ACR, Pixel Size & PK Capture Sharpening

[apbatt]

With PK Capture sharpening: does the High/Medium/Low resolution designation refer to actual image pixel size or native capture size?

FOR EXAMPLE:
If you process a 1DsMK II file in ACR at a small pixel size, do you use PKCapture-HighRes or PKCapture-LoRes?

Conversely, if you process a FujiS2 file in ACR at max pixel size, do you use PKCapture-HighRes or PKCapture-MedRes?


I realize that to a certain degree testing is necessary, and sharpening also depends on subject matter ? so I'm just looking for a rule of thumb.

Thanks

Andy

[Bruce Fraser]

If you want the absolute best quality possible, the recommendation from my experience is to convert the raw at native size and apply the apropriate capture sharpen before resizing, but the preference may well be camera- and user-dependent, and the difference between doing that and applying the capture sharpener appropriate for the resized file may not justify the extra work. (I just run unattended batches so I don't care about the extra work.) Also, others whose judgement I respect prefer to resize in ACR and run the capture sharpener appropriate for the resized file.

Yes, some testing will be necessary for you to determine YOUR preference. But the differences shoud be fairly subtle either way.

The one thing you definitely don't want to do is to process a high-res raw to a low-res file and apply high-res sharpening!