Option for display of original photos (not cached)

[Lord_Helmchen]

As discussed in another thread (https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=3259.0), I'd like to have an option to let IM display the original file (or visual proxy - as it currently does) instead of cached image.

This was possible in IM3, but unfortunately isn't implemented in IM5.

Background:
I want to have all photos in my DB (about 130k) available for showing with my laptop - even when not online (therefore I also cache JPEGs, but that's irrelevant in this context).

I only have the photos "still in workflow" local on my notebook. All others are stored on my NAS.

While "in workflow", I'd like to have "100% display" to do all tasks like culling, rating, key wording/categorizing. Currently (also in IM3 times) I use FastPictureViewer for culling and rating. I'd like to optimize this and reduce needed tools.

But when I'm away I want to be able to show all photos I have in my DB. For this purpose "Full HD" (the resolution in which I cache photos in IM) is sufficient. The reason why not 100% - to save some space. Because it's even in JPEG a difference, if you store 22 or only 2 MPix.

IM3 has a function ""Use off-line cache images even if media is on-line". And that's what I'd like to have: take original photo if online, if not use cache (I'm aware of performance impact!).


For me this is a quite important feature request, as it would streamline my workflow and reduce necessary tools. Other opinions?

[relevanzraum]

At first sight this seems to be a good idea. I have also been thinking about it. I often make the mistake that I zoom into a picture in the viewer and I am very disappointed because it gets blurred. Of course it has exactly the resolution of my monitor and every zooming in does not show any more pixel than the cached file.
But: with one keystroke you can change to IrfanView, Photoshop or any of your standard programs wich load the original file with its full resolution.
I think the possibility to load the original file from the viewer would bring more confusion than help.

[ubacher]

I think the cleanest way would be for you to make a reduced size copy of your (otherwise) offline db.
This would (should?) not take any more space than caching.

Not sure what other "management" problems such an approach would cause.

[Lord_Helmchen]

Thanks for you comments. I don't think it would be too confusing for a user. What I'm interested in, is the IM3 behavior.

I know that I could open IrfanView pretty quick. My size of Cache is 1920x1080 (resolution of my notebook display). So this is sufficient to show photos when I'm away from home.

But at home I use a higher resolution screen and like to have go through photos e.g. in Slide Show. And there I see my photos currently only with a big black frame.

And caching all 130k photos in full resolution which dramatically increase needed storage on my notebook SSD.

[Mario]

All display features in IMatch work with cached files, with the exception of the Batch Processor.
Since 100% cache files are the default and the suggested setting, using an "original" would make no difference because IMatch would use the same processing
What you would get with your requested feature are cache files at "100%".

The entire render pipeline is complicated enough as it is, and I don't think adding more complexity to it in order to allow you to bypass the caching mechanism and loading a "full-size" RAW file is not worth the effort.

[Lord_Helmchen]

I'll compare size (for a snapshot) of my photos after my holiday (beginning tomorrow  ). Currently Cache folder size is about 24GB for about 130k files.

I think I'll try with a test DB and about 10k-15k photos.

[Mario]

Currently Cache folder size is about 24GB for about 130k files.

Yeah, well. IMatch offers a lot of options to control the size of your cache. E.g. limit it to a few GB. IMatch then purges old cache files automatically when it creates new cache files. Easy and automatic.

I doubt that you regularly browse 130,000 files. I'm sure you can save a few GB by just creating cache files for the files you look at.

Cache files are only needed for the files you are currently working with. IMatch can create cache files on-demand automatically (which is the default setting). You can purge the cache for entire folder hierarchies, which allows you to save disk space for files which you don't plan to look at in the near future.

[Lord_Helmchen]

I use my laptop for showing photos to friends sometimes on an ad-hoc basis. So not planned, just going though categories.

This means it is sometimes unplanned which photos I show.

An idea of a compromise: What about an option to limit automatic creation of cache to photos with a rating higher than 1, 2, ... stars? Because I probably won't show photos with less than 2 or 3 stars.

[Mario]

Oh, no. I won't go that route. The next user then wants cache files only for files with red and green labels. Or only for files with the keyword carrot...

You have always the opportunity to arrange your files in folders for which you create cache files, and other folders for which you purge the cache occasionally.

[Lord_Helmchen]

That won't make sense, as the photos are in same folders. What about a "Temporary Cache" category which can be populated either manually or by formula? Then you have just to care about one criterion, but users can decide what to exclude.

[Mario]

One of the design goals of IMatch 5 was to make things simpler. And I think that the caching mechanism is good as it is.

[Lord_Helmchen]

I find the IM3 way better.