Bug 146260

Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.5.5)
Installed from:    Debian stable Packages

To make the light-table feel faster it should first load
the reduced image and then (in a background thread)
the full image. Once that is loaded the reduced image is replaced.

Remark: Marcel already provided a patch for this.
Things are, however, a bit tricky, because the 
zoom levels are different for reduced size vs. full image.

Suggestion for this: the only relevant (for the user) image size
is the actual one. Reduced image sizes are an implementation detail.
Therefore also zoom levels given with respect to the reduced image
size are, in my opinion, useless.
Thus (for example) a 100% display should show the same region, regardless 
of preview or full image. 
(Of course, 100% for the reduced image would not look good - though
until one has zoomed in, the full image will be displayed soon).

Technically one could use a scale factor (which is 1.0
for the full image, and <1,  for the reduced image, corresponding
to the ratio reduced/full) whose inverse is used as multiplier 
for the slider values etc.

Note: this delayed loading would also be useful for the 
AlbumGUI preview mode (F3) and also for the image editor itself
(of course also including showfoto).