Why is preview for photos running slow in Mavericks?

The 10.9.2 update worked for me too. Using a Nikon D800 in NEF format. This was a life saver. FINALLY!!! It should fix everyone's problem. If it didn't try resetting your preview references and cache.

Just saw the message that the OS update 10.9.2 fixes the problem. I don't know, if I'm being thick but I went to

->Apple symbol

->About this Mac (OS 10.9.1)

->Software Update

That took me to the App Store and there was no update to 10.9.2. Am I missing something obvious? I'm in the UK, if that has any bearing...

NEF is fast as on 10.8.x here now after the Update. We have over 10 MacBooks and 5 iMac's here and all working well with NEF & CR2 files....

Quicklook is fast as in 10.8.x also with PSD & large TIFF files... all is smooth...

I am here to report that 10.9.2 indeed solves the problem of slow .CR2 loading on my 2012 15" rMBP. Hooray!

Interesting!

There is enough people saying that it has fixed their Preview problem to certainly seem like it has. And that is good for those of you it has.

For me Large JPGs (10MB) are still slow. Not as slow, but it still takes 1.5 seconds to switch between where in 10.8.5 it is .5 second or less.

For all of those who saying it is now just as fast you are all saying it has sped up RAW. What about high res JPGS?

Upgraded to 10.9.2 and still Canon CR2 files slowwww! Even in my early 2013 Retina 512gb SSD with 8gb of ram and no other programs opened.

Any advice?

my upgrade to 10.9.2 seems to have solved the issue, i haven't tested different format files yet.

one has to make the difference between preview opening quick THEN taking 1 or 2 sec to load a high res file (may depend on hard drive speed and memory) and getting the beachball for 1 or 2 sec BEFORE preview even opens (preview issue wer're discussing here)

I don't think we're talking about the speed of Preview opening. It's how fast preview is opening or switching between pictures when compared to 10.8.5 running on the exact same hardware.

For some it is fixed and others say it's not, like me. I thought I deleted the preference file to see if that would speed it up, but it didn't, unless I deleted the wrong file.

Wait a minute. I thought we're actually talking about "Quicklook", the preview app which you tap on the spacebar to preview files.

I was talking about the app Preview. I liked how it allowed you to rename, delete, undelete very quickly. You are right though Quicklook works much better.

I may use that instead of rebooting to 10.8.5. Either way, ML is still faster.

Thanks for the info on Quicklook.

Is Preview faster for you?

I don't find Preview significantly faster. I wasn't having problems with Preview file loading speed so I won't be able to notice if there is a slight responsiveness improvement during this update. Perhaps, it's easier to notice on a HDD based Mac?

I think it is relevant to talk about both "Quicklook" (when you tap on the spacebar to preview files) and about choosing a group of picture files and then opening them in Preview.app (or Förhandsvisning.app as it is called in Sweden where I live).

My experience is, after updating to 10.9.2, that the first way of viewing a file, by tapping the spacebar after marking a file directly in Finder, is a lot faster than before 10.9.2. Worth noting though, is that the speed is lower if you choose to view the picture in a larger window.

The second way to view files, by choosing a group of picture files and then opening them in Preview.app, still is slow for me when handling large .cr2 files (my files typically can be over 25 MB each, from my Canon EOS 5D Mark III). It's a little bit faster if I chose the mode when just showing the file names to the left of the previewed picture (compared to showing small thumb nail images to the left), but still to slow to be efficient enough for me.

I have come to the conclusion at this stage, that the most efficient way for me to quickly remove files that I don´t want to save on my hard drive, is to use the Quicklook (hitting the spacebar) and then using the arrow keys to go through all of my files. For the files I want to remove, I have saved a short cut command (in my case hitting the F19 key) that puts the file in the recycle bin.

Since the problem started in October (after the update to Maverick) I have chosen to install Adobe Light Room on my computer, where it also is fairly easy to quickly go through your pictures and delete the ones you do not want to save on your hard drive. But after updating to 10.9.2 I will use Quicklook in Finder instead for this purpose, since I think it is faster and easier than doing the same thing in Adobe Light Room.

I'm using an SSD based Mac too and I run both 10.8.5 and 10.9.2. Picture Files are on the same drive - All SSD. command A and then Command-O would open in Preview on my Mac the whole set in the folder and I could easily scroll through and delete as needed quickly.

I've just always used Preview, but I'll try the Quicklook. Maybe that will be my new routine and I can stop complaining so much about Preview. I do like the editing features in Preview too. Are they in Quicklook also?

After going through a bunch of yesterdays pictures I noticed in Quicklook Command-Z doesn't undelete pictures like it does in Preview. Is there another command?