3 Replies Latest reply: Jun 12, 2013 6:48 PM by areohbee RSS

    Pros and cons of 'smart preview' over ordinary preview?

    nevetssf Community Member

      I'm pondering how to use smart previews, and the only drawback I can see of using smart previews instead of traditional previews is that there's no 100% smart preview - the images are downsized to 2048 for smart previews, whereas traditional previews can be 1:1.

       

      Aside from that, the smart preview seems better in every way.

       

      I guess they can work in tandem - the 1:1 preview rendering the image quickly in loupe view comes to mind - but does it make sense to generate both smart and traditional previews?

       

      Thoughts?

       

      Thanks in advance,

       

      - Steven

        • 1. Re: Pros and cons of 'smart preview' over ordinary preview?
          areohbee Community Member

          Smart previews are not a substitute for regular previews, nor vice versa... - they're used for *totally* different purposes:

          * regular previews: mostly library viewing.

          * smart previews: mostly develop module (and exporting...).

          Rob

          • 2. Re: Pros and cons of 'smart preview' over ordinary preview?
            nevetssf Community Member

            Yes, that makes sense, but there is some overlap, at least the way I'm using smart previews.

             

            They load very quickly because they're small, so for me they're often taking the pace of regular previews.

             

            But I get your point that they have different purposes. I'll have to work with the smart previews for a while and see if generating traditional previews on import makes a difference, or if I can live with just smart previews.

            • 3. Re: Pros and cons of 'smart preview' over ordinary preview?
              areohbee Community Member

              nevetssf wrote:

               

              there is some overlap

              Not much. Smart preview is unbaked substitute for raw file, used for develop/export (i.e. when rendering is done). Regular preview (aka library preview), is for a quick view - no rendering done.

               

              nevetssf wrote:

               

              so for me they're often taking the pace of regular previews.

              I dunno about "taking the place" but it's true if photos are offline, regular previews will be created by rendering smart previews, instead of raw file.

               

              Rob