Epson 4870/4990 and sharpening

[FredWilson]

Trying to figure out, when scanning, either negatives or transparencies, monochrome or color, if it's better to sharpen when scanning (SilverFast AI) or after in Photoshop or whatever..


Thanks for your opinions,
Fred

[Ari]

I prefer to sharpen in PS, my scans as neutral and info-rich as possible.

[taulen]

Sharpening should always be the last thing you do. So if you have any plans of resizing, post-prossesing or anything arter scanning, do the wharpening in photoshop or the editor of your choice.

[Kirk Gittings]

I disagree. There is such a thing as initial capture sharpening and final output sharpening.

[Preston]

I agree with Kirk. Sometimes a small amount of sharpening at scan time is a boon. I think the best thing to do is experiment a bit to see what works best. If you have a good scan, your processing in Photo Shop will be much easier.

--P

[Kirk Gittings]

Read through this PDF for PhotoKit Sharpener. There is allot of good info about sharpening in general. And.....if you are unsure about this the PKS presets can give you a good starting point for a sharpening workflow.
PKS

[gnuyork]

I use the PhotoKit Sharpener method as well. Works fantastic. Now have version 2 for CS5.

[Brian Ellis]

I started using the PK Sharpen software about a month ago. It's a three-stage sharpening process, Capture, Creative, and Final. I like it though it takes some getting used to and I had to start making more prints than I normally would to get an idea of what the different stages look like since you can't judge the effect of sharpening by looking at a monitor.

[sanking]

Some capture sharpening is definitely necessary to compensate for what is lost in the analog to digital conversion, but capture sharpening does not have to take place during the scan. I turn off all sharpening during the scan and then in Photoshop run one of the PK Sharpener capture sharpening routines. This gives better results in my work flow than sharpening during the scan.

Sandy

I agree with Kirk. Sometimes a small amount of sharpening at scan time is a boon. I think the best thing to do is experiment a bit to see what works best. If you have a good scan, your processing in Photo Shop will be much easier.

--P

[dave_whatever]

I would always opt for sharpening in photoshop rather than the scanning software. Scanner software sharpening is always a pretty blunt instrument compared to whats available in photoshop,