Deep Focus Sharpen V Focus Magic

[Mike Sellers]

Has anyone compared these two tools for capture sharpening?
Mike

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Has anyone compared these two tools for capture sharpening?

Hi Mike,

DFS uses a proprietary edge (halo free acutance) enhancement to suggest sharpness to the human eye. FocusMagic uses deconvolution to actually remove blur (mathematically reversing the blurring process), which really increases resolution. Therefore, FocusMagic is typically used for Capture sharpening, where as Deep Focus Sharpening is used (mainly) for Output sharpening.

It thus also depends on the image (does it have blur?) in which case FocusMagic will help, and in addition DFS may then further increase the perceived sharpness of the output. FM will produce artifacts when using a (wrong) too large blur width setting or amount, but DFS can be pushed very far without glaringly obvious artifacts.

Cheers,
Bart

[Mike Sellers]

Hi Bart,
When printing to Qimage I don`t size the file to the final print size in photoshop I let Qimage do that step. In Qimage I use DFS on the file in its capture sharpen stage. After Qimage resizes to final print size I set print sharpening in Qimage to 5 or 6. Are you saying it is best to resize to final print size first then use DFS in Qimage then set print sharpen to 0 before printing?
Mike

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

When printing to Qimage I don`t size the file to the final print size in photoshop I let Qimage do that step.

Correct, that's the common approach.

In Qimage I use DFS on the file in its capture sharpen stage.

I interpret that as that you create/use a filter with DFS sharpening, as an alternative to doing the Capture sharpening in Photoshop or your Raw converter. If so, that's fine, although FocusMagic in Photoshop can do real resolution enhancement by restoring the original sharpness as much as possible. DFS does acutance enhancement, not restoration of resolution by blur removal.

After Qimage resizes to final print size I set print sharpening in Qimage to 5 or 6.

Yes, assuming the image was sharp to begin with at its original size, Smart print sharpening (with DFS) will try to maintain that impression of sharpness, regardless of the blur caused by resizing.

Are you saying it is best to resize to final print size first then use DFS in Qimage then set print sharpen to 0 before printing?

No, the above mentioned workflow is what I'd do, open an already Capture sharpened (with FM) image in Qimage, let Qimage handle the resizing and Smart sharpening with DFS, amount 5 or whatever suits the medium used.

Cheers,
Bart

[Mike Sellers]

Hi Bart,
Thanks for the info. Is there some way to let Qimage resize the file for final print size then go to DFS?

[Denis de Gannes]

In the final analysis you are not able to judge prints by viewing on screen so test prints will have the final say.
I would be inclined to use Qimage to print direct from the raw file. You can do capture sharpening of the raw data then additional sharpening adjustments and final output sharpening all with DFS.

Then see if you can do better trying other methods.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Is there some way to let Qimage resize the file for final print size then go to DFS?

Qimage already uses DFS as Smart sharpening after resizing. But if you want to be able and do further DFS, you can print to File (with or without sharpening) instead of directly to the printer (Menu: File>Print to>File), and then read that (upsampled=huge) output file and apply a filter with additional DFS. That allows to preview the effect on screen, but you do generate a huge intermediate file that would otherwise not have to be stored on disk.

Cheers,
Bart

[bill t.]

FWIW, I was just now extremely impressed by how beautifully Topaz Detail 3 sharpens the "Orig" tree branch image on this page.  Set "Overall" "Small Details" to 0.48.  Very naturally sharp looking with almost zilch increase in contrast.