Focal Blade 1.03 - Comments, suggestions, comparisons?

[gene_brewer1]

I would like to hear comments and suggestions from other users of The

Plugin Shop's FOCAL BLADE 1.03 sharpening plug-in for Photoshop. I

recently did a simple test comparing the results of sharpening during

the scan using my Epson 4990 and Silverfast Ai 6 and no scan

sharpening using same 4990/Ai 6 combo then post scan sharpening with

Focal Blade 1.03. If my poor eyesight isn't fooling me I see the

results of the Focal Blade is much sharper and has increased finer

details in the zoomed image.

 

Anyone else done similar comparisons?

 

Thanks

 

Gene - Ridgecrest, CA

[jim_simmons]

I downloaded the demo versions of FocalBlade, Nik Sharpener Pro and one other sharpening plug-in, can't remember which They all worked pretty well, giving me a touch sharper result but with less introduced noise than photosharp's unsharp mask filter. I though Nik and FocalBlade were about the same, so I saved the money and got Focalblade. I use it on everything now, although I also do a very slight sharpening on each scan that I do, just to give the sharpening software a file to work with that hasn't been softened too much by the scanner. Experiment.

[ted_marcus1]

I use it for final sharpening. With pull-down presets that can also be adjusted, and with separate settings for screen and prints, it's far more useful (and effective) than trial and error with unsharp masking. I certainly recommend it.

[lex_jenkins]

If you're in the mood for more experimenting try the demo version of PhotoZoom Pro. It includes resampling algorithms and an excellent sharpening tool with several adjustments that are fairly easy to get the hang of. They include enough presets to give a fair idea of the program's capabilities and a slot for saving a custom sharpening setting. It appears to be a fully functional demo that only prints a very visible watermark that doesn't interfere with evaluating the effectiveness but will encourage buying after trying.

 

So far I've tried nik (very good for prints, not so great for onscreen images which tend to be oversharpened, tho' oversharpening can be made less obvious by downsizing after sharpening), the sharpening tool in Bibble Pro (just fair, nothing special) and a few others. I couldn't get the FocalBlade demo to work with Irfanview, which is otherwise compatible with many Photoshop plug-ins. So far PhotoZoom is the best I've found.

 

(No affiliation with PhotoZoom, no compensation for hyping their product, blah-blah-blah...)

[qdb]

I use:

 

- Focalblade for sharpening when not re-sizing significantly; and

 

- PhotoZoom Pro for sharpening when resizing significantly (at which it excells)

 

Quentin