[Leica] Why sharpen?

[scoutfinch at chartermi.net (Susan Ryan)]

On Jun 5, 2009, at 6:06 PM, Mark Rabiner wrote:

> In the film world there is unsharp mask which is a mask you make to  
> sandwich
> with your film to make it look sharper. Two pieces of film back to  
> back in a
> sandwich. Hold the mustard. You could call that "sharpening".
> But a more real way of "sharpening" in film use is more direct.
> There is the use of better than typical glass.
> Leica glass
> Or the use of primes instead of zooms.
> The use of tripods and proper shutter speeds;
> Flash with high sync speeds.
>
> But more to the point is film.
> Sharper film is slower film.
> But not if you're going to use slower than realistic shutter speeds  
> and hand
> hold it.
>
> More directly to the point in black and white is development.
> Instead of a standard solvent developers like D76 1:1 or heaven forbid
> straight one could an acutance developer like Beutlers or nephin blue.
> Rodinal is a class or two above D76 and Xtol even but there is a  
> class of
> developers or two above Rodinal.
> Like Beutlers or nephin blue and others.
> Pyro maybe.
>
> So when you think "sharpening" you could think that.
> Informed and proper technique.
>
> Little point in spending thousands instead of hundreds on glass and  
> then
> melt your film down in 100 grams of sulfite per liter.
> That's not all that sharpening unmasked.
>
> There seems to be an inference here that people shooting RAW are  
> geeks.
> People shooting RAW are people of normal photographic concerns.
> People shooting jpegs are such people shooting huge amounts of work on
> instantaneous deadlines.
> Or Dilettantes.
> People who bottom line could just not ever be bothered.
> Photographic sociopaths - psychopaths.
>
>
> Mark William Rabiner
>
>
>
>> From: Clive Moss <clive.moss at gmail.com>
>> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>> Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 11:50:16 -0500
>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Why sharpen?
>>
>> The ubergeeks that inhabit this list of course do it - because they  
>> shoot
>> RAW, and thus they had to be concerned with it.
>> A test: of those on the list who shoot JPG, who have ever moved the
>> sharpening off "Standard" on the M8, or done the equivalent on  
>> another
>> camera?
>>
>> In the film world, sharpening is inherent in the edge effects to  
>> the extent
>> that they exist in the development process. Most users are not  
>> concerned
>> about it very much.
>> In the digital world, sharpening is inherent in the process of  
>> converting a
>> RAW image to a JPG. Most users are not concerned about it very much.
>> --
>
>
>
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