Sharpening before RAW Conversion or after?

[william_yu]

If just for the best image quality and not for the sake of work flow

convenience, is it better to do the sharpening and curve adjustments

before converting the RAW to TIFF, or to convert the RAW to TIFF

without adjustments, then do that in Photoshop?

[marymac]

William -

 

Using PSCS2 I do color correction and some curves in Raw, but I only do sharpening in PS since you have a LOT more control of it. If you apply sharpening in Raw the sharpening is applied to the whole picture since you can't use any masks to control what you are sharpening. - Mary

[peufeu]

Sharpening looks better if applied after resizing ; therefore as I often resize an image in different d*resolutions for different uses I prefer to sharpen later in the flow.

[fanta]

I do color temperature corrections only in the RAW converter, and possibly lower the exposure when needed to recover clipped highlights. I like to do all the manipulations later in layers and save the layers with the picture, such that I can always go back and modify them later on. For sharpening, I do it as the very last manipulation, as how I do it depends on the intended output (web or print, and which resolution/size). Also, Photokit Sharpener or the USM give more control than RAW converter.