OM Workspace is very slow on my laptop, meaning that when I move a slider I have to go veeeeeery slowly to see the effect. Worse than that, when I make changes, the image often appears pixellated/low res and will not resolve at all - if I save it, the saved file looks fine.
From what I’ve read, this is a common problem and comes down to system requirements. I use a laptop and don’t want to add an external graphics unit or pay for other bells & whistles. I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether there’s any settings I can tweak that might make OMW workable for me? If not I think I’ll pay for Photoshop Elements. (My choices are limited as a lot of free/cheap editors don’t seem to have been updated yet for ORF files from the OM5.)
I can’t help with the OM Workspace settings but if you are considering Photoshop Elements then you might like to try the free 30 day trial of Affinity Photo and see what you think.
Good Luck
Stephen
Thanks Stephen - I actually already have Affinity, but it’s not working with orf files from my OM5 (was fine with orf from my TG6). Though as I had to do battle with plug-ins for the PSE trial I have to make it work with OM5 orfs it would be worth me invevstigating this further… I only have Affinity V1 and would have to pay to upgrade to V2 if needed…
I’ve also had a problem with corrupt images (of jpegs) from Affinity which I should try to investigate. Affinity does have the drawback that it’s not easy to compare photos, and as I take a lot of shots of tiny insects that I then have to zoom in on to compare and decide which is the best, easily doing this is an important feature for me.
Sigh. I’d probably have stuck with editing jpegs in MS Photos if it didn’t refuse to show, and actually strip off, the EXIF data from OM5 jpegs (again, it was fine with those from the TG6).
Looking at the specs of your laptop I see no reason for OM Workspace being slow.
OM Workspace does have a quirk for sometimes showing an image pixelated at 50% size. Increasing or decreasing the zoom level will render the image properly.
I benchmarked an 11th gen i7 with and without GPU and didn’t really notice a difference in the speed of rendering an image. So even if you wanted to throw money at the problem I doubt an external GPU would help. The one thing which could be slowing you down, is if you stored your images on a slow ssd or slow external drive.
The next bit of bad new is, that although I can highly recommend Affinity Photo for the additional features it’s not noticeably faster on my previous or current laptops. All other programs I tried are also not noticeably faster or slower rendering an image. My experience with the Adobe offerings are that they are resource hogs, not what you are looking for if you want something speedy.
OM Workspace has some settings which influence the speed an image is displayed. Also displaying a JPEG is much faster than displaying an ORF. One of my reasons for me to take pictures in JPEG + RAW is for faster culling.
How fast an effect is rendered is mostly dependent on the speed of the CPU but also partially dependent on the graphics driver. If rendering an effect with your fairly fast laptop takes ages, then something might be off. However, slow is very subjective. May I suggest you time how long an effect takes on your computer and I can then compare that with mine.
I use Faststone Image Viewer for viewing, sorting and comparing Images. I then use the edit in external programme menu option in Faststone for opening the image in my editing software.
If the laptop is still running a HD, moving to an SSD (1T) will make a very discernible difference in EVERYTHING. Can be had for about $60 USD and up. Usually an easy swap.
Transferring the system and data is quite easy and quick, depending on how much data you have. Many freeware programs to do this.
I did that to my I7 with 16 GB, made a HUGE difference!
Honestly, ‘optimizing’ has very little effect on performance, these days. It does help a bit with stability, but all that depends on what your system is running. Not an easy exercise.
Thx, Yuri
EDIT: You’ll also need a cable to transfer. If the laptop is within the past 8 yrs, the HD is likely a SATA drv, other end would be USB 3…
Thanks acfo. Response times with ORF files, for moving the slider from 0 exposure compensation to 100, are about 3-4 seconds. (It’s variable though - I just tried a different photo and it was quicker.) Saturation, etc., seems to be similar, as does resolving the image when I zoom in. It is variable, though, and sometimes the image simply won’t resolve, however long I leave it. The delay with the sliders means it’s a pain to find the point that is ‘just right’.
In Photoshop, the image changes instantly as I slide the various sliders. and now I’ve worked out how to convert ORF files to DNF so they work with Affinity, Affinity responds quickly too. So it does seem to be an OMW issue.
OK, I think I found the reason: If I have Photos → Display RAW images with priority on speed disabled my rendering times are similar to yours.
If I enable Display RAW images with priority on speed then my rendering times for exposure compensation, contrast, and saturation are so fast, I can hardly time them (maybe a couple of 100 ms). Dehaze is about 1 second, clarity is about 2 seconds.
Concerning the image not resolving, is that on 50% zoom level? If yes, that’s an issue that’s been around since the dark ages which I have only seen at 50%. Set the zoom level to something else (e.g. 49) and that should not happen any more.
Oh you got me all excited there… but I already have that enabled. Tomorrow I might try a raw photo from my TG6, just in case it’s camera dependent. And google ‘How to speed up OM Workspace’ and similar…
I’m not sure what the previous zoom factors were. It seemed to happen too often for it to be 50% each time, but I’ll monitor it in the future.
What a pity. That would have been an easy explanation.
I have Workspace 2.1.1. Your laptop specs are roughly the same as mine, only that most of my laptops have more ram than yours (32GB, 48GB and 64GB). Except for the more cpu intensive settings like clarity and dehaze my rendering times are a couple of 100 ms.
I don’t normally believe in recommending this: How about deinstalling, rebooting and reinstalling Workspace.
Strongly recommend picking up a desktop computer if you don’t have one. Like a Mac Mini with Apple Silicon or an inexpensive Windows or GNU/Linux equivalent from Beelink.
If you’re on the road, of course you’ll make do with your laptop. But when at home… use a desktop as your primary computer. You’ll be so, so happy you did.
Desktop machines, even small ones (versus big towers), are built differently than laptops. They are designed with the assumption of AC power availability, so they usually have speedier processors with more muscle. They may also come with more memory.
Apps like OM Workspace are much happier on a desktop!
In my experience there’s a huge difference between even a pricey tricked out MacBook Pro and a Mac Mini. The MacBook Pro can quickly become strained under even medium sized loads… I can hear the fans going and the device gets hot. The Mini doesn’t do this. It stays quiet and doesn’t turn into a slowpoke after extended use.
I expect using a desktop would help, but unfortunately it wouldn’t work for me - because of muscle issues I actually work (and edit, read the news, use social media) with my laptop on my lap. And my post-processing is so minimal that to be honest, I could just stick with minimal tweaks to jpegs. I would at least like the opportunity to develop these skills.
I’m going to try Faststone today (have rejected Affinity and Rawtherapee as I don’t want the added faff of converting to dng) and if I don’t get on with that, I’ll fork out for Photoshop Elements which I have on trial at the moment.
This should work without conversion: You can add Affinity (and a lot of other apps) as “registered application” to Workspace and launch it from the Workspace Photos → launch registered Application menu.
I don’t have Affinity v2. But I seem to remember discussions saying that v2 did not work in the way v1 did and that it caused problems for people who had linked v1 to other software. So linking to your v1 may just work without the additional bits needed for v2.
