USM - Settings - Whats yours?

hi guys, as for USM in PS - what are you settings? is there a universal or a default that photographers normally use?

150
4
2
?

does that work? or 100 / 5 / 2?

I know it depends on the image or some use them differently and adjust according what satisfies them.

So what do you think? Thanks

100/2/2 is my standard. The Scott Kelby book gives you start values for a variety of different situations.

Defog at 20, 60, 0, then process and final sharpen at 300-400, .3, 5 always works well for me.

Image dependent as well as DPP settings-dependent, but the usual I use is about 85/.3/0 with 1 or 2 setting on DPP (on a scale of 0-10). If there's a bit of softness, I'll resort to a 2 or 3 stage sharpening routine ranging from course to fine.

If there's noise, I'll set DPP to 0 and reduce noise before sharpening, or better yet, open the RAW files with ACR since it has noise-reduction at the RAW level rather than in the 8-bit JPG. Once noise is under control, I'll apply sharpening in a coarse-medium-fine progression.

What ever looks best.

So far, it is clear that the respondents are all over the board with the settings. What about the Canon prescription...what is it....300/.3/0? In the end, imo it is a mtter of image contingency. A portrait will require different settings than, say, a landscape. I will be interested to see more suggestions.

Convert from RAW with zero sharpening.

For 4x6 prints:
iso100/200 450/0.5/0 or 1
iso400 400-425/0.4/1 or 2
iso800 350/0.4/2 or 3

300/.3/0 is recommended for 1-series cameras with in-camera and RAW sharpening set to 0. The 1-series at "0" appears to have no sharpening at all, and thus is a candidate for the greatest amount of PP adjustment. By keeping sharpening low at the start, greater flexibility is given to post-processing. For example, sharpening accentuates image noise, so it is a good idea to control for noise before adding sharpening to an image.

If the in-camera sharpening is set above zero (as it is by default in the 20D, 10D, XT, and in some picture styles on the 5D and 1D IIn), less PP sharpening is necessary, but perhaps at the expense of flexibility later.

I shoot RAW so I have the ability to adjust sharpening in DPP before I convert to JPG. That allows me to make the decision as to whether to keep what the camera gives me or alter it while still in RAW. I generally like how the 5D does sharpening, so unless I've got a noisy image, I keep a modest amount of the in-camera sharpening on my images.

If needed, on average 90/0.3/0

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Maybe there is further clarification needed...perhaps just in my head, but some useful global setting will depend on whther one shoots raw images or jpgs, yes? While I usually shoot in raw and don't apply any sharpening in conversion, higher settings would typically be needed in PS or other program. When I do shoot in jpg, I use the in-camera settings at a rate that gives me nearly useable images from the camera.

I find I get better results with Smart Sharpen. However, lately I've been using TLR's Professional Sharpening Toolkit and love the results. See http://www.thelightsri​ghtstudio.com …onalSharpeningT​oolkit.htm

I shoot Raw, and do absolutely no sharpening in conversion (ACR).
In Photoshop:
If i do it manually:
- it depends if it is a portrait or a landscape and what ISO.
Also depends on wether I want to keep the bokeh smooth or not. Where the bokeh is important, I don't sharpen at all. I try to select the part of the image which I want to sharpen and leave the bokeh untoutched.
On regular conditions:
more or less 16/60/7 for contrast adjustment
then 300/0.3/0
then usually 50/0.3/7 for final adjustment when printing.

Otherwise I use the same settings, but using the smart sharpen filter in PS.

I'm nowadays trying out the Glen Mitchel TLR Sharpenning toolkit which he was kind enough to make available for all, and I think it is very powerful and really saving a lot of work, uses layers and allows to adjust the opacity of the sharpenning layer to much my content , but I'm still getting used to it.
http://www.thelightsri​ghtstudio.com …onalSharpeningT​oolkit.htm

For jpg:
I typically stay within a radius of about 1.7 to 2.0, and then mess with the percentage from there, usually ending up with between 40 and 80%.

I see a lot of people here using a very small radius, and cranking the percentage way up. I'll have to try that.

It is interesting to see that people's techniques are all over the board. In the end, I say do whatever looks best, but be sure not to oversharpen. There's nothing worse than an image with "USM halo's" around everything in the picture.