D300 capture sharpening

[Mark Allen]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a D300 capture sharpening set for Capture NX?

[Ken]

Mark

I may have the answer to your question!

At present I am giving Capture NX2 a work out on the sixty day trail and in order to get a proper understanding I downloaded Jason Odell’s E-book on the subject. Jason has been working with Nikon and Nik Software on the development of CNX2, so I guess there’s no better person to write the book and hence it’s prompt appearance.

In the book he advocates working in NEF and states that the sharpening in Picture Control should be set to zero and any sharpening (USM) should be carried out toward the end of the workflow.

The recommended USM settings for the D300 are: -

Intensity: - 50
Radius: - 5
Threshold: - 4

Although these settings may vary for different situations.

After inserting the above, you can add an additional USM to add extra clarity for objects in the background, the settings for this are different: -

Intensity: - 10
Radius: - 50
Threshold: - 2

I found the setting for the second USM I bit harsh on the picture so I reduced the settings to: -

Intensity: - 6
Radius: - 40
Threshold: - 2

I have tried this out on Capture NX and it works a treat, by the way I didn’t have to use any noise reduction either.

I hope this is of help.

Regards

Ken

[Mark Allen]

Thanks Ken for taking the time to reply. I did exactly the same as you and bought Jason's ebook. I am thinking about Vincent Vercasce's DVD (I bought it for CNX1.3, as well as Jason previous ebook, and found it most worthwhile.)

I have taken sharpening out of my picture control setting (from Standard) as I don't use the LCD all that much when I am out and about. (My eyesight just isn't up to it!) I find that Jason's settings are spot on. I was using the D2Xs set, which are the same so I am happy that I picked one that worked/works well.

[Ken]

Mark

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I attached two photos of Whitepark Bay. The first is the original, untouched and the second a copy with no Picture Control sharpenening, only the two USM in the edit list.

Regards

Ken

[Mark Allen]

Both look over sharpened to me. Did you remove all sharpening from the raw before applying the d300 set?

Of course jpgs for web don't really show this right.

[Ken]

Sorry I didn't get back to you last night but the son arrived home from Spain.

The pictures look terrible in this format but when viewed on the 24" screen they look okay.

I killed off all sharpening in Picture Control before applying the USM's