DPP Sharpening Amount

My usual work flow is download raw files and convert to jpg via ACR/photoshop elements 7. Crop, color correct, and sharpen. I usually USM at 75.2.3

I start yesterday playing around with DPP 3.8. I was having to move the sharpening slider in the 120-200 range, and some up to 300. Is this normal or have I gone overboard. The pictures look sharp with those amounts, even at 100% view but I haven't had any printed yet. Just looking for some others to verify the amount of sharpening they do. Thanks!

Theron,

For my taste, yes, totally overboard. On the rare occasion I sharpen in DPP I always use the RAW slider which is never pushed above 3 and is generally left at 2.

My preferred sharpening routine is a three stage process using the Photokit Sharpener plug-in. I do a very gentle capture sharpen which simply corrects the anti-alliasing filters softening effect, then whatever creative sharpening the image requires during post-processing (which can be anything -I don't have any standard process for this) and finally a pre-print sharpen based on the pixel count of the image and the prints physical size which overcomes the softening during the printing process.

tmalone893 wrote in post #9706883
My usual work flow is download raw files and convert to jpg via ACR/photoshop elements 7. Crop, color correct, and sharpen. I usually USM at 75.2.3

I start yesterday playing around with DPP 3.8. I was having to move the sharpening slider in the 120-200 range, and some up to 300. Is this normal or have I gone overboard. The pictures look sharp with those amounts, even at 100% view but I haven't had any printed yet. Just looking for some others to verify the amount of sharpening they do. Thanks!

If you are working with RAW-files Canon suggests you use the RAW tab sheet for most of your editing.
" For functions other than tone curve adjustment and automatic adjustment, we recommend adjusting RAW images using the same functions available in the [RAW] tool palette."
"the [RAW] tool palette is similar to the camera setting."

The RAW slider has a different algorithm than the more global sharpening in the RGB tab sheet. In the RAW tab sheet I set the sharpening to 2-3 most of the time.

JR

I have a somewhat tangential question. When I use RAW in DPP I always seem to go to 7 for sharpening. I know that sounds like a lot but I always end up there. If I set this in camera will that work the same way so I don't have to spend time adjusting it in DPP? Thank you.

JeffreyO wrote in post #9722284
I have a somewhat tangential question. When I use RAW in DPP I always seem to go to 7 for sharpening. I know that sounds like a lot but I always end up there. If I set this in camera will that work the same way so I don't have to spend time adjusting it in DPP? Thank you.

Camera settings such as sharpening, contrast, sharpening, etc. are for jpgs only. However, the camera settings are recorded in the file metadata, which is read by DPP and the DPP sliders are preset to the equivalent positions.

tzalman wrote in post #9722356
Camera settings such as sharpening, contrast, sharpening, etc. are for jpgs only. However, the camera settings are recorded in the file metadata, which is read by DPP and the DPP sliders are preset to the equivalent positions.

I only shoot RAW. So if I understand you, camera settings won't affect RAW images at all?

The camera settings act like a preset in DPP for the Raw converter. They don't change the Raw data and can be freely tampered with until you Convert and Save.

Sharpening in your Raw converter is partly a matter of taste but with a concern to bear in mind. If you plan to process your Raw and then Convert to a final output (jpeg, print, etc) then sharpen it as much as you like, making sure to examine it at various levels of enlargement to ensure that something doesn't look garish or that you don't get artifacts that will bite you. Then, be happy.

However, if the image you are working on is going to be sent to Photoshop or another full-featured editor, then there is good reason to only apply a minimal amount of "capture sharpening" to just bring the needed bits of detail/contrast out of the naturally somewhat soft Raw capture, and then in Photoshop apply its more exacting sharpening methods where you can at the very least apply a mask and selectively apply sharpening and/or noise reduction.

Since I don't normally resort to Photoshop for my images unless I have a specific special goal in mind, I work with my sharpening and NR tools in Raw to, as much as I can, "get it right". Sometimes a scene/subject can take more, sometimes less -- just try to get a feel of things as your go.

I usually shot RAW as well but the sharpening slider I was referring to is in the RGB tab. This is the slider that I was moving 1/2 to 2/3 to get a nice sharp image.

JeffreyO wrote in post #9722445
I only shoot RAW. So if I understand you, camera settings won't affect RAW images at all?

DPP will use the camera settings as "default starting point".

If you set sharpness to 7 in camera, the file will open in DPP with sharpness set to 7.