How Sharp

[Bill Pierce]

With more and more digital cameras eliminating the anti-aliasing filter, the sharpening values we apply in processing digital images are growing smaller, both the amount and the radius. Old habits die hard, but I’ve seen very good results with a radius of .2, threshold of .3 and the noise reduction set to zero for luminance and color (Capture One). That’s a far cry, an almost unbelievable one, from where most of us started out with our digital capture. So, for those of you using cameras without anti-aliasing filters, what are you doing? Have you changed. And, if so, any recommended starting points?

 

[back alley]

looking forward to seeing the answers to this ?.

 

[icebear]

LR4.2 : "Details off" [i.e. no sharpening, no noise reduction] for files from the MM works best for me.

 

[willie_901]

The Xtrans sensor certainly renders superior images with small amounts of sharpening in LR 4/5. Radius values under 1.0 are often optimal. I also find the detail at high crops (a.k.a pixel peeping) is highly dependent on careful sharpening adjustments compared to Bayer raw images where one size seems to fit all (for D700 NEF anyway). I would be interested in knowing if this was typical for sensors without AA filters or if it is related to the ACR algorithm used to render XTrans RAF.

However, I believe the ACR XTrans rendering benefits from using other ACR parameters differently as well. Clarity and even Defringing parameters are usually much different those I use for Bayer sensors. I ever use color noise filtering, only the Luminance slider and not much either.

 

[back alley]

i use pse and only use unsharp mask...

 

[thompsonks]

My recommended starting point is zero. Like Icebear, I turn off all sharpening when opening M9 Leica and Fuji X100s raw files. IMO the images look more like a familiar lens took them, and are less digitally edgy, with no sharpening at all.

I occasionally use a bit of the PhotoKit Sharpener 'creative' tool on a small focal area. If you don't have this fine tool, it's the same as making New Layer of the area, applying Smart Sharpening, and then reducing opacity until the effect is just visible, but unobtrusive.

I haven't been using the X-Trans sensor for long, but I've been able to slip unsharpened and uncropped (or minimally cropped) 14x21 Fuji images into a portfolio of M9 images without viewers noticing a difference in IQ. At first I thought I should sharpen the Fuji images at the default level of 25 in LR/ACR, but this made the difference in lenses/sensors more noticeable.

Also, X-Trans files don't usually need the default Color Noise reduction. There isn't any color noise to reduce, unless you shot at a high ISO and underexposed the shadows.

 

[Ronald M]

D800 and M9 and M8 files are still soft, just not as soft as say a D700. I think it is a matter of higher MP rather than AA filter or lack of one although lack of AA does contribute.

Capture sharpening in ACR is 20 to 25, radius .7 .

Final sharpening for prints with laser printer is as much as I can go without getting halos

For web, I go visually at final image size.

For prints, I pushed the sharpening to various levels and had samples printed. Then I saved the settings. Small prints require little sharpening, larger ones more sharpening at larger radius. The saved settings are by camera and print size.

 

[jsrockit]

It completely depends on the image for me...whether it'll be B&W or color, and how large I intend to print it. I rarely use sharpening, but I will use clarity. I could use clarity a lot, or not at all... and at times I decrease clarity. I process each individual image based on my wants for that image.