PixelGenius Announces PhotoKit Sharpener 2

[Schewe]

Folks,

Just a quick ping to let you know that PixelGenius has finally announced PhotoKit Sharpener 2.0! You can read the announcement as well as see what's new HERE We should be releasing PKS2 before X-mas (it'll make a great stocking stuffer).

Users who bought or buy PhotoKit Sharpener 1.x on or after October 1st. 2010 will get a free upgrade. Users prior to Oct 1st will get a 70% discount (for a $29.95 upgrade fee). PKS 2 has a lot of new features and functionality...

To our beta testers-MANY THANKS!

Feel free to talk about your experience (we hope it was good). And if you could, send me an email reminding me of your name and email address?

I just lost about 3 weeks of email which included all our correspondence-which really sucks! Please send it to my same email address you sent in your interest to beta test.

Thanks!

[John McDermott]

Are you taking orders yet? I didn't see such an option on the PG website.

[eleanorbrown]

Any chance the output sharpening capabilities with previews will be integrated into Lightroom print module? Thanks, Eleanor

[Schewe]

Are you taking orders yet? I didn't see such an option on the PG website.

Not taking orders yet...if you already have the original PhotoKit Sharpener 1.x we'll be sending out an email for users when it ships (with the correct discount coupon). If you don't have it yet you can buy the 1.x version now and get a free upgrade when it ships.

[Schewe]

Any chance the output sharpening capabilities with previews will be integrated into Lightroom print module?

No...I doubt it.

We created the preview capability really only for Creative Sharpening but our beta testers found it odd that ONLY Creative Sharpening was being previewed. So we turned on the preview capability for all modules–even though our philosophy of NOT making output sharpening judgements by eye still stands.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

No...I doubt it.

We created the preview capability really only for Creative Sharpening but our beta testers found it odd that ONLY Creative Sharpening was being previewed. So we turned on the preview capability for all modules–even though our philosophy of NOT making output sharpening judgements by eye still stands.

I'll definitely be upgrading. And I'll probably try the preview in all modules, mainly for educational purposes (so I can have another "By golly, Schewe was right ... again" moment).

Eric

[sniper]

Have the actual sharpening algorithms changed or improved?  The changes look interesting, I'll most lightly upgrade to the newer version when it's out.
Thanks Wayne

[francois]

I'll definitely be upgrading. And I'll probably try the preview in all modules, mainly for educational purposes (so I can have another "By golly, Schewe was right ... again" moment).

Eric

Me too…

[Schewe]

Have the actual sharpening algorithms changed or improved?

Yes...we've added an Auto Edge Detection for capture sharpening and refined the sharpening. We also added the ability to work on greyscale not just RGB (which was a lot of work BTW). Mac Holbert and I added a bunch of new creative sharpening and as shown in the what's new section we've added auto-resolution sharpening for inkjet printing. We also added more screen sharpening resolutions. Not to mention the new UI and working in Cocoa for Mac 64-bit (which also a lot of work).

[dmerger]

Jeff, the page you linked states "With a retail price of $99.95, PhotoKit SHARPENER 2.0 will offer a simple but effective digital image sharpening workflow for Photoshop CS3, CS4 and CS5 for both Mac and Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit in CS5)." 

Does this mean that PhotoKit SHARPENER 2.0 will not include a 64 bit version for CS4 on Windows Vista 64 bit?

[Schewe]

Does this mean that PhotoKit SHARPENER 2.0 will not include a 64 bit version for CS4 on Windows Vista 64 bit?

The current version of PhotoKit Sharpener 1.x already has 64-bit capability in Photoshop CS4 when running under Windows Vista/Windows 7 as a 64-bit application...so will PhotoKit Sharpener 2.0. So that hasn't changed...I'll re-word it so that fact is confirmed...

[sniper]

Yes...we've added an Auto Edge Detection for capture sharpening and refined the sharpening. We also added the ability to work on greyscale not just RGB (which was a lot of work BTW). Mac Holbert and I added a bunch of new creative sharpening and as shown in the what's new section we've added auto-resolution sharpening for inkjet printing. We also added more screen sharpening resolutions. Not to mention the new UI and working in Cocoa for Mac 64-bit (which also a lot of work).

Many thanks for that Jeff.
Wayne

[Martin Kristiansen]

Thanks very much. I have been looking forward to this.

[aaronchan]

Hi,

I am currently using Nik Sharpener 3 and have been feeling happy about since they came out.
I've tried the PhotoKit Sharpener 1 and wasn't so impress about it.

How would you compare your product to the Nik's one?
I am very open minded and would like to adopt the best software all the time

Thanks
Aaron

[Schewe]

How would you compare your product to the Nik's one?

I can't...

I won't say anything bad about a competitor but I've never used anything from Nik (and there are a couple of reasons I never will). So, I really can't give you an answer. What about the original PhotoKit Sharpener disappointed you?

[Mike Louw]

Folks, Just a quick ping to let you know that PixelGenius has finally announced PhotoKit Sharpener 2.0!

Looking forward to it with bated breath! Tired of going through LR just for sharpening. I don't use Lightroom much as my image volume is too low, but I find the sharpening almost as good as (is it the same as?) PKS.

Mike

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I can't...

I won't say anything bad about a competitor but I've never used anything from Nik (and there are a couple of reasons I never will). So, I really can't give you an answer. What about the original PhotoKit Sharpener disappointed you?

Jeff,
It's fun trying to imagine what you might say about them if you weren't directly connected to Pixel Genius. 

[aaronchan]

Jeff,

Thanks for your reply.
As I remember, since I tried it a while ago, the original version does not contain a preview screen of what result will I end up with. I saw the 2.0 will have this feature on the website, if I am correct. Immediate preview is very important to me so I could save up some time for my workflow. But the Capture Sharpening part is the fav. of what I've used so far as I remember.

Aaron

[dmerger]

I'm using Photoshop CS4 with Camera Raw 5.7.  I plan to upgrade my PhotoKit Sharpener to PhotoKit Sharpener 2 when it's released.  For capture sharpening, would it be better (from a quality stand point, not work flow) to capture sharpen in Camera Raw 5.7 or with PhotoKit Sharpener 2?  Or, will the results be the same?

In case it makes a difference,  I'm working on 5400 ppi film scans.

[MBMPhotography]

Still it won't be possible to use it with Elements 9 ... I know I know better buy CS5 and then you will be able to use the PhotoKit Sharpener but I make the majority of changes in Lightroom ...