PBase

Do you use sharpening tools and or set the sharpness level to a high setting on your camera?

At one time I used it a lot but have gotten to the point where I think you can have a photo too sharp. I've gotten to where I have my sharpness on my camera (Canon 40D)set at 3 and rarely use the unsharp mask or any other sharpening tools in post processing. I started back in the film and I think extreme sharpness takes away from the warmth of the shot.

Curious as to what other peoples thoughts are on this subject.

I use a sharpening tool.
I shoot in RAW and use a non-manufacture RAW developer. Most camera settings are ignored when the image is imported
to the converter. During the RAW processing I may or may not apply a little capture sharpening, depends on the image type
and how I want it to look in the final output. After the image is converted, I bring it into my post processing software for
final tweaks. I use a Plugin that lets me apply sharpness to edges and surface separately and I can adjust the settings of
each to get the look I want. I then save as a Tiff for printing. If I post on the web, I resize the Tiff, apply a little basic
sharpening before saving as a jpeg.
I'm a long time film shooter also and agree that sharpening can be way over done. I've seen some images that can cut
your eye balls. I try to keep my images as natural as possible and accent the detail for clarity.

Dana

Depends on what you're shooting and the output device. I have in-cam sharpening set to 0 and use Smart Sharpening in post. I adjust to taste for portraits or other subjects. When I convert to web size, my action runs a light smart sharpening pass. Works for me.

Turn up the sharpening in camera doesn't do the job. As soon as you resize a image you have to sharpen it again to maintain sharpness. The amount of sharpness is a matter of taste. Best if every image gets sharpened individual. For landscape i use small radius and high amount of USM, for portraits a bigger radius and lower amount.
Heinz