Sharpness Question

[Ershov Kirill]

Can anybody suggest their options of sharpening on the red scarlet x?

https://vimeo.com/61854389 check this video especially on 0:13 - i like that style of picture - details are sharp but the picture is quit smoth, kinda u want to touch it if u understand what i mean.

or for example here

https://vimeo.com/92691167 - especially 1:29

when i add sharpness sometimes i think my work looks like cheap video....

also what do u think guys is it better to add it in redcine x or leave it on 0 and than add in neat video or davinci for example.

Also finally cant understand what makes picture look more interesting from all that red cine x OUTPUT FRAMING: LANCOS3, SINC etc. maybe anybody knows which works better ( i dont have red rocket)

check out please my videos: they r made with scarlet x and canon L's: normally i add maximum sharpness in redcine x and than use neat video.

https://vimeo.com/119360834
https://vimeo.com/111179817
https://vimeo.com/113455045

Hope we can talk here cause i think tis question is important for many of us. thnx)

 

[Maik Müller]

Difficult topic. Sharpness isn't just about filters and tools, especially when you start talking about a look and feel of a image, instead of pure pixel-peeper-sharpness.

It starts before shooting, lots of choices influence the look and sharpness: resolution, compression, lenses, filters, shutter-speed, aperture, lighting. You have to think about your DOF, about the movements of camera and subjects, about the speed of those movements. And after you have hit record you must master focus pulling. All those things can't be fixed in post, although there is room for smaller errors, especially when you shoot with RED.

For post i tend to use as less sharpening as possible, to keep the look organic and smooth. Often it's simply not needed to add some filters - e.g. if you render a HD-output from a 4k/5k/6k-timeline. Oversharpening tends to look "video-ish", you are beginning to sacrifice too much (even details and fine nuances) for only getting "sharper" edges.

Do not stack multiple sharpening-tools unless a rare special scenario forces you to do so. Decide from shot to shot (or group of shots) what kind of sharpening/post-processing is needed.

Keep in mind that media-encoders have their own sharpening tools and also keep in mind that distributors like Vimeo and Youtube are going to recompress your file after uploading, with their own sharpening filters applied. If you upload a highly compressed h264 file with lots of sharpening filters applied - then they'll make it look worse.

Personally, i cut in Premiere and mostly just add some slight sharpening via Speedgrade to get a little extra kick and thats it.

 

[Jeffery Anderson]

Good lenses are plenty sharp and a lot of Pros use Filters to Soften Skin...

Might a good question for David Mullen
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?2714-Ask-David-Mullen-ANYTHING

 

[Stacey Spears]

I think sharpness tools are fairly primitive. This is an area where I see lots of room for improvement. Same goes for image scaling.

On the playback side I am pretty much against sharpening or enhancing of any kind because I believe it should be done on the content creation side.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Hear, hear Stacey. I'm a big fan of looking at various scaling filters first to see if one of them will give me the sharpness I'm looking for, without having to resort to blunt force sharpening tactics. I often end up in Lanczos with a smidgen of sharpening added if needed, but my strategy varies based on the material itself and the hero deliverable.

Downsampling to overcome the Bayer penalty and scaling to fit the mastering format typically happens in one operation. As Stacey notes, more granular control would be welcome. What would rock hard is a 4 up display option that auditioned 4 different filters side by side. Is that feature available in Resolve 11? Scratch 8.3? BaseLight? At UHD resolution?

Cheers - #19

 

[Akin A]

Resolve let's you do very fine sharpening adjustments so that it doesn't look obvious.