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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> USM Vs Smart Sharpen
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Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
 04/14/2006 10:36:29 AM · #1
Does everyone still use USM versus SMART SHARPENING that is in the new PS CS2?

It seems that everyone still talks USM, are there advamtages using the older PS technology over the newer Smart sharpen that can still be controlled very effectively?

So where would one find the "Canon recommendation" for smart sharp or what is the equivalent to USM 300%, .3 and 0. Seems Smart sharpen has all those controls. Thanks.

So Basic why USM Versus Smart Sharp if you have PS CS2?

Canon EOS-80D
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 IS USM
 04/14/2006 10:41:13 AM · #2
i've been using smart sharpen ... looks better to me

the adobe website gives a nice tutorial on it (under resources, i think)

edit: video tutorial link

Message edited by author 2006-04-14 10:43:56.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 04/15/2006 12:09:34 PM · #3
"Smart Sharpen" in CS2 does more and does it better than USM.

For final sharpening in PS7 of the flattened image I used to create two duplicate layers of the background and apply the same USM to each. Then I'd assign a mode of "Darken" to one and "Lighten" to the other. That effectively separates the bright pixels from the dark that are added by USM. Then I adjusted the opacity to the two layers separately to achieve the final result.

"Smart Sharpen" achieves the same thing in one dialog box when 'advanced' is selected plus you can chose it for gaussian, lens or motion blur sharpening.

Unless you have a third party software that does all this and more then there is no reason to use anything other than CS2's smart sharpen with 'advanced' selected.
Canon EOS-10D
Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon
 04/15/2006 12:23:22 PM · #4
Great learning thread, good question. Thanks for the link hopper
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