Fuji Frontier sharpening.

Every time I send pics to print with Fuji Frontier I ask them to use the sharpening because even if I do sharpen the image (just that in the CD, of course..) I always get a very soft photo. Do you know an alternative that lets you have an idea of what you'll get ? The fact is that if I could decide the sharpening in MY file I could avoid the Frontier's sharpening, then have a reliable clue about the final print quality. Any suggestion ?
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Flavio

As far as i know no additional sharpening is applied to digital files, by a frontier.

I don't believe any of the film printing settings would affect the digital part, both are another closed loop. So if you sharpen them, they are outputted that way.

Try sending through a few tests at your lab to determine which settings work best for you...

What it does is interpolate the file to 300 dpi and photo-paper size, if you haven't done so. This could explain the soft effect you are seeing...

I suspect that all ink jet printers do some sharpening on their own. The Frontier probably does it when the scans are made on their machines, during production. I also found that you had over sharpen for the printer, compared to ink jet printing. You also have to adjust the curves, as has been discussed.

TJ

jimmy said:

As far as i know no additional sharpening is applied to digital
files, by a frontier.
I don't believe any of the film printing settings would affect the
digital part, both are another closed loop. So if you sharpen them,
they are outputted that way.
Try sending through a few tests at your lab to determine which
settings work best for you...

What it does is interpolate the file to 300 dpi and photo-paper
size, if you haven't done so. This could explain the soft effect
you are seeing...

Click to expand...

--
TJ

It's tricky because the amount of sharpening that looks good for a print is different than what looks good on the screen. Nik Sharpener takes this into account, but it's an expensive solution, although a good one.

Peter T said:

It's tricky because the amount of sharpening that looks good for a
print is different than what looks good on the screen. Nik
Sharpener takes this into account, but it's an expensive solution,
although a good one.

Click to expand...

Nik Sharpener every time for me, great bit of software if the files are of good quality.
Expensive but worth it

Try a demo on Nik's site. Use laser printer profile for the Fuji, I find John and Anna best (If you try the demo you will now what I am talking about).
Kevin

You need to send the files to the Frontier with the canvas set to the finished size you want PLUS .05 all around to allow for the auto cropping (unless the image is far enough into the frame so this doesn't matter). Set the dpi to 300 at the final size. If you convert the image from 72 to 300 and the file size is less than the finished size you want, use SI or Stephen Eastwood's "Vertical Interpolation Actions" to take it up to the size you want.

My workflow: I leave the file at the full resolution at 72 dpi and run the "VIA" after all the color correcting and retouching is done. This gives me a finished size at 300 dpi. I then crop as needed and resize in Photoshop. When I crop, the file size is smaller and the resolution goes up. When you correct the file size to match the paper width, the resolution will drop back down. I've found that the Frontier prints great images from 250-300 dpi so I usually don't sweat it if the resolution falls a little below 300. I convert the image to the Frontier profile (if the image has a large amount of red, I go to selective color and boost the red by +10). Finally, I apply the unsharp mask at 100.

The images I get are very, very sharp!

NOTE: Make sure that your Frontier operator is calibrating the machine each day and after each black and white you run. Also---this is critical---the prints must be run with NO AUTO CORRECTION on the Frontier. If they have this set, all of your color correcting, sharpening and profiles are useless. The machine will override everything.

Steve

Kevin Allen said:

Peter T said:

It's tricky because the amount of sharpening that looks good for a
print is different than what looks good on the screen. Nik
Sharpener takes this into account, but it's an expensive solution,
although a good one.

Click to expand...

Nik Sharpener every time for me, great bit of software if the files
are of good quality.
Expensive but worth it
Try a demo on Nik's site. Use laser printer profile for the Fuji,
I find John and Anna best (If you try the demo you will now what I
am talking about).
Kevin

Click to expand...

My experience is that the more you sharpen, the better the Frontier prints will be. First time I used Frontier output I made a test, with grade 1, 2 and 3. Grade 3 images looked horribly oversharpened on screen, even at 50%, and they were outputted beautifully by the Frontier, looking nice, snappy and with no artefacts. So my idea is to oversharpen just for Frontier. By the way, my inkjet of the time had a very different behaviour: after all it puts nk on paper, while the Frontier impresses paper using light, and there is quite a difference between the two techniques.

Fabio

The Frontier can do all sorts of things to the input from negatives and slides but nothing from digital files as they are simply put into the print qeue without alteration other than interpolating for the right output for the printer. Your digital files must be sharpened by you to get the results you want but you also must do it at the size the Frontier prints for you.

If you want a 4x6" print, you must supply a 300 ppi file in Tif sRGB. Sharpen this file for this size print only. If you want an 8x10 or 10x15 print, your sharpening will now be too strong if you use the same file. You may have to make a larger file to the correct size at 300 ppi and sharpen for the newer size. It is a real pain but the Frontier is simply not that good in handling digital media. I had to find this all out by myself as the Fuji reps have no answers (or they just do not speak to you)
Rinus

Fabio said:

My experience is that the more you sharpen, the better the Frontier
prints will be. First time I used Frontier output I made a test,
with grade 1, 2 and 3. Grade 3 images looked horribly oversharpened
on screen, even at 50%, and they were outputted beautifully by the
Frontier, looking nice, snappy and with no artefacts. So my idea is
to oversharpen just for Frontier. By the way, my inkjet of the time
had a very different behaviour: after all it puts nk on paper,
while the Frontier impresses paper using light, and there is quite
a difference between the two techniques.

Fabio

Click to expand...

You are right Fabio,

The frontier uses a beam of light that diffuses detail in a horrible way but the same diffusion causes real smooth tones in skin areas and blue skies. The sharpening will do the edges. The end result is pretty remarkable.
Rinus

All my files are sent at 300dpi and sized. I don't know if there are differences amongst models of Frontiers but those I send pics DO HAVE the filter SHARPENING (ON/OFF). One of these machines prints just in front of me at the lab. I'll try anyway to send tests at different sharpening levels and look at "Nik's". Have you tried with Noritsu?
Thanks to you all!
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Flavio