Sharpening

[Aubrey]

I know there was already a thread for a similar query, (https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=2032.msg12881#msg12881) but I'm looking for clarification.

I can adjust sharpening so that the slide show is good. however when I use the file viewer the images are over sharpened.

Looked through the preferences and I cannot find how to reduce the sharpening in the file viewer - can this be done?

Thanks,
Aubrey.

[Mario]

IMatch has only one setting. The sharpness is applied when IMatch has loaded the cache file. The amount of sharpness to dial in depends on the existing sharpness in the image, the scale of the cache file, the scale in which the image is shown on screen (e.g. the slide show always fits images to the available screen space, in the Viewer you can use fit-to-window, 100% or intermediate scales) etc...

If you use the slide show in fit-to-window mode but look at files in the Viewer at 100%, the sharpness will differ. And if you look at the same image in the scaled down view in the Quick View Panel, sharpness will again be different. It is impossible (or at least requires a lot of effort) to allow users to dial in individual sharpness settings for Viewer, Slide Show and Quick View panel, and for varying zoom levels. And then it still depends on how "sharp" the original image is, and which file format you use. If you work with JPEG files, IMatch usually does not cache them. If you work with other file formats, IMatch produces a cache image in JPEG format, which already involves some change in sharpness, even if you use 100% cache images.

Try to find a value which looks good for your typical use cases. I personally judge sharpness only at 100% in the Viewer, or in Photoshop.

[Aubrey]

Mario,
Thank you for the clarification... you are supposed to be taking a day off    !! A response to my questions is fine tomotrrow

I use NEF files and cache the jpg at 100%. When looking at full screen window (i.e., fitting to screen without zooming) there "appears" to be a difference in sharpness between the slide view (looks fine) and the file view( looks over sharpened).

If you use the slide show in fit-to-window mode but look at files in the Viewer at 100%, the sharpness will differ. And if you look at the same image in the scaled down view in the Quick View Panel, sharpness will again be different. It is impossible (or at least requires a lot of effort) to allow users to dial in individual sharpness settings for Viewer, Slide Show and Quick View panel, and for varying zoom levels. And then it still depends on how "sharp" the original image is, and which file format you use.

After reading through your explanation, what I understand is that when an image is loaded into the cache a sharpness is applied. In the case of NEF images, does the slide show read the cache file and apply a sharpness based on preferences? Or does the slide show read the embedded jpg from the NEF and apply sharpening?

As a test I have set the slide show sharpening to none (i.e .slider all the way to left) then the slide show is not as sharp as the file view jpg (same scale, i.e full screen - not 100%). This indicates that the slide view must be "desharpening" the cached file, if it is the cached jpg that is being used.

Were changes made between about 5.0.156 and 5.0.160? I only began to notice this small difference very recently.

Thanks,
Aubrey.