Sharpness

[PNA]

I’ve read that with digital, the sharpness option of the camera should be set at “0” and do all the rework in PS. Is this the correct procedure? I’m shooting with a D70.

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[thebeginning]

it depends. if you know how to multi-step and selectively sharpen (if necessary), then yes that can be beneficial. if you're shooting RAW (NEF) it won't matter, as you can change that later anyway. it's basically just to give you more control over the sharpening. if you want the control, set it lower. if not, set it however you want. it's sometimes the same with contrast. if i was to shoot a landscape in JPG, i would set contrast and sharpness low so I wouldn't lose detail to blown highlights or blocked shadows, and i wouldnt get much extra noise from it being sharpened. that's just one reason though.

[jemmy]

I use a canon350d and this is the method i use. ... i have in the past tried to shoot bumping the in camera sharpness but this seems to result in oversharpened hair etc sometimes.... also converting RAW to TIFFs i have the same problem with oversharpening so yes i leave it all to PS... Here i use the unsharpen mask but am not a HUGE fan of it ~ probably because i dont know how to use it to its full potential... i just zoom right in before applying to avoid 'halos' caused from oversharpening.... Obviously far better if you dont need to apply postprocessing sharpening to begin with I suppose~ xx

[markc]

If you want to spend the effort for the optimum image, only sharpen once and after you've sized the image.
If some areas need selective sharpening, like the eye a little more than the rest, I might sharpen them twice rather than exclude them from the whole area sharpen, but I'll be very careful not to introduce artifacts.

[thebeginning]

If you want to spend the effort for the optimum image, only sharpen once and after you've sized the image.

Not necessarily. Many times photos require an initial sharpen to clear the image up before processing...and that's not just me saying that (i usually use other methods), i've read many photographer's photoshop books that have said they sharpened up to three or four times in photographs. for instance...you open up the image and start with a really subtle unsharp mask, like 20, 35, 0. at the end you use something like 500, 0.3, 0 or 85, 1.0, 0...depending on your style and photo sharpness. sharpening multiple times (if you do it correctly and avoid grain developing) can be really beneficial sometimes. not always, but it can be.

[markc]

That's true. I had forgotten about that technique. Thanks. I was thinking of sharpening so that it looks good, then resizing, then sharpening again to deal with the resize. That can cause issues.

[ksmattfish]

I’ve read that with digital, the sharpness option of the camera should be set at “0” and do all the rework in PS. Is this the correct procedure? I’m shooting with a D70.

I think the theory behind this is based on 2 ideas: 1) that the sharpening software available in image editing software is more sophisticated than the in-camera sharpening software, and 2) that sharpening is best done in the last steps of post-processing.

As with most things, there is no one right answer that will work best for every photographer in every situation, and you'll have to do some testing to see what method works best for you.