Q: Incredibly slow rendering when editing raws from the new Nikon D800

Hi,

   I had the same experience when changing from my Nikon D40 to a D5100.  The raw image file went from 5MB to 20MB and the responsiveness of brushed in adjustments declined noticeably.  It's still usable, but there are more page outs happening than there used to be.

Maybe do some benchmarking of a D800 raw versus another camera raw versus a similar sized tiff????

I don't know how relevant you will find this info about my workflow but here goes. After purchasing my D800 I discovered that I could not use the cd to process the raw files because the 10.4.1 os of my iMac was too old.

My macBook has os 10.6.8 and could not use that either. Both have 2gb of ram. Not being able to spend more money on any type of upgrade of hardware, I decided to use Adobe DNG converter. There was a version I could use on the macBook, so I downloaded that.

So the workflow is like this:

1. Download from card to folder on desktop of macBook.

2. Do DNG conversion in a  folder in USB external hard attached to macBook. This doesn't take as long as I thought it would. Btwn 10-15 mins for 100 or so raw images.

3. After conversion, I'm able to work on either computer using Aperture. Processing goes fairly quickly with no real issues, only an occasional "spinning ball of death".

I don't think that this is the ideal way to do work, but it didn't cost me anything. I do believe however that the conversion to DNG is not as color accurate as being able to dump everything into Aperture. But I can live with this and make the necessary adjustments. Creating the new tiff files to me my client's requirements (400 ppi) at native size results in files over 100mbs.

There is a fair amount of moving files around and I had to get rid of a lot of old apps that were taking up space, but didn't gain as much hard drive memory as I would have liked.

The take away here is that I found a way to make it all work. A interesting observation is that the .dng files seem to cause less lags in processing than the native .nef.

I hope that this helps some of you out there. If anyone has a suggestion that might improve all of this, I'm all ears.

I don't know how relevant you will find this info about my workflow but here goes. After purchasing my D800 I discovered that I could not use the cd to process the raw files because the 10.4.1 os of my iMac was too old.

My macBook has os 10.6.8 and could not use that either. Both have 2gb of ram. Not being able to spend more money on any type of upgrade of hardware, I decided to use Adobe DNG converter. There was a version I could use on the macBook, so I downloaded that.

So the workflow is like this:

1. Download from card to folder on desktop of macBook.

2. Do DNG conversion in a  folder in USB external hard attached to macBook. This doesn't take as long as I thought it would. Btwn 10-15 mins for 100 or so raw images.

3. After conversion, I'm able to work on either computer using Aperture. Processing goes fairly quickly with no real issues, only an occasional "spinning ball of death".

I don't think that this is the ideal way to do work, but it didn't cost me anything. I do believe however that the conversion to DNG is not as color accurate as being able to dump everything into Aperture. But I can live with this and make the necessary adjustments. Creating the new tiff files to me my client's requirements (400 ppi) at native size results in files over 100mbs.

There is a fair amount of moving files around and I had to get rid of a lot of old apps that were taking up space, but didn't gain as much hard drive memory as I would have liked.

The take away here is that I found a way to make it all work. A interesting observation is that the .dng files seem to cause less lags in processing than the native .nef.

I hope that this helps some of you out there. If anyone has a suggestion that might improve all of this, I'm all ears.

OP: Have you performed the (simple) test for RAM page outs that I described? If so what were the results?

-Allen

Welcome to huge MB files ... I am on lighroom and often make a coffee while rendering images ... Photomatics and PS are also slow ... 8 gig of ram 10.7.4

It is all about file size.

I am thinking computer up-grade soon ... or take up sailing ... just a slow.

Cheers.

Toby

Once I have Aperture 3.3.2 loaded and project selected, my D800E RAW files finish loading in about 3-5 seconds, as I click from one image to another.  D800 files aren't really taking much longer to load or work with than D700 NEF files.  Editing with Nik plug ins might be a little slower.

Results are always about the same with three different systems:

late-2011 macbook pro, 8Gb ram; libraries on internal SSD and external thunderbolt

spring-2012 macbook air, 8Gb ram, library on internal SSD

early 2008 macpro, 10Gb ram, library on internal RAID drives

vdrummer-

What are your experiences with the D800e? Do you find significant moiré or artifacts that you have to deal with in post-processing?

Cash is tight and I am debating whether the e version is worth the extra money to me. If cost was no object I would say it is, but cost is a big deal so I guess I am looking for excuses not to pay the extra 10%... 

Thanks.

-Allen

haven't seen any moiré at all - up to about 2,000+ images, mostly all landscapes.