I'm curious what you guys think about general use of sharpening filters in post. I know that going too far with it makes things look horrible and that strcitly speaking it's just adding noise, but in Vegas it seems to me like applying it's sharpen filter with a very light amount makes things just pop a bit more without too much damage to the image, kind of a pros outweight the cons situation. Do you guys generally totally avoid using sharpening filters, use them when artistic intent allows, always slap a light one on there, or just go case by case? I'm going through this now where I've never used them before as I've always read that it's best to avoid them, but I just like the darned look of the light sharpen filter on my avchd footage in Vegas. Can't decide if I should just throw out conventional wisdom and go for it, or stick to the basics and not use it. This is for production footage in case it matters.
what do you guys think of sharpening filters?
- Thread starter joker454
- Start date
Depends entirely on the footage itself and the type of look of you're going for. If you're going for a look that can benefit from it, then it's appropriate. But as to applying it to any and all footage just because -- not so much.
Keep in mind that the larger you display the footage, the worse it'll look -- even under the best of circumstances.
Keep in mind that the larger you display the footage, the worse it'll look -- even under the best of circumstances.
Any FX can be that way. But it's true -- if you're routinely sharpening your footage, you should look at shooting it differently.
Sounds like you are on the right track. 
robotsound
Well-known member
In Photoshop at least, unsharp mask (and I think sharpening algorithms in general) work by increasing contrast between adjacent pixels, within a defined radius.
This link explains more about how unsharp mask (and therefore most sharpening algorithms) works: http://www.focusmagic.com/usmhowitworks.htm
This link explains more about how unsharp mask (and therefore most sharpening algorithms) works: http://www.focusmagic.com/usmhowitworks.htm
Kit Hannah
Veteran
+1, I don't believe I have ever used actual sharpening as I feel it makes footage look like garbage. There have been times in the past where something may have been wrong with a locked down camera (back focus mainly) and it had to be used. Unsharp mask is generally the way to go, it adds pleanty of contrast on it's own. You have to use it sparingly and do some CC to make colors look better, but it "can" work if need be.
Richard Jones
Member
And the sharpening preset in Convolution Kernel is sometimes worth having a look at.
Richard
Richard
Thanks for the replies guys.
I'm kinda of stuck regarding gear. I'm using mostly a Sony cx500v and cx550v but I have been wanting to try more pro grear. Thing is for what I film I need a do it all very run and gun style, and my single foray into better cameras (the Sony NEX-VG10) was a total failure that I returned so I've been hesitant to try any other larger cameras due to the needs of my shoots. The little handy cams I use seem kinda goofy, but they work well for the shoots I do. The footage though simply isn't as sharp as I would like
I've toyed with contrast as well but haven't had results I like regarding making the scene look sharper. One issue is that even mild contrast tweaks can cause details to get lost in a scene, whereas when I toy with the sharpen filter parts of the scene won't get crushed or whited out. The particular settings in Vegas that I'm looking at for the sharpen filter are fairly low, around 0.1 to 0.2 range tops.
This might sound weird, but in some cases the noise it adds remnds me of film grain I see on blu-rays, maybe that's why I don't mind it. Using blu-rays movies as a reference, I think the two extremes might be the movies Waiting and Machete. Waiting looks very soft and has no noise at all, whereas Machete is on the other end of the spectrum and has lots of noise, be if from film grain, post process or wherever. Ultimately I prefer the look of Machete regarding sharpness inspite of the noise, although my footage stock right now looks closer to Waiting. I wouldn't mind getting it to look somewhere in between those films. I think I am wiling to trade some noise for sharpness at this point, but figured I'd tap into the pros here and see what others though.
I'm kinda of stuck regarding gear. I'm using mostly a Sony cx500v and cx550v but I have been wanting to try more pro grear. Thing is for what I film I need a do it all very run and gun style, and my single foray into better cameras (the Sony NEX-VG10) was a total failure that I returned so I've been hesitant to try any other larger cameras due to the needs of my shoots. The little handy cams I use seem kinda goofy, but they work well for the shoots I do. The footage though simply isn't as sharp as I would like
I've toyed with contrast as well but haven't had results I like regarding making the scene look sharper. One issue is that even mild contrast tweaks can cause details to get lost in a scene, whereas when I toy with the sharpen filter parts of the scene won't get crushed or whited out. The particular settings in Vegas that I'm looking at for the sharpen filter are fairly low, around 0.1 to 0.2 range tops.
This might sound weird, but in some cases the noise it adds remnds me of film grain I see on blu-rays, maybe that's why I don't mind it. Using blu-rays movies as a reference, I think the two extremes might be the movies Waiting and Machete. Waiting looks very soft and has no noise at all, whereas Machete is on the other end of the spectrum and has lots of noise, be if from film grain, post process or wherever. Ultimately I prefer the look of Machete regarding sharpness inspite of the noise, although my footage stock right now looks closer to Waiting. I wouldn't mind getting it to look somewhere in between those films. I think I am wiling to trade some noise for sharpness at this point, but figured I'd tap into the pros here and see what others though.
Justinec101
Active member
I shoot houses with a wide angle lense and when I apply a distortion fix it softens the image up a bit. A sharpen filter (even at 0.00) usually makes it look better. I use an hmc150 which is also known for being a bit soft.