As I understand it, the tool mentioned should receive the optimum setting parameters from the optical modules, shouldn’t it? In my opinion, this makes manual adjustment of the controls unnecessary, right?
So I don’t understand why this tool is mentioned in many reviews how great it would be. It does its job automatically anyway (thanks to the optical modules). Is there a specific reason?
Yes and no. The optical correction modules provide the data that the tool uses to correct softness at various settings. However, with a lot of lenses adjusting Details and Bokeh makes no difference at all, while Global isn’t necessarily best at the default +1.0 setting. Thus, perspectives on this vary quite a bit. For my lenses (native for micro four thirds mount), when the image is in sharp focus the default global sharpening setting (+1.0) is usually too much, introducing (or increasing) edge artifacts even in PL8. A setting of -1 is sometimes needed to reduce the halo to my liking, but my default of 0 tends to be sufficient. However, if the image isn’t sharp (e.g., due to atmospheric haze), I can set a much higher global sharpening if I want to - it doesn’t make much of a difference. Increasing microcontrast can be more effective for improving perceived sharpness without haloing.
Back in 2018-2019, DxO support told me that the haloing is due to chromatic aberrations and isn’t a bug. I’ve examined this extensively and find the claim to be untrue. It’s an edge halo that only PhotoLab introduces - not any other software - regardless of chromatic aberration corrections being applied or not. I think the problem is actually in the demosaicing and the LSC global adjustment exaggerates it wildly. I tend to see it with diagonal edges most.
However, despite this problem, when I set Lens Softness Compensation according to my needs, I get a better result (sharp and clean) than with other tools I’ve used. I wish it were better, but it’s adequate. If I must, I can add microcontrast, unsharp mask, etc. and DeepPRIME XD2s will help ensure a pretty clean result. I’m still playing with this to be sure, but so far so good.
I might resubmit this as a bug and see what happens. I notice the problem a lot more than I did back in 2018.
2 Likes
That mirrors my experience too – also for M4/3 gear.
I have modified my default preset (that one that PL assigns to all newly encountered images) to have Global Sharpening = 0 … not 1.0
Thank you @Egregius and @John-M for your Explanations.
I understand that there are situations where the standard corrections according to the optical modules are not enough - in one direction or the other. They cannot distinguish between different, specific situations. In this respect, this tool makes sense. Thanks!
I find this claim at least partially true – didn’t get any halos introduced by LSC with a lens almost free of CA, while some 1 or 2-pixel halos are present with “bad” lenses. I use mostly high-end lenses, but no lens is perfect.
For people, my LSC starting point is Global=-1.0, sometimes going down to -2.0 or rarely switching it off completely (e.g. for Plena, which seems to me too sharp for portraits, even wide open). For most other stuff I start with Global=0.0 setting, having to go down to -0.5 sometimes to preserve the mood and not distract with details too much. Very few images required 1.0 or higher. In few cases which I inspected more closely, I found Global=-1.5 as a kind of “neutral” setting (removing only “technical” softness, while not adding “perceived” sharpness, vaguely speaking), but that may depend on lens/aperture/focus distance and the subject itself. The perceived sharpness is also heavily affected by microcontrast and FP fine contrast sliders, so one has to balance that with LSC settings and the bokeh.
2 Likes
I’ve come to agree with you, @Wlodek. I’ve just re-analyzed the edge haloing in multiple images made with multiple lenses: PhotoLab isn’t creating the halos - it’s just making them a lot more visible. While darktable doesn’t show color fringing in these areas, it does follow PL in showing halos if enough sharpening is applied. On the other hand, the current version of Raw Therapee does show color fringing here - lots of it. RT’s plethora of adjustments don’t correct it well, if at all. Also, the sharpening adjustments are very inconsistent. The Edges adjustment worked wonders in one set of images, but otherwise turned smooth diagonal edges into featureless rough staircases. Capture Sharpening does a better job in certain cases, but otherwise doesn’t do much of anything. Varying the demosaic options gave no benefit.
I’ll carry on with PL8, adjusting Lens Softness to taste. Despite some limitations, it’s the better tool overall, even in these cases of fringing.
I have LSC set to -0.8 in my default preset and find it to be a good, natural starting point that improves sharpness without introducing halos/artifacts. The default of +1.0 is always horrible. Even 0 is too much for all lenses I’ve tried except some 15 year old soft super zooms. -0.4 is the highest I normally go. After that it starts to look over-sharpened and unnatural to me.
You use v8 ?