A 10 and 18 MP Pentax....very nice...

(Paul Mitchum) wrote in
:

John Francis wrote:

In article 42,
William O'Hara wrote:
"Marc Sabatella" wrote in news:Ub-
:

I shoot in RAW. I'm still not quite satisified.

This is a bit more surprising, then. What RAW processing program
do you use, and what kinds of sharpening controls does it give?

The camera program on XP.

Assuming that "the camera program" refers to the software supplied
with the camera (aka Pentax Photo Laboratory), then I'm not
surprised.

This is just a (not particularly good) RAW converter, with basically
no sharpening controls whatsoever; there is no sharpening being done.

You really need to get some kind of image editor.

Version 3 of Pentax Photo Lab is much improved over previous versions.
It's basically Silkypix re-wrapped to look like the old software. It's
a free update from Pentax.

It's a shame that it's so slow and cumbersome to use (on a Mac at
least), but the conversion is better.


The one that I have been using is 2.1 and offers a 'sharpening'
adjustment.

I'm going for version 3. Glad that I made a comment on this and got
the info.

thanks

--
---
William O'Hara
www.N1ey.com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
www.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list
ICRR

In article 42,
William O'Hara wrote:

John Francis wrote:

Assuming that "the camera program" refers to the software supplied
with the camera (aka Pentax Photo Laboratory), then I'm not
surprised.

This is just a (not particularly good) RAW converter, with basically
no sharpening controls whatsoever; there is no sharpening being done.


The one that I have been using is 2.1 and offers a 'sharpening'
adjustment.

Ah. They must have added that sometime after I stopped using it.
Basically I currently use Photoshop Elements (which I switched to
as soon as Adobe released a version of Camera Raw that supported
the Pentax RAW image file format), although I'm taking a look at
Lightroom for the added RAW conversion controls.

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"William O'Hara" wrote:

Assuming that "the camera program" refers to the software supplied
with the camera (aka Pentax Photo Laboratory), then I'm not
surprised.

The one that I have been using is 2.1 and offers a 'sharpening'
adjustment.

I've got 2.0, which I imagine is similar. The sharpening adjustment is
extremely rudimentary, and does not provide much if any more control
over sharpening than the in-camera adjustment. It's a single slider
with seven positions (-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3).

By comparson, ACDSee Pro - not normally considered a top-of-the-line RAW
processing program, but it's what I'm using, since it does so many
different things so well - provides independent controls over the
"amount", "radius", and "threshold" of sharpening to be applied, with
the "amount" slider going from 0 to 300. The amount of control it gives
is *enormous* compared to Pentax Photo Laboratory 2.0. If upgrading to
version 3.0 of the Pentax software - which I gather includes the
well-regarded SilkyPix processor - gives you anything similar, I think
you'll be thrilled.

Be aware, though, that there are reasons why Pentax elects not to
sharpen much by default. Sharpening doesn't come for free - it
generally introduces undesirable artifacts into a picture, particularly
along edges. There is a tradeoff to make between two more or less
equally unpleasant alternatives (softness and edge artifacts), and the
"right" decision can depend on the size at which the image will be
viewed or printed. Other camera vendors do elect to sharpen
aggressively by default, counting on the fact that most people will
complain about softness and not notice edge artifacts, but it's a
one-way street: once you've over-sharpened an image, you can't go back.

Anyhow, as you play with the sharpening controls in Photo Laboratory 3.0
(or whatever software you end up with), do try to be aware of these
issues. Crank the controls all the way up once if necessary to see a
horribly garish example of what over-sharpening can look like (something
that 2.0 is unable to do - the maximum sharpening it applies is still
not very much). Then learn to look for the tell-tale signs of it as you
sharpen your images. Have the image sized appropriately as you apply
the sharpening. If you plan to have an image in multiple sizes - one
for web viewing, one for 4x6 prints, one for 8x10, say - you may well
find you want different amounts of sharpening applied to each.

---------------
Marc Sabatella


Music, art, & educational materials
Featuring "A Jazz Improvisation Primer"
http://www.outsideshore.com/

"Marc Sabatella" wrote:

FWIW, the latest rumors - which sound quite plausible to me - are that
the "K10D" to be announced next month at Photokina will be yet another
6 MP camera, not the 10 or 12 MP camera many were expecting.

I suppose I shouldn't be in the business of repeating the rumors from
dpreview over here, but since I posted the above, I'll observe that
"official" details in the forms of promotional materials from Pentax are
beginning to arrive at stores, and indeed, some stores have pricing info
and are already taking pre-orders. Apparently, the K10D *is* going to
be 10 MP after all. With in-camera shake reduction, of course, like the
K100D. Surprises allegedly include dust removal and Li-Ion battery.
Price under $1000 with lens. No real word how it will compare with
other 10MP cameras in terms of noise, but apparently Pentax has recently
taken out some patents in this area, so it could be good news. And the
Li-Ion battery, while not exactly an advantage in my book, should help
the AF performance and silence some critics. This could *really* put
Pentax back on the map.

---------------
Marc Sabatella


Music, art, & educational materials
Featuring "A Jazz Improvisation Primer"
http://www.outsideshore.com/