D70 on-camera sharpening vs. Photoshop sharpening

Hi folks,

I've had the D70 for a little while now, and I'm starting to explore more of
the features. One of these is the "Sharper" setting in the "Optimize Image"
menu.

Before I launch into a mini-research project (ie. trial-and-error), is there
any obvious reason why I would or wouldn't use this feature, as opposed to
the shooting with the default settings and then using the "Sharpen" feature
in Photoshop Elements?

Thanks!
J

From: "john"

I've had the D70 for a little while now, and I'm starting to explore more of
the features. One of these is the "Sharper" setting in the "Optimize Image"
menu.

Before I launch into a mini-research project (ie. trial-and-error), is there
any obvious reason why I would or wouldn't use this feature, as opposed to
the shooting with the default settings and then using the "Sharpen" feature
in Photoshop Elements?

Many experienced users prefer waiting to sharpen late in the flow because you
need different amounts of sharpening depending on the output file size. That
is, if you are resizing down for the web you want to do final sharpening after
resizing, of if you have to resize up for printing large you would typically
want to wait until you have the final size.

If you are happy with the file size (ie pixel dimensions) it doesn't matter
much, except of course if you've oversharpened in-camera you can't undo it.

Since the unsharpened files right out of the camera are often a bit soft it's
becoming more popular to sharpen A LITTLE in-camera and do a final more
aggessive sharpening at the end of the flow. For example a RAW converter I use
has defaults of Amt = 34 and Threshold = 3 with a weak radius (undefined),
which is very light sharpening for large files so you don't get any artifacts.

So there is no *one right way* to do it, except you want to avoid
over-sharpening in-camera since you can't reverse it.

Bill

"john" writes:

Before I launch into a mini-research project (ie. trial-and-error), is there
any obvious reason why I would or wouldn't use this feature, as opposed to
the shooting with the default settings and then using the "Sharpen" feature
in Photoshop Elements?

First, you probably shouldn't use Sharpen in Elements. Photoshop's
Sharpen filter has a fixed effect, and it's not ideal for most
circumstances. It's generally too extreme. You should be using Unsharp
Mask instead. Unsharp Mask has 3 settings that control its operation,
and it takes a bit of time to learn to use well, but with much more
control you can get much better results.

Having said that, you shouldn't use in-camera sharpening because

1) sharpening is usually best done *after* all other processing, not
before

2) Unsharp Mask is better than any fixed sharpening scheme.

Dave

Bill Hilton wrote:

From: "john"

I've had the D70 for a little while now, and I'm starting to explore more of
the features. One of these is the "Sharper" setting in the "Optimize Image"
menu.

Before I launch into a mini-research project (ie. trial-and-error), is there
any obvious reason why I would or wouldn't use this feature, as opposed to
the shooting with the default settings and then using the "Sharpen" feature
in Photoshop Elements?


Many experienced users prefer waiting to sharpen late in the flow because you
need different amounts of sharpening depending on the output file size. That
is, if you are resizing down for the web you want to do final sharpening after
resizing, of if you have to resize up for printing large you would typically
want to wait until you have the final size.

If you are happy with the file size (ie pixel dimensions) it doesn't matter
much, except of course if you've oversharpened in-camera you can't undo it.

Not true on a D70 if you shoot NEF. You can remove the sharpening later
if desired in Nikon Capture (and probably in PS too? I don't have a
modern version of PS and haven't tried its NEF capabilities yet).

I shoot NEF + JPG, with medium sharpening in-camera. For quick and dirty
viewing and test (4x6) prints with no postprocessing, I use the JPG's.
It's nice having them 'pre-sharpened' for evaluation.

For keeper images, and especially those I will be making large prints
from, I go into Nikon Capture with the NEF image file, remove the
sharpening, and edit and tweak as appropriate. Then I sharpen as my last
step, with Unsharp Mask.

Just my 2 cents,

B.A.S.

P.S. This workflow may change if and when I ever get around to buying PS CS.

Bill Hilton wrote:

From: "john"

I've had the D70 for a little while now, and I'm starting to explore more of
the features. One of these is the "Sharper" setting in the "Optimize Image"
menu.

Before I launch into a mini-research project (ie. trial-and-error), is there
any obvious reason why I would or wouldn't use this feature, as opposed to
the shooting with the default settings and then using the "Sharpen" feature
in Photoshop Elements?


Many experienced users prefer waiting to sharpen late in the flow because you
need different amounts of sharpening depending on the output file size. That
is, if you are resizing down for the web you want to do final sharpening after
resizing, of if you have to resize up for printing large you would typically
want to wait until you have the final size.

If you are happy with the file size (ie pixel dimensions) it doesn't matter
much, except of course if you've oversharpened in-camera you can't undo it.

Not true on a D70 if you shoot NEF. You can remove the sharpening later
if desired in Nikon Capture (and probably in PS too? I don't have a
modern version of PS and haven't tried its NEF capabilities yet).

I shoot NEF + JPG, with medium sharpening in-camera. For quick and dirty
viewing and test (4x6) prints with no postprocessing, I use the JPG's.
It's nice having them 'pre-sharpened' for evaluation.

For keeper images, and especially those I will be making large prints
from, I go into Nikon Capture with the NEF image file, remove the
sharpening, and edit and tweak as appropriate. Then I sharpen as my last
step, with Unsharp Mask.

Just my 2 cents,

B.A.S.

P.S. This workflow may change if and when I ever get around to buying PS CS.

In message ,
(Dave Martindale) wrote:

Having said that, you shouldn't use in-camera sharpening because

1) sharpening is usually best done *after* all other processing, not
before

2) Unsharp Mask is better than any fixed sharpening scheme.

How about equalizers working in the frequency domain?

Kai's Power Tools has one in an old version, but the highest frequency
is 1 pixel and the bands are all powers of two; not very flexible.
--


John P Sheehy

Dave Martindale wrote:
you shouldn't use in-camera sharpening because

1) sharpening is usually best done *after* all other processing, not
before

2) Unsharp Mask is better than any fixed sharpening scheme.

I mostly agree, but there is one thing to be said for sharpening
before JPEG encoding: it doesn't accentuate JPEG artefacts, which
later sharpening does.

Andrew.

Dave Martindale wrote:
you shouldn't use in-camera sharpening because

1) sharpening is usually best done *after* all other processing, not
before

2) Unsharp Mask is better than any fixed sharpening scheme.

I mostly agree, but there is one thing to be said for sharpening
before JPEG encoding: it doesn't accentuate JPEG artefacts, which
later sharpening does.

Andrew.