Issue regarding sharpness with the K10D

Many folk are mentioning the sharpness levels of the K10D not being as high as other brands.

With regards to this matter is this just something that can be altered in future firmware releases ?? If so all Pentax need to do is to adjust the levels to a point where setting the sharpness to maximum is in line with other cameras ie: Canon who are known for there sharp images from the cameras inbuilt settings.

Could this be acheived with the K10D by adding even more maximum sharpness levels in camera itself. In other words at the moment you can set the sharpness level in the camera menu to a maximum but all that needs to be done is for this maximum level to be raised a little more to a degree that would keep most users happy.

For those who want to do there own sharpening then the camera could be left set to a reasonable default setting or lowering even more in the camera menu.

Its just an option i feel would be better for those who dont want to mess around in post production. This would elimanate people blaming the camera for not producing images as sharp as other cameras on the market. At least that way you have a better choice.



Pete

But if you want the, imho, oversharp photos that a Canon produces then why not buy a Canon in the first place? I don't like the sharpness of Canon photos - it is ott.

I would have to ask why bother? If I am spending all this money on a really nice camera body and then on lenses to boot, why the heck would I permanently destroy my images with in-camera over-sharpening?

If I want over sharpened snapshots ready to display on grandma's TV set, I'll use my point-n-shoot.

If I want to take nice photos that will mean something, I will take the time to take the photo properly using the proper tools and methods. (well, I'll try.. I don't know if I succeed yet. )


Although, on the other hand... Pentax would be better off giving in on this one often criticized option than putting in crazy add-ons like the "slimming" feature. What moron thought we really needed that in an SLR?! At the very least it could be more smart than simply stretching of the image.
I have yet to see a review give higher marks because the K10D included that fine tuned slimming algorithm! " Alright, just what we have all been waiting for!"
Argh...

Good points folks

I personally think the K10D produces very sharp results even without post production.

Its just a point i wanted to raise.

If you aint happy i agree BUY a canon

Ill stick to my K10D

Pete

IMHO k10d sharpness is natural. I took some test shots, and I could see an edge as a pixel to pixel zooming at 800%. But let's not forget about lenses and how we are using them.

When I took the first few shots with my K10D I thought they looked different than my istD ( not bad, just different ). That was because the default image tone on the K10D is Natural and the default on the istD was Bright. Hope that helps a bit. Let me know.


Paulypentax

If you want razor-sharp images, then the X90 will deliver that.

Generally, sharpening in-camera should be modest and the main sharpening done in Photoshop just prior to pushing the Print button.

Many digital photographers do over-sharpen their images.

Sorry, but its quite the opposite, Canon are known for soft jpegs by default especially if set to neutral picture style

Bought a K10D here the other week for my daughters friend and thought the jpegs were pretty much what I would expect before any post processing.

Much better to just use RAW and then edit to whatever suits your taste, do think there is a case for in camera sharpening when quick jpeg snaps are wanted, but not what I really bought a DSLR for

Guys this a 4 year old topic, just in case you missed that

The sharpness of the JPG photo's has been set to a higher setting with the camera's after the K10D.

Tests actually shows that the K10D applies a lot less sharpening then all the other brands even the K20D was consider slightly soft.

So yeah maybe overall Canon jpg might be considered soft but Pentax is softer...

here is the proof.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk10d/page20.asp

Cor, this thread is a bit of a blast from the past. Good ol' Pete, eh? To think there's a whole generation of new members that didn't share the fun...

On the subject of sharpness settings particularly, though, here's a question.

Suppose I have my JPEG settings set with the sharpness bumped up.

Suppose I also have the camera set to RAW+JPG as I sometimes do when I'm being lazy and just want to use the JPEG without having to do much in the way of post.

Suppose I then opened the RAW file up in Adobe Camera RAW, prior to editing.

The question is this:

Do the camera's JPG settings transfer over to the settings that ACR opens up with by default?

I know I could do some experiments to find out, but I wondered if anyone happened to know offhand.

ACR sharpens 25% by default, so if you don't want that you need to switch it to zero.

I was a bit disappointed with the sharpness of the K20D. I managed to tweak it up a bit through the camera settings, and had to work with my lenses to get the best lenses for the job. I would have rather had a camera which produced sharp images and if you wanted softer ones you would then tweak the sharpness down. I think it is far easier to soften up a sharp image than sharpen up a soft image. All in all the image with the K20D is very satisfactory. I love supersharp pictures though.

But I am seriously considering changing to a Canon. Ohh but the costs of changing. Especially now that the value of DSLR's without video are dropping very fast.

Starting to put professional money into a love which doesnt earn professional income.

I never had a problem with my K20D and sharpness. I calibrated the AF on my lenses. I shot RAW with it.


My shooting buddy uses Canon and his images have never been any sharper than mine, when compared to my K20D, K20D and now K-5s

ACR use his own default (or defaults you set/make), the only thing it takes over is the white-balance.


[quote:3496ace15f="Smeggypants]I never had a problem with my K20D and sharpness. I calibrated the AF on my lenses. I shot RAW with it.


My shooting buddy uses Canon and his images have never been any sharper than mine, when compared to my K20D, K20D and now K-5s[/quote]Indeed just shoot with RAW and you get so much more details.

Both our K20Ds were quite sharp enough, but not so sharp that they looked unnatural. More sharpening can be applied in Photoshop if required.

The enemies of sharpness are more likely to be down to lenses, camera shake or depth of field problems.

It would be interesting to see some images that are considered not sharp enough, with EXIF intact.