Output sharpening for Bay Photo?

CynthiaM · January 9, 2010

What kind of printers does Bay Photo use? I need to know this with regard to output sharpening. The prints that they do on the Kodak papers or Fuji Pear, are these printed on a contone or half-tone printer? What about the metal prints? What kind of output sharpening would you use on metal prints if the sharpening program offers contone, half-tone or inkjet?

Andy · January 9, 2010

Cynthia, in nik sharpener choose continuous tone.
Don't over sharpen, please.

CynthiaM · January 9, 2010

Andy wrote:

Cynthia, in nik sharpener choose continuous tone.

I use Pk Sharpener so i assume what Nik calls continuous tone the Pixel genius crew calls contone.

Don't over sharpen, please.

I try not to; that's why I use PK Sharpener. Sort of makes sharpening a no brainer.

One other question: Pk Sharpener asks you to choose contone sharpening based on the ppi fed to the printers. Do you know what that is for Bay Photo?

Andy · January 9, 2010

CynthiaM wrote:

I use Pk Sharpener so i assume what Nik calls continuous tone the Pixel genius crew calls contone.

I try not to; that's why I use PK Sharpener. Sort of makes sharpening a no brainer.

One other question: Pk Sharpener asks you to choose contone sharpening based on the ppi fed to the printers. Do you know what that is for Bay Photo?

Choose 300.

CynthiaM · January 10, 2010

Andy wrote:

Choose 300.

Thanks!

laughing · February 13, 2010

To sharpen or not to sharpen. That is the question.
Hi Andy -

What is the best workflow for prints - I'm worried that my prints will be "resharpened" by EZPrints or Bay Photo. I use Nik for sharpening, and am wondering, based on your experience, what the best workflow for sharpening is for your printers. I offer prints in multiple sizes through smugmug, but most prints ordered are 4x6.

Do the printing companies that SmugMug uses sharpen photos automatically before printing?

Thanks!

Andy wrote:

Choose 300.

Andy · February 16, 2010

laughing wrote:

Hi Andy -

What is the best workflow for prints - I'm worried that my prints will be "resharpened" by EZPrints or Bay Photo. I use Nik for sharpening, and am wondering, based on your experience, what the best workflow for sharpening is for your printers. I offer prints in multiple sizes through smugmug, but most prints ordered are 4x6.

Do the printing companies that SmugMug uses sharpen photos automatically before printing?

Thanks!

If you choose Color Correction at EZP, we apply a proprietary color, exposure, and sharpening. Color Correction at Bay is by human (by hand) and DOES NOT include sharpening.

True color, we do NOTHING to your files at either lab.

jwvanderbeck · February 19, 2010

So just to clarify, if i'm using Nik Sharpener for output sharpening, i'll get best results setting it to Continuous Tone and 300 PPI Printer Resolution?

I ask to clarify because that seems to apply a lot of sharpness, but i'm not too experienced on output sharpening for lab printing.

Kyle D · February 19, 2010

I just so happened to be thinking about this today. I have a couple of questions about this topic. Is it worth sharpening using Sharpener Pro if you're printing through Bay? Do the images sharpened with Sharpener Pro display ok on a smugmug site or do they look over sharpened? Finally, the prints from Bay that have been sharpened using the continuous tone 300 dpi and auto viewing distance settings in Sharpener Pro, do they look good or ok or over sharpened at all? Also, using the auto viewing distance on a typical 6mp from my D50, will it provide enough sharpening if someone wanted to print a 24x36 and would it not look over sharpened if they printed it as a 4x6?

jwvanderbeck · February 21, 2010

I guess i'll just have to order a few proofs to see what they look like.

I was hoping someone who uses Nik Sharpener Pro would chime in with their experiences though.

jwvanderbeck · February 26, 2010

jwvanderbeck wrote:

I guess i'll just have to order a few proofs to see what they look like.

I was hoping someone who uses Nik Sharpener Pro would chime in with their experiences though.

I just received my prints that I ordered to test the sharpening. I printed up three photographs that each had very different characteristics.

In each case I had trouble determining which one had sharpening applied and which did not. I found this interesting.

On one photo I was able to tell because there is a small sign with text on it, and the sharpening made the text mode readable. The other two took real careful comparisons to see the difference.

The photos I ordered were at 8x10 size. Obviously at a larger size the results may be different, and I expect sharpening will be more important, but I didn't want to waste the money to compare large prints. I can say that sharpening as suggested to 300ppi in Nik does not create an oversharp picture at the 8x10 size, and as a result presumably would be good for the larger prints.

For reference if you want to see both the sharpened and unsharpened photos I used for the test, you can see them here:
http://www.landscapesandcityscapes.com/Cityscapes/Cityscapes-for-Sale/11256918_B8CcK#794716163_vd24w

barbelle · November 26, 2012

Thanks for posting this info. Going thru the same thing right now.

Output sharpening for Bay Photo?

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