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Author Topic: Qimage and photokit sharpener  (Read 2705 times)

Andrew W

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Qimage and photokit sharpener
« on: March 31, 2007, 01:23:57 pm »

When using Qimage to print, is it better to use the output sharpener in Qimage or to use photokit sharpener and simpy print it thru Qimage. I am trying to minimize the amount of software I purchase. My wallet is not infinite  

Thanks.
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Nill Toulme

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Qimage and photokit sharpener
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2007, 01:46:15 pm »

The answer is sort of "it depends."  You certainly don't need PK Sharpener's Output Sharpen module when you print with Qimage, as Q does a great job of size-specific output sharpening on its own, and saves you that step.

But for capture level and "discretionary" levels of sharpening, it's hard to beat PK.  You could use those levels and still use Qimage to print.  Think of Qimage as your one-stop shop for printing, but not for image processing up to the print stage.

Personally though, for most printing — even fairly large & critical printing of most images — I've had good luck eliminating the PS steps entirely, including PK.  I make the necessary adjustments to the image in the Capture One RAW conversion, leaving C1's default USM turned on.  Then I go directly to Qimage to print.  This has been giving me better (not to mention MUCH quicker and easier) results than my old labor-intensive process of RAW conversion, then going to PS for capture sharpening with PK, then resizing to output resolution, then output sharpening with PK, then printing.

I'd recommend getting Qimage first because I can almost guarantee you're going to want to keep using that.  Then go from there...

Nill
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