new comer - in camera sharpening

[jim monroe]

First, I'm new to serious photography. Bought my 10D eight weeks ago.

Second, I've been reading this forum for the last 6 weeks and learned a lot. Thanks to all the knowledgeable participants out there.

I obviously still have much to learn. One topic in particular I think I've heard people mention is "in camera sharpening" and whether someone was using it or not. I've found nothing on this in the 10D manual from Canon. Closest I could find was on pg. 161 where it mentions firmware. So What exactly is in camera sharpening? have I missed info on it in the manual? is so where? is it on by default in the 10D or do I need to do something to use it? and most importantly do I want to use it? I seem to remember some people in past posts stating the best way to go is no in camera sharpening but do all processing after downloading image to the computer.

[lightandlife]

Photography may be a serious subject, but we don't take ourselves seriously, especially when I am wrong, because someone else will eventually correct me. And this is a subject I know nothing about, and I do not have the manual because I returned a 10D already.

In the remote case you are referring to image sharpening, the answer would be no. Image sharpening is in Photoshop, and this is an option you coud try for some images that were taken under less than ideal conditions.

If a person's image in a shot is not sharpe enough, you may use this option to see if sharpeness is improved. If not, undo it.

It seems to be an algorithsm by which, I think, the computer determines if there is a consistent line or curve, and if those dots are lined up properly. It would rearrange these dots. Sometimes this method sharpens an image, and sometimes makes it grainy.

[RichardtheSane]

A brief answer to the question, and this goes on personal experience backed up by general opinion.
Set any in camera adjustments to sharpening, saturation and colour etc to zero.
The camera came with Photoshop elements, which IMHO gives you far greater flexibility when it comes to sharpening your image.
At the moment I use Unsharp Mask, however I understand there is a superior way of doing this, but I don't know what it is :)

[KennyG]

Pages 56 and 57. But don't set them to anything but centre default. You should learn to do all adjustments in your favourite photo editing software.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Hi Jim Monroe :)

welcome to the Forum :)

Two things you should know,

I: In Camera Sharpening

Yes there is In camera sharpening. If you shoot RAW there is absolutely no reason NOT to use In camera sharpening as it is only applied to the JPEG taken with the raw,. it will not effect the raw image. To access the in camera sharoening feature do the following;


1. Turn on your camera and press "menu"
2. Scroll down to "Parameters" and hit the "set" botton in the center of your main dial.
3. Scroll down to "set up"
4. In the following menu you will see that you can adjust Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, and color tone.

Once you tweek these you may want to save your settings as a "Set"

I leave "Set 1" as no adjustments,.. and "Set 2" I am toying with increased sharpness and saturation.

II: Sharpening in Photoshop with UnSharp Mask

The second thing you should know is that you don't use "Sharpen" in Photoshop, (or Elements) You use "Unsharp Mask" or USM for short.

USM is located in "Filters",.. "Sharpen",.. "Unsharp Mask"

I use two different types of settings with USM for two very different effects,. both of which are quite remarkable.

A: The Fine Detail Sharpening: This is the type of USM that the 10D needs most.

With your image opended in PS or Elements,. select the USM filter.

Set Threshold to ZERO and leve it there... this one you really won't need to move ever.

"Amount": Between 150 - and as high as 350. (try starting with 200)

"Radius" Between 0.3 and 0.6 (start with 0. to make it easier for you to see the results this first time)

These rough settings will do wonders for the fine details,. but make sure you have the image blown up to full size or near it on your screen so you can actaully see the effects in the preview. Be carefull not to go too far :D

B: The "Localized Contrast Effect" This setting is completely different,. and it does pretty much exactly what I described in the name,.. it effects such a large area that instead of bringing out fine details it effects the contrasts and colors. This trick is not needed often,. but try it, the effects can be qite pleasing.

Set your USM settings to;

"Amount": Between 5% and 12% (start low)
"Radius" : 50

Have fun :D

[lightandlife]

Thanks for all the information about sharpening, CyberDyne. It is very informative.

With due respect, I beg to differ on just one small point.
I guess my comment on another thread may be more relevant here. So I copy it here below with slight changes.

In camera sharpening should be avoided, even if it can be undone later. Computer programs, such as Photoshop, are better suited for that task. Camera should be used primarily to take pictures, rater than modifying the images.

Photoshop has a number of filtering, including sharpening. All these filtering methods add either more white noise or biased noise to the true information. Filtering obscures the truth, but may make pictures more appealing to us. Whether it will make pictures more pleasing can be determined ex post, not beforehand.
CMOS adds some white (unbiased) noise to the observed image.
----
Scientifically, it is not possible to eliminate the white noise from observed and processed information. One may devise an algorithm to make pictures sharper or better after shooting. But such program is already available in Photoshop.

If

T = true observed information by a lens (just ignore errors introduced by a lens)

e = white noise or error (added by CMOS or CCD),

What we get is

A = T + e.

Such a white noise is added for instance, when we record music by audiotape. The tape itself adds a white noise e, which is the hissing sound. How do we get rid of it? It is impossible to get rid of it after the fact. One can devise a method to minimize the noise before the fact.

Canon already used an algorithm to minimize it when digital information is recorded. Any modification will only add (false) cosmetics f, so that with additional processing, you get a false image

B = T + e + f,

which is further away from the truth, and the fraction of junk added, j = (e+f)/T, increases.

I would stay away from sharpening, especially in camera sharpening. No doctored digital images would be accepted as evidence.

Some women look better with cosmetics. Many women use cosmetics for this reason. Each woman can do so to suit her taste. However, I wonder if they would submit themselves to a computerized costmetic treatment, like one-size-fit-all beautifying program.