Why does Darktable ignore the embedded JPEG preview from my RAW files?
Asked 12/6/2020
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2 answers
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In Darktable 3.2.1, Lighttable seems to regenerate previews from the RAW data even when the preference for using the embedded preview JPEG is enabled/disabled. I expected it to use the JPEG embedded in the RAW file for faster previews, but it still feels slow.
Does Darktable only use the embedded JPEG in certain cases, and is there any workaround to make browsing/culling faster?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
2
darktable can only use the embedded JPG if it is large enough to cover the size of the preview (source).
I had the same issue with images of one of my cameras and indeed, when I reduce the window size, at some point it automatically switches to the embedded JPG. So the best solution in this case is probably to do the culling with a reduced window size and only maximise it for the actual processing.
Originally by user38328. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user38328
2y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Darktable does not use the embedded JPEG for all previews. It can use the embedded JPEG only when that JPEG is large enough for the preview size needed. If the requested preview is larger, Darktable falls back to rendering from the RAW data.
That’s why the preference may appear to have no effect: if your camera’s embedded JPEG is too small for your current Lighttable preview size, Darktable will still process the RAW. One user noted that reducing the window size caused Darktable to switch to the embedded JPEG at some point.
Also, Darktable is designed as a RAW editor, so once images are opened/processed, it generally uses processed RAW-based thumbnails rather than relying on the embedded JPEG.
Practical workaround: use a smaller Lighttable/window size when culling so the embedded JPEG can be used where possible, then enlarge the view only when editing. If overall performance is still poor, faster CPU/GPU hardware may help more than relying on embedded previews.
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