I noticed this issue back on 5.6.3, and now on 5.7.

Current LRT version 5.7
Current Adobe DNG Converter 14.0

When selecting the designated folder in the browser list on the left, the system runs through DNG program files in an endless loop. If I select the "Previews" circle to turn on Visual Previews, the progress bar goes from 0% to 2% and repeats.

I've read through as many posts I could find with the preview issue, but none of the recommended solutions have worked. The only work around is to convert all of my RAW files to DNG first.

log file example below:

[2021-10-26 19:26:26] DEBUG: Didn't get a visual preview. Trying fall back to Demosaicing.
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] ERROR: Producer died.
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] WARN: The producer-thread died. Relaunching.
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] ERROR: Could not communicate to ExifTool
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] DEBUG: Lost connection to Exiftool. Retrying...
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] ERROR: Could not communicate to ExifTool
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] DEBUG: ...trying again...
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] ERROR: Could not communicate to ExifTool
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] DEBUG: ...trying again...
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] ERROR: Could not communicate to ExifTool
[2021-10-26 19:26:26] DEBUG: giving up.

I don't think the CR3 files from the canon are the problem. I have files from that camera here that work perfectly.
First of all LRTimelapse seems not to be able to communicate with exiftool, which explain why everything goes south afterwards.
Something on your mac might be blocking the access. I recommend to allow full disk access to LRTimelapse, normally that should fix it, see: https://forum.lrtimelapse.com/Thread-wil...-and-later

This post was last modified: 2021-10-28, 03:08 by YevZakh.

Yeah, I had found that thread previously and followed all the steps. LRT and Adobe DNG converter have full disk access on my iMac 24" M1 model. Still no success

This post was last modified: 2021-10-28, 10:35 by Gunther.

Could you please send me an archive of 10 of those files that reproduce the issue via https://fromsmash.com/ or wetransfer to support(at)lrtimelapse.com

I cannot confirm that the R5 CR3 files cannot be read. Everything works fine for me with LRT and R5 files.

10 RAW photos sent.

If it is indeed the EXIF issue, are there specific steps I need to take to resolve it? I looked into the External Tools and see that the exiftool has the following pathway: /usr/local/LRTimelapse/exiftool

/Users/yev/Documents/LRTimelapse/exiftool < This is where I actually have the exiftool file, but to be completely honest, the installation/download and pathway for the exiftool was not all too clear. So I'm not even sure if I have the correct file/program for exiftool and not sure if it's even in the correct place.

Can you provide screenshot of your LRT "External Tools" page? I'm curious where your computer stores the ExifTool.

Thanks for sending overt those images. I can confirm that they don't work in LRTimelapse and in fact do LRTimelapse crash.
Did you set something special as image format in the camera? I wonder because other users report to be using CR3 files from the R5 fine in LRTimeapse. Please check if there are any Raw file settings in the camera that you could change to figure out what's going on.

Regarding Exiftool (also for others reading this thread):

You should't change the settings there to another exiftool version. Normally LRTimelapse brings it's own ExifTool in /use/local/LRTimelapse/exiftool for a reason. This makes sure it's a version that I've tested with LRT.
To fix this: please go to the LRTimelapse settings dialog and on the bottom left do "Reset Settings to Default". Then just to be on the safe side redownload the latest LRTimelapse and rerun the installer. https://lrtimelapse.com/download/
Now you should be on the defaults again which usually work.

Thank you for checking on the CR3 files. There is a setting that may be the culprit: HDR PQ Settings for the Canon RAW images. Can anyone else confirm if the HDR PQ settings are "ON" or "OFF"?

Mine have been "ON" this whole time, and perhaps that's the issue. I can troubleshoot more with some test images.

Please do so and let me know.