to in-camera sharpen or not to sharpen

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usccharles

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Is it better to shoot with in-camera sharpening or without? depending on the setting, i usually sharpen from low to standard for my in-camera jpegs.

but if i also usually do alittle sharpening on photoshop during post production, is it better to keep sharpening off in-camera and just use the sharpening tool on Photoshop or do you think it makes no difference?

thanks in advanced.

charles

p.s. when converting RAW, i keep sharpening off during conversion to Jpeg, and only sharpen while post processing the Jpeg on photoshop.
 
In other words, sharpening off in the camera and do it last of all in PS. You'll have much more control of it this way and less artefacts too.
 
With my 20D it's a toss-up whether to shoot RAW or large-fine JPEG, but with the M8 I found with some testing very early on that JPEG's leave a lot to be desired compared to DNG. As to sharpening, one of the reasons I do not use C1-LE is because it always leaves a little sharpening on, whereas ACR doesn't. It's the same situation with my Canon 4000 scanner, the Canon Filmget software always has residual sharpening, so I use Vuescan. Sharpening is the very last thing I do. I happen to like Focal Blade, except for the 20D which I use Fred Miranda's plugin.
 
Same here... sharpen last

Same here... sharpen last

commonly held advice from instructors and photographers. Sharpen last.
 
I also like to leave sharpening to a post-processing matter. Some people who don't understand this would say "why not soften the photo later?"

This, too, is a matter of taste, and depends on your shooting/post-processing habits.
 
I follow these personal groundrules (unless I don't:))

1. I shoot RAW only. All images benefit from at least light sharpening.
2. I sharpen after "image size" in PS. However, IMO anything more than light sharpening here speaks to me, "photo has been sharpened," and I don't like that effect.
3. If more than light sharpening is required, I will try to split the difference in Bridge and sharpen as part of the conversion. Then a tweak more in PS if needed.
4. I'd rather err on the side of soft than over-sharpen.
 
The M8 can produce a funny kind of jig-saw like moire-type patterns if one does not disable all sharpening both for Jpeg use and for raw conversion.
 
jaapv said:
The M8 can produce a funny kind of jig-saw like moire-type patterns if one does not disable all sharpening both for Jpeg use and for raw conversion.
Click to expand...
Yes, this can indicate over-sharpening. I can't comment on the M8's in-camera sharpening because I shoot only RAW. And zero sharpening is my default both in Bridge at pre-conversion and in PS--post-coversion.

However, some files that are perfectly focused and with optimal lens use can benefit from light USM. I should note that these are not recommended protocols, but habit and a personal aesthetic (which I might, one day, call a style). What's not personal, and seems to be common practice, is to sharpen as a last step in one's post processing.

I'm inclined to toggle sharpening because without an A-B comparison, whatever I'm looking at normalizes in my vision and starts to look best. Because I sometimes prefer less color intensity than what the M8 produces, I will tweak down saturation--in which case I might sharpen a file I otherwise wouldn't.
 
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