Sharpening images

[Ramesh Jai]

How many out there are using the Sharpen function in RedCine? How much do you sharpen (10, 20, 30?)

I prefer the AE unsharp mask tool. Any recommendation for settings to achieve the most natural looking sharpened images using the unsharp mask tool? Any other way people sharpen RED footage?

Thanks a lot and a Happy New Year to you all. God bless.

[david_winters]

SD res projects we use "sharpen" set to approx "15-30," HD projects about "10-15." On jobs where we have a bit more time we'll use unsharp mask. Sharpening is applied in AE or FCP, project specific. Currently we never go back to the R3D files. Base grade of all raw in RA/Clipfinder > Red Rushes > Pro Res > FCP > AE > FCP > master.

Most of our work is mid-range advertising, internet and broadcast. We average 15-30 new mastered titles a month across 5 suites. It took all of 2008 to work out a consistent cost effective pipeline. At this point our labor costs to get media to "ready to edit stage" is less with Red/P2 then the tape based workflow in use for the past 8-10 years. No Redrocket yet.

We shot most of the projects we post, so the above works well for us.

[Ramesh Jai]

SD res projects we use "sharpen" set to approx "15-30," HD projects about "10-15." On jobs where we have a bit more time we'll use unsharp mask. Sharpening is applied in AE or FCP, project specific. Currently we never go back to the R3D files. Base grade of all raw in RA/Clipfinder > Red Rushes > Pro Res > FCP > AE > FCP > master. .

Thanks David. Anyone else care to share some sharpening tips? Much appreciated.

[Andrew Wilding]

I never ever ever sharpen.

[david_winters]

I never ever ever sharpen.

If you deliver a spot for web at say 428x240 and compare no sharpen to mild sharpen, I'd be very surprised if you still went for no sharpening. At 1920x1080 most content looks great as is, it's when you scale down to smaller sizes the image really needs subtle sharpening. We haven't had a client yet that prefers SD or internet masters with no sharpening.

[jimhare]

I sharpen about 25% of my projects. Most look great as is, but some just look too soft, even when focus is nailed.

I have used After Effects and even the sharpen filter in FCP. Would be nice to do it in Red Cine X but I haven't played with it. I will as the software evolves.

I sharpen as little as needed to get the desired effect, so never the same settings twice.