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Soft images in Capture 1

Jacqueline1
I've just processed a whole wedding through Capture 1, and when I look at the images in Photoshop for the final tweak and sharpening the images are so soft it is incredible.

In fact I thought I was having a problem with my lens, until I put some of the images through the RAW software that came with my camera. The images are much sharper when opening in photoshop.

WIth capture 1 I have to whack sharpening up to 200% to get anything near enough decent, and it is still not pin sharp.

After using the other software, my images only need sharpening 100% and they are pin sharp.

Sharpening has been disabled in Capture 1.

Please can someone tell me why my images are so incredibly soft.

Thank you

Jay
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Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • Sheldon1
    I can honestly say that I have never had this problem with C1. In fact I have always been able to improve the final output using C1 Pro over other RAW converters. That is why this is my preferred converter.

    It sounds like you are starting with soft images to begin with. What camera/lens are we talking about here. I don't have to hit my wedding shots with much in the way of sharpening using a combination of Canon 1 series and a 24-70 lens.

    I have always found if a shot looked soft in C1 it was going to look soft in any other converter software as well.
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  • Anonymous
    Jay44,

    You mention that Sharpening is Off.
    Tips on Sharpening:

    At the Preferences > Miscellaneous tab is the ability to set a Default Sharpening. Soft look setting is the set default and used primarily for close-up portrait work because it hides skin blemishes to some extent.
    Standard look is the other option available.

    Once set, the preference sharpening settings will display at the Focus tab slider tool.

    The Preference settings will be applied to all processed images from a Session if you Do Not Touch the Sharpening sliders at the Focus tab.
    Once you adjust the sliders at the Focus tab, All Bets are off for that particular image. Either / Or is the Rule-of-Thumb here.

    Preference settings perform the equal sharpening upon all images.
    Sharpening at the Focus tab adjusts an individual image only, unless of course you apply the settings to other selected Thumbnails.

    Another selection available in the Preferences > Process settings tab is to Disable Sharpening on output. You checkmark this if you want to use another software for sharpening.

    At the Focus tab it is best to analyze the Focus View Display image and not the Preview image. The Preview will show sharpening adjustments, but is too low in resolution for making critical decisions, even at full screen. The Focus View actually processes that portion of the RAW for display and analyses.

    Amount - how much contrast between pixels
    Threshold - determines how much difference there must be between two adjacent pixels before any change is made. The higher the # the LESS that is sharpened in the image.
    Should not really compare values here with other programs, there is not a standard. Testing and analysis is needed to get the desired result with consistency.
    In analyzing sharpening effects only, do not adjust Color Noise suppression sliders since these can have an affect upon sharpening.

    Hope this helps.
    Sincerely,
    K C
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  • Jacqueline1
    I had noise suppression set on high....

    problem solved!

    Thanks everyone!

    Jay
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  • NN8930012
    [quote="Keith Carpenter" wrote:
    At the Preferences > Miscellaneous tab is the ability to set a Default Sharpening. Soft look setting is the set default and used primarily for close-up portrait work because it hides skin blemishes to some extent.

    Keith,
    Why do you use Soft Look as default? I've often wondered.
    In my experience over the last couple of years with C1 a lot of people complain about soft images from C1, and it is because a lot of users aren't aware that the default sharpening is set to 'Soft' and that there is even an alternative, i.e. Standard!
    I always use 'Standard' at 200% and threshold of 3 as my default. With that, I get results that I then transfer into PS.
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  • Anonymous
    imacken,

    I can only speculate that it's been decided as best setting for Phase One Digital Back images.
    We often hear that Models are unhappy with the skin details of these units. 😂

    Personally, I too use the Standard setting with DSLRs.
    Standard setting with a Digital Back image of a close-up portrait seems way oversharpened to me.

    Best analogy I've heard in regards to amount of Sharpening...
    like garlic in cooking... a little bit and you greatly enhance a recipe... too much, and it becomes unbearable to most.

    Cheers,
    K C
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