Do you Sharpen in RAW convertor?

[wideangle]

To sharpen in RAW conversion or not?

I realise that everyone will have their own workflow, but I was wondering how many of you apply sharpening in the RAW converter stage of processing, as images straight from the camera can be quite soft. Do you apply a touch of sharpening, or do you add quite a bit, or none at all and only sharpen when knowing the desired output medium of the photo?

[I @ M]

Good question.
My point of view is that it is a very subjective thing and when and where sharpening occurs depends on, in order,
#1 whether noise reduction is involved.
#2 the subject.
#3 the final output.

In the #1 situation I open the file in CNX and make any white balance, colour mode or exposure changes ( if necessary ) with all sharpening and noise reduction functions turned off. The built in CA correction controls seem to do a very good job at their default settings so they are left on. I then save the file as a TIFF and open it in Neat Image and apply noise reduction as necessary ( this mostly applies due to the fact that the D200 is not known for magnificent noise handling above base 100 ISO level ) and at this point I apply a low level of sharpening to the overall file making sure that no haloing around edges is visible at 100% view. My theory behind doing it this way is that Neat Image brightens highlight areas so it is better to compensate for them at an early stage. The file is normally given the usual adjustments to light, colour etc. etc. Sharpening is then applied depending on the subject and final output. Selective sharpening is my preferred method where I want the subject or parts of the subject to stand out against a non sharp background and an overall sharpen is used where the entire picture needs detail. If being printed the image will be sharpened more than if presented on the web.

Lately I have been experimenting with the function in CNX that applies pre-set Camera Control functions ( where noise reduction is not required ) to the file in the same way that they can be applied in camera on the D300 series and upwards. The pre-sets can be modified with regard to colour, contrast and sharpness and then saved within the software with their own names as well as being able to be uploaded as a custom set to the later model cameras. This makes it basically a quick and easy couple of mouse clicks editing and raw conversion with the desired level of overall sharpening applied during the conversion. Further selective or overall sharpening can be applied to the final file as required with consideration to the subject matter or final output.

[ricktas]

I don't. I do not sharpen till the very last part of my processing workflow. In RAW I adjust (if needed/wanted), exposure, white balance, recover highlight and shadow details and straighten. Everything else is then done in PS, with sharpening and adding my watermark the last two steps.

[Calxoddity]

I do in about 10% of images - some light edge sharpening in Aperture. It's usually the last thing I look at.

Regards,
Calx

[Harves]

The only thing I do in RAW is contrast, saturation always. Recovery, white balance & exposure as necessary. Sharpening is one of the last things I do in photoshop via either smart sharpen or unsharp mask.

[wideangle]

thanks for your insightful comments everyone. I sometimes add a little bit of sharpening at the RAW editing stage to deal with the issues of photos that come from digital sensors need sharpening, comparing different RAW editors proved interesting too, I have been editing a lot of photos in Canon DPP and I have compared the results too the free Raw Therapee and even with both editors sharpness settings turned off, RT is sharper 'out of the box' than Canon DPP.

[MrJorge]

I personally don't apply any sharpening until I've done all other processing. Like Rick.