Originally Posted by
sanking
Hard to talk about sharpening strategies where large format negative, FF DSLR, and micro four-thirds cameras are discussed together. Each format requires a different approach.
I personally find PhotoKit Sharpener2 a good piece of "canned" software that will usually give faster/better results that I can achieve on my own without a huge amount of time. This software has numerous types of sharpening routines, and most are accompanied by different layers that one can change by increasing or decreasing the effect. There are also different routines for capture, creative and output sharpening. With PK Sharpener, and other sharpening methods, it is important to evaluate results looking at the image file at 100%.
Image files of large format scanned negatives, and good medium format negatives as well, often need little sharpening, almost none if the scan is made with a high end flatbed or a drum scanner. With these type of image files I typically use PK Sharpener with a small amount of initial capture sharpening, and then no more sharpening until printing. Output sharpening is an unsharp mask with a low amount/high radius routine that often looks something like this.
Amount = 10-30%
Radius = 90 pixels
Threshold = 0 levels
Sandy