Sharpening for S2Pro

Whats the best approach for getting super sharp 4x6 to 8x12 prints @ ISO 400-800 (apart from great lenses and steady hands/monopod/tripod)

• Set sharpness on camera to high and just print
• Set sharpness on camera to std and do unsharp mask in PS and then print
• Set sharpness on camera to org and do unsharp mask in PS and then print
• Other recommendation?

--
Robin Chee from Singapore
http://www.rpmerleon.com (lots of dancesport action photos)

I like hard sharpening and just print.

Anthony

Robin Chee said:

Whats the best approach for getting super sharp 4x6 to 8x12 prints
@ ISO 400-800 (apart from great lenses and steady
hands/monopod/tripod)

• Set sharpness on camera to high and just print
• Set sharpness on camera to std and do unsharp mask in PS and then

print

• Set sharpness on camera to org and do unsharp mask in PS and then

print

• Other recommendation?

--
Robin Chee from Singapore
http://www.rpmerleon.com (lots of dancesport action photos)

Click to expand...

Robin Chee said:

Whats the best approach for getting super sharp 4x6 to 8x12 prints
@ ISO 400-800 (apart from great lenses and steady
hands/monopod/tripod)

• Set sharpness on camera to high and just print
• Set sharpness on camera to std and do unsharp mask in PS and then

print

• Set sharpness on camera to org and do unsharp mask in PS and then

print

• Other recommendation?

Click to expand...

Hi Robin,

My advice would be to shoot a few of your typical shots in RAW (which is before any sharpening is done) and then play around with the EX converter trying various combinations to see what suits you - and perhaps Qimage too varying its sharpening for comparison. Of course, being non USA like me, you might have to buy the EX converter? The EX converter lets you try all the possible combinations you could use for a jpeg in-camera output on the one raf image. You can then use the settings you like best for your default camera settings.

After that you may want to look at other sharpening options but I doubt you would need it for a 6x4 anyway. A full res S2 image is supplying data at about 720ppi for a 6x4 - probably more than required. You may get a "sharper" looking image by reducing the resolution, depending on the reduction method used. I find that quite often an S2 10x8 sized print looks "sharper" with much more detail than I can ever get from a 6x4. And a 14x11 or 16x20 will often show detail that is sometimes lost or hard to see in a 10x8.
--
Doug Jones
Canberra
http://www.panamagic.com.au

Hi Robin,

As you are shooting at 400 800 ISO, you will get some noise, so before sharpening you have to remove the noise.

I do use a Gaussian blur of 1.2 pixel
then sharpen with USM

jacques.

Shoot raw . Use Qimage to convert & sharpen. The Gaussian Blur or Scratch filter. Then sharp more if necessary.

jacques said:

Hi Robin,

As you are shooting at 400 800 ISO, you will get some noise, so
before sharpening you have to remove the noise.

I do use a Gaussian blur of 1.2 pixel
then sharpen with USM

jacques.

Click to expand...