Sharpening old super 8 film footage

[kookooframe]

I wonder if any one can suggest some good settings for the unsharp mask tool in FCP7. I'm editing old Super 8 film footage that was transferred to hi-res by Gamma Ray Digital in Boston. They did a good job, but I want to sharpen up things in order to burn a blu-ray. For instance, right now my settings are 73 for amount, 3 for pixel, and 0 for threshold. I've tried fooling around with other settings, and now I'm not really sure if I'm making things better or worse. So what I'm asking for is a rule of thumb for sharpening old film footage, using the unsharp mask tool...

Any thoughts appreciated!

 

[Andrius Simutis]

I don't really have much advice on the sharpening settings, but I have to ask why do you want to sharpen for BluRay in the first place?
Super8 was always prized for its analog and organic look. Or do you want this to look more like pro 16mm footage?
Another thing to consider is that BluRay uses a lossy codec that can break down when subjected to too much sharp grain. Run some tests on your footage now and look for any signs of macroblocking.

 

[kookooframe]

Thanks, Andrius! Yes, I have run into that macroblocking problem before with making a blu-ray. Maybe I'll just back off on any sharpening at all -- the footage doesn't look bad as is. Just wanted to make the analog and organic look a little more vivid.