Canon DPP software

[MeadsMan]

Hi,if anyone else uses this software for there photos taken in raw,I was wondering in the raw image adjustments box,there is a sharpness adjuster wich starts at zero,and you can add sharpnes amounts from one to ten.I often find that adding sharpness to the amount of six,seems to work best,anything over this I generally assume the image likely was not all that sharp to start with.Very seldom I can get away with adding a bit less.I was just wondering if anyone else,had an average sweet spot,for sharpness in this software.

[matt_xyz]

to be honest, I've never gone beyond 2! I find it does sharpen the images quite aggressively and anything more than 2 causes a lot of background noise and artefacts. I'll be interested to hear the views of others.

Incidentally, I do like DPP. I think it does a very good job of RAW conversions.

Matt

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

I don't do any sharpening in DPP, I do it in photoshop as the very last thing.

neil

[matt_xyz]

actually, I should clarify, that I usually do the same as Neil above. But on the few occasions that I have done the sharpening in DPP I haven't gone above 2. Also, even when I don't actually sharpen in DPP I often review my images in it and will see what they look like with a bit of sharpening. I still find 2 to be about optimal.

Matt

[Gaza]

As well as being a member here, I am also a member of a purely photographic forum
Quite often, a member will submit a photo, proudly stating, that it is straight from the camera, With no alterations.

It has been pointed out on more than one occasion, by some of the better photographers in the forum.
That it is seldom that a photo can not be improved on, by the use of saturation, contrast, light and sharpening

I think, that at the end of the day, it is what you want to see, that matters, However in a photographic forum, everyone is looking more at the quality of the photo, rather than it's content

I do use the DPP program, and find it useful, in general
But with reference to sharpening
DPP is lacking, in as much as, when you sharpen the image. You sharpen the whole image.
Whereas in Photoshop, you can sharpen just the required area's

[RoseStones]

Hi there, I've got DPP but actually use other software to sharpen the images if they need it. I tend to zoom in quite a bit to see the effects of the sharpening and that also allows you to see the effects on the noise, which I find increases with increased sharpening. Does DPP allow that? It might be worthwhile bearing in mind if you want to print quite large in the future. Typically I never go above approximately a third of the maximum sharpening possible - the image can start to take on an artificial quality too.

It sounds obvious but I tend to get rid of any photo that I'm not 99% happy with the sharpness of - better to have fewer photos that I'm completely happy with than more that I'm not. I know only too well that it's hard to press that delete button though when you've spent all day getting that perfect composition and lighting only to find that it's softer than you wanted!

[MeadsMan]

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

actually, I should clarify, that I usually do the same as Neil above. But on the few occasions that I have done the sharpening in DPP I haven't gone above 2. Also, even when I don't actually sharpen in DPP I often review my images in it and will see what they look like with a bit of sharpening. I still find 2 to be about optimal.

Matt

Only 2 that`s not encouraging,I better get an eye test.I like using DPP because I don`t find it over complicated to use,though I can see the advantages of only sharpening certain areas of a photo.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by wildlifesnapper

I don't do any sharpening in DPP, I do it in photoshop as the very last thing.

That's the way it should be done. The degree of sharpening depends on the medium on which it is to be finally viewed (print/monitor) and the size of the final image.

Jim

[Geoff F]

Like the others, I use DPP for RAW conversion but edit with better software and use Unsharp Mask at the end. USM gives so many variables that you can find the best settings for any photo. And there are other much more complicated techniques available to the dedicated photo editor.

But, some professionals recommend a little sharpen before editing and ending up with USM. Also, quite a lot depends on your camera settings. When I first acquired my 40D I shot with Standard quality until, feeling disappointed, I read the manual. Now I always use Faithful which doesn't add or 'improve' anything.

While I don't know what form of sharpening is used by DPP, I would assume that it just sharpens all pixels equally which would create poor results at higher settings. I haven't tried it but would assume that sharpening twice at 2 would produce better results than sharpening once at setting 4.

[Hobjob]

Originally Posted by Gaza

It has been pointed out on more than one occasion, by some of the better photographers in the forum.
That it is seldom that a photo can not be improved on, by the use of saturation, contrast, light and sharpening

Also, if you shoot in the automatic modes then the camera does quite a bit of adding itself - saturation, contrast and sharpening.

My personal preference is to shoot with nothing added, and do it later in Photoshop (which my professional daughter says I over do - Ho, hum )