PhotoKit Sharpener Pro II - Output Sharpening Presets vs LR Print Module

[solardarkroom.com]

Howdy Folks,

In anticipation of LR4 I've been reading up on printing from LR, including the concept of setting the resolution to 360dpi for my Epson R1900. I had to deliver a print this weekend that was output from PS at it's native 12" x 18" @ 312dpi. This included a final output sharpening layer generated by PhotoKit Sharpener Pro II. I've always just used the Inkjet/glossy preset (Illford GFS in this case) and been perfectly happy with the results.
So I thought I'd try printing this file from Lightroom for comparison. I deleted the PKS output sharpen layer group, flattened the image with the soft-proof adjustments and imported to LR3. I set the printer resolution to 360dpi and chose standard output sharpening. This looked quiet soft compared to reference print so I tried another at the maximum sharpening setting in LR (cant remember if it's called max, highest etc). This setting looked better but still not as sharp as the print made with PhotoKit Sharpener Pro II preset.

Am I missing something? I was expecting the "normal" setting in LR to be somewhat similar to the unmodified preset in PKS. I'm guessing the process of doing the up-res (312dpi to 360dpi) in LR before output sharpening is a significant variable in the equation. I wish I understood it better.

If anyone can point me towards the proverbial light I'd be most grateful. For now I'll stick with what I know.

Thanks,

David

[francois]

David,
I think that you should try to contact Pixel Genius support to see if they have a suggestion.
You might also want to compare capture sharpening with PKS2 and in Lightroom (I understand that you imported an already capture sharpened file in LR and set LR sharpening to zero?).

I tend to stay in the same workflow, either do capture and output sharpening with PKS2 or in LR but I don't mix LR and PKS2 (except for creative stuff).

HTH

[MarkL]

Your experiences match mine, I've also had much better results using PKS than printing from LR. recently I had a load of 6x4s printed at a lab from exports from LR and they were all quite unsharp. Having to go through photoshop for large volumes of files is irritating but the only way I can get sharp prints.

[digitaldog]

I tend to stay in the same workflow, either do capture and output sharpening with PKS2 or in LR but I don't mix LR and PKS2 (except for creative stuff).

That is a very good idea!

[eliedinur]

See this:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/954118?tstart=30

[solardarkroom.com]

I greatly appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts. I'll stick to using PKS for now as that get's me the desired results. I was never completely comfortable with the printing workflow via LR but I'll revisit when I upgrade to LR4. In theory it's very appealing.

Thanks,
David