Sigma Sharpness and Sigma Photo Pro

[brownnoddy]

Hi- I am new to the forum- very pleased to find a place to discuss these great cameras. I have a DP2M.

I was curious about the Sharpness slider in Sigma Photo Pro (SPP). The Sharpness slider defaults to 0 which is in the middle of the slider, suggesting that 0 does not mean no sharpening. Google came up with this interesting thread in Dpreview:

SPP sharpening exposed ..: Sigma Camera Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

The executive summary is that at 0 sharpening, SPP is sharpening the images. At -0.8, there is little if any evidence of sharpening. If you are concerned about sending sharpened images on to the rest of your workflow it would be better to dial back the sharpening slider in SPP. Note if you do this, the images out of the DP2M at least, are still stunning.

 

[davect01]

have not used it yet.

 

[Yeats]

The executive summary is that at 0 sharpening, SPP is sharpening the images. At -0.8, there is little if any evidence of sharpening. If you are concerned about sending sharpened images on to the rest of your workflow it would be better to dial back the sharpening slider in SPP. Note if you do this, the images out of the DP2M at least, are still stunning.

Interesting, so 0 ≠ 0.

 

[bilzmale]

Thanks for the heads-up and welcome to SC.

 

[Ghosthunter]

Welcome!!

That's really interesting, thanks for the link. I have the DP2m and have the DP1m on order. I do use SPP and have found that with the slider left on it's default level I do not have to do any sharpening in Photoshop. I will have a play though and drop the sharpening to it's minimum and see if it's then better to add selective sharpening in Photoshop. Also I do find that the Bokeh is a little harsh so reducing the sharpness will hopefully make the bokeh a bit smoother.

 

[brownnoddy]

0 does not = 0! Quite right it seems. This is a bit mischievous of Sigma. It's no wonder the images out of the camera look so incredibly sharp- they've been sharpened if the Sharpness is set to 0! As I mentioned, the images still look fantastic with Sharpness settings < 0.

A big question still is- what is the native sharpness coming out of the camera (RAW files)? Is it produced with the Sharpness slider set to minimum (-2) or does that setting actively soften an image? The Dpreview link showing the analysis reports no evidence of sharpening halos at Sharpness = -0.8 but still mentions a concern about MTF = 0.36 at the Nyquist limit- my knowledge of the theory at this point is inadequate to interpret this but I have a friend who will know the answer. I'll report back.

 

[pdh]

A big question still is- what is the native sharpness coming out of the camera (RAW files)?.

I suppose this is of some academic interest, but what possible difference will it make to anyone using this camera or looking at the pictures?

 

[brownnoddy]

I suppose this is of some academic interest, but what possible difference will it make to anyone using this camera or looking at the pictures?

None probably.