I have this problem with Aperture, for a very long time. I have 12MP and 16MP RAW files now and the Preview option is great for viewing my photos smooth, because using the RAW directly it takes to long to load.
The problem is many photos are just blurry when using this option, by pressing the P key or the dedicated button.
I tried many times to rebuild previews (they are set to a proper resolution for my monitor) but did not help.
So when a sample is blurry, simply pressing the P key again and letting the RAW reload, than pressing P again to get back in Preview mode, solves the problem. But next time I get back to those pictures, after restarting Aperture, they are blurry again.
Here are some screenshots with the problem.
First one is a 16MP RAW file, viewed in P mode. As you can see, it looks very blurry.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4657209/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-12%20at%209.00.54%20PM.jpg
Second one is the same, but after pressing P to get back in normal mode, let it load and then pressing P again to get back in Preview mode.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4657209/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-12%20at%209.01.06%20PM.jpg
Why don't they stay sharp ? After restarting Aperture, when coming back to that picture for example, the same problem occurs. This happens with over 30% of my library. Reimporting, rebuilding previews do not help. It seems to happen on files that hame heavier processing on them
I have mine set the same, which is the default. All the settings give me blurry previews. Like I said not on every file, but a few precent of them.
You don’t have to have a critical eye to see them, the just look ver, very blurry.
If you don’t have the same problem, I am starting to think there is something wrong with my video card, or my system is too slow to process the previews quick enough. It’s a 2008 Mac Pro 3200Mhz Quad Core with 8 Gb RAM.
Can you check something ? If you have a high ISO file, how does it appear in iPad after sync or in Preview mode ? It has chroma noise or it looks just like the RAW file loaded by Aperture, which by default removes chroma noise >
Thank you.
Dexter,
I just pushed a very high ISO file to my iPad, and it looks the same there as it does on the Mac—which is to say, just fine. No extra chroma noise, and as sharp as the original.
@PhotoJoseph
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My photos sync without those default RAW settings. Also, when I view them in Aperture they took several seconds until they load and apply the settings. Previews of course are displayed without the settings.
I have installed my OS many times since I started having these problems, I am now convinced that my hardware is slow. What hardware are you using ?
Dexter,
iMac 2.8GHz Intel i7. It’s about two years old.
@PhotoJoseph
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Dexter,
Since you pointed out that this tends to happen on files with heavy processing, make a new version of the photo and remove all the processing, and see if it has the same problem. If it doesn’t, then make another version of the processed image, and start removing Adjustments. If you have sharpening applied, start by removing that one. I have a feeling that one of the adjustments is making this happen.
@PhotoJoseph
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OK, did some further investigation. It happens on any type of file. The level of adjustments, or non, just seem to influence the level of blur in previews. But it happens even in 5 megapixel files with no adjustment.
It seems to be random, there is no specific file or files that always has blurry preview or not. These files also appear blurry on my iPad, which makes sense. I sync them with iTunes.
I use a 2008 quad core Mac Pro with 8gb of Ram and SSD hard disk for os. Library is on normal hard disk. I use 8800GT video card mac edition
Dexter,
I think I need to see this to fully understand. Please put a couple of known problem images AND a couple of perfectly fine images into clearly labeled albums and export the albums as a new Library, and post that to me. If you don’t have an easy way to share it you can use the DROPBOX on this site; just be sure to follow the instructions so I know what file is yours.
thanks
@PhotoJoseph
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OK, I made a small library with a few files, raw and jpegs, edited and not edited.
The effect si much more visible with RAW files. Also it seems that previews don’t get the default RAW settings for sharpness, NR and Chroma NR that Aperture applies automatically.
It is also visible on jpegs but to a lesser degree. It can also work in reverse. By that I mean a preview is sharp but when you de-activate preview mode, it becomes blurry.
Here is the library http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4657209/Test%20Library.zip
To be honest I begin to think this is a OS X bug in their resizing algorithms.
I also tried with files that are native exactly the same size at my screen (resolution). Still the same problem. I also started a small library in iPhoto, and it seems to suffer the same bug, sometimes previews are very blurry, sometimes they are not.
Dexter,
OK I think I know what you’re seeing. When you render an image to screen from RAW, it’s drawing it to be optimized for exactly the way it’s zoomed. However when you are viewing in Preview mode, you’re looking at the JPG that’s been created, which is being scaled down to screen size and not re-drawing from the RAW source. So for example, let’s say that your master image is 5,000 x 5,000 pixels, and you’re viewing it on screen at 1,000 x 1,000. It will render from the 5k image down to this 1k image and optimize, sharpen, etc. on screen to allow it to look its best. Now, you also create a Preview file that’s, let’s say, 2,500 x 2,500. When you view that at 1,000 x 1,000, it’s not reprocessing anything. It’s doing a quick scale of that image to make it fit in that space.
If you view your preview at 100% (tap the z key while in Preview mode), you’ll see the Preview file at its best. You can also drag the preview out of Aperture to the desktop, and open it in Preview.app to see how that looks. If you feel that isn’t very good, check your JPG quality in the Preview settings in Aperture and see what that’s set to [screenshot]. Try changing those settings, re-render the previews and see if you like the results better.
Ultimately the Preview function is not there to show final sharpness. As the name implies, it’s a preview of the image so you can determine whether it’s worth pursuing further. Notice also that even if you’re in the Preview mode and you open the loupe, the loupe always shows the RAW file rendered at its best.
I hope that helps. I don’t think you are having any problems or bugs, I just think that your’e expecting too much from the Preview setting.
@PhotoJoseph
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Unfortunately I cannot chose a resolution that exactly match my monitor for the previus, so nu matter what I choose, there will be upscale or downscale.
The interesting thing is that if I am in P mode, looking at a blurry preview, full acreen or not, if I toggle once to P off and then back to P mode, that blurry preview becomes sharp.
I played with the settings a lot, and I found that the only time the problem dissapear completely is when I choose the „don’t limit„ preview size option. The problem is my library will get huge because I get 5-6 megs previes, and my iPad cannot fit a library that large. The „half„ option also improve things but still get slight blur on some previews.
Previews are kinnda important to me, because when viewing photos without P activated, I have to wait a couple of seconds for the photo to load on RAW images an about a second on high res jpegs. Also the iPad iPhone syncs previes, so if they are burry, they look just like that, very bad.
Thank you for your support.
Funny, when using the OS Preview.app, it’s the other way around. If I export a 16MP file from Aperture, and the same file but at about 4MP, when viewing them full screen, in the OS X Preview app, the 4MP file look sharper. Crazy.
Dexter,
What you’re seeing is totally normal. You can’t judge the true sharpness of an image by a scaled JPG that’s again scaled to screen. And to be totally true, you can’t judge the sharpness at anything other than 100% scale — so again, you have to be in RAW and zoomed in or looking at a 100% JPG.
The reason that if you toggle Preview off then back on it gets better and stays better is because Aperture has just rendered to screen a temporary view, which it will keep displaying even though you’ve gone back to the Preview mode, until you move away from it and come back, at which point it’s discarded that temporary render.
I recommend a workflow where you judge composition in the Preview mode so you can move quickly, and if you want to check sharpness, open the loupe on that image (which again will always render from the RAW). You get the best of both worlds that way, and that’s precisely what the tool was designed for.
@PhotoJoseph
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I understand, and technically it makes sense, but i just don’t want my photos when using them for iWork, or on iPad, or when viewing slideshows, to look like this.
Dexter,
For iPad/etc. viewing I have my images set to “fit within 1920x1920” and I’ve never had an issue with sharpness, but maybe your eye is more critical than mine for iPad viewing. How does it look if you set the Preview render to “half size”? Typically scaling is sharper at even increments like that.
@PhotoJoseph
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