Wrong orientation/distorted view when zooming

[keydet]

Running PM 4.6.6 under Windows 7 x64.

I get an annoying quirk when previewing photos and using the zoom function.  Photos will display at the correct orientation and height/width ratio when not zoomed, but when zoomed (any factor) they are displayed sideways and distorted.  Happens somewhat randomly - i.e., one photo will display correctly but the next, taken a fraction of a second later, won't.  But it is consistent - photos that don't display correctly always display incorrectly when zoomed.  See screen captures below:

[Kirk Baker]

Running PM 4.6.6 under Windows 7 x64.

I get an annoying quirk when previewing photos and using the zoom function.  Photos will display at the correct orientation and height/width ratio when not zoomed, but when zoomed (any factor) they are displayed sideways and distorted.  Happens somewhat randomly - i.e., one photo will display correctly but the next, taken a fraction of a second later, won't.  But it is consistent - photos that don't display correctly always display incorrectly when zoomed.  See screen captures below:

What file format are they?  What camera produced them?  Have the images been modified in any way?  Can you send us a sample file that doesn't draw correctly?  Please click on my name to the left of this message, then click on the 'personal message' link.  I will respond with upload instructions.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[keydet]

For sure it happens with some JPG files and some JPG+NEF files from my D300s (NEF file alone displays correctly).  No modifications other than EXIF data through PM ingest.  I'll send you one JPG that does and one JPG that doesn't from the same burst.

[JS]

Hi,

I have the same problem sometimes on my macpro or my samsung netbook. I use Canon 5d. I surely didn't notice it lets say a year ago.
regards
John

[Hayo Baan]

I've recently seen similar behaviour on an old laptop with WIN XP (NEF files only) and PM 4.6.6 (taken with me on a trip instead of my Mac Book Pro).
Apart from the distorted images, some wouldn't zoom anymore (magnifying glass would hide underneath the image too). Never seen this behaviour on the Mac version I normally use so I reckon it is Windows only…

Cheers,
    Hayo

[skyfirered]

Any update on this issue?  Unfortunately, this issue is forcing me to look at other options (competitors) for image maintenance.

I am having the same issue as described above with Canon 1d Mk IV images on a Sony Vaio Z-series laptop running Windows 7 64-bit.  It makes it an extremely frustrating and slow experience to try to cull images from a shoot.

On my home desktop, also running Windows 7 64-bit and with the same set of image files, I do not have the same issue.

[Kirk Baker]

Any update on this issue?  Unfortunately, this issue is forcing me to look at other options (competitors) for image maintenance.

I am having the same issue as described above with Canon 1d Mk IV images on a Sony Vaio Z-series laptop running Windows 7 64-bit.  It makes it an extremely frustrating and slow experience to try to cull images from a shoot.

On my home desktop, also running Windows 7 64-bit and with the same set of image files, I do not have the same issue.

No updates on this issue.  I was never able to reproduce the problem.  Problems I cannot reproduce are exceedingly difficult to solve.

If you can help me reproduce the problem, I will fix it.

Can you do a test for me?  Set PM to empty its Disk Cache on quit and then quit PM.  Next, take one of the images that consistently displays incorrectly and put it into its own folder.  Launch PM again.  Browse the folder containing the single image and preview it in the method that produces the issue.  Close the preview window and leave PM open.  Next open PM's Preferences dialog and click on the Caching tab.  Make note of the location of the Disk Cache.  Open that path with Windows Explorer.  Look through the folders in the Cache folder and find the preview that was generated.  View it with some other application like Photoshop.  Is the orientation of the preview image correct or incorrect?

-Kirk

[EDIT: test question added]

[skyfirered]

I apologize for the delay in responding--I was in the field shooting.

I tested with a couple of files, and after moving each of the files into a separate folder and restarting Photo Mechanic, I no longer had issues viewing the files.  A single file in a folder always opened and zoomed correctly when first starting Photo Mechanic.

Additional details on the distortion/orientation issue:

• It generally happens when I'm trying to view a file zoomed at 100%--the image will either be rotated 90 degrees and stretched, or will stay pixelated and will not sharpen
• It generally doesn't happen within the first few files that I view
• Often, if the file remains pixelated at 100% zoom, rotating the file 90 degrees will allow the file to sharpen, after which I can rotate the file back and view it correctly.  However, when doing this, the file is generally rotated incorrectly if I open it in Bridge and BreezeBrowser.  Sometimes the rotation will NOT "un-pixelate" the image; these are the ones I tested as described above.
• If the file is rotated incorrectly and stretched at 100% zoom, rotating the file back will not fix the odd stretched look
• I have never seen the stretched look when the image is zoomed to fit the screen, only at 100%.  In general, the pixelated view is not visible when the image is zoomed to fit the screen, although if the rotation "fix" doesn't fix the pixellation, the image remains pixelated when zoomed to fill the screen and has black bars along the long sides of the image.

The key issue for me is that I rely on the 100% zoom to pick the sharpest image from a group, and cull anything that isn't pixel sharp.  I'm unable to do this because of the problems in viewing images at 100% zoom; for any given shoot, I run into the display issues fairly quickly.  It takes me much longer to review and cull using Bridge or BreezeBrowser (they are much slower and less elegant in quickly moving through images at 100% zoom), so I'm hoping the issue is fixable in Photo Mechanic.

[Kirk Baker]

I apologize for the delay in responding--I was in the field shooting.

I tested with a couple of files, and after moving each of the files into a separate folder and restarting Photo Mechanic, I no longer had issues viewing the files.  A single file in a folder always opened and zoomed correctly when first starting Photo Mechanic.

Additional details on the distortion/orientation issue:

• It generally happens when I'm trying to view a file zoomed at 100%--the image will either be rotated 90 degrees and stretched, or will stay pixelated and will not sharpen
• It generally doesn't happen within the first few files that I view
• Often, if the file remains pixelated at 100% zoom, rotating the file 90 degrees will allow the file to sharpen, after which I can rotate the file back and view it correctly.  However, when doing this, the file is generally rotated incorrectly if I open it in Bridge and BreezeBrowser.  Sometimes the rotation will NOT "un-pixelate" the image; these are the ones I tested as described above.
• If the file is rotated incorrectly and stretched at 100% zoom, rotating the file back will not fix the odd stretched look
• I have never seen the stretched look when the image is zoomed to fit the screen, only at 100%.  In general, the pixelated view is not visible when the image is zoomed to fit the screen, although if the rotation "fix" doesn't fix the pixellation, the image remains pixelated when zoomed to fill the screen and has black bars along the long sides of the image.

The key issue for me is that I rely on the 100% zoom to pick the sharpest image from a group, and cull anything that isn't pixel sharp.  I'm unable to do this because of the problems in viewing images at 100% zoom; for any given shoot, I run into the display issues fairly quickly.  It takes me much longer to review and cull using Bridge or BreezeBrowser (they are much slower and less elegant in quickly moving through images at 100% zoom), so I'm hoping the issue is fixable in Photo Mechanic.

I wonder if PM is running out of memory when trying to generate the previews...  What do your Caching settings look like?  Especially the Memory Cache setting.  More isn't better.  If yours is set really high (> 768MB) then try lowering it to something like 512 MB.

-Kirk

[skyfirered]

Kirk, that may do the trick.  I reduced cache from 1024 MB to 512 MB, and I was able to browse and rate an entire folder (2,000+ images) with no issues.  Thank you for the assistance; I feel silly for dealing with the issue for so long with such an easy fix.

I will be stress testing PM again this weekend; I will post again if the problem recurs.  Thanks again for the help.  Much time and frustration will be saved if this works.