. This always caused me to have to copy/move to a new folder to avoid having the letter added to the name. Now with the tests I've been running, it's no longer necessary to copy/move to a new folder. If I copy/move from the origin folder to the origin folder (just for the purpose of generating a thumbnail), it no longer appends the name...AWESOME.
I know that the beta expires tomorrow.  Is there gonna be another beta, or will something be released?
Thanks,
Caryn
www.carynlevy.com
www.pgatourimages.com