# Import Sharpening Amount went from 25 to 40



## Jim Stewart (May 5, 2018)

I just discovered that for the last few weeks LR has been applying a default Sharpening Amount 40 to all my photos from all my cameras at import, instead of the default Sharpening Amount 25 that has been standard since, iirc, LR beta 1.

Can anyone suggest how this might be happening, and how I can get it to revert to the default 25 setting that has always been there prior to April this year?

Any suggestions welcome…


Jim


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## Johan Elzenga (May 5, 2018)

Yes, this is the new default. If you don't want that, change the settings back to what you used before and then press the 'Reset' button while holding the Alt/option key. That gives you a dialog where you can update your defaults to the current settings. You will have to do this for each camera.


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## Jim Stewart (May 6, 2018)

JohanElzenga said:


> Yes, this is the new default. If you don't want that, change the settings back to what you used before and then press the 'Reset' button while holding the Alt/option key. That gives you a dialog where you can update your defaults to the current settings. You will have to do this for each camera.



Thanks Johan. I hadn't noticed that one come in. Not sure why they would decide to do that, at a point in time where more camera vendors are ditching the low-pass filters etc that brought about the need for capture sharpening going back, but good to know!

I'm away from my computer for a couple of days, but will look into your suggestions for getting back to the default 25 setting when I get home.

Did the LR team re-write the sharpening algorithm for 7.3? Have they published anything about the rationale for this change in the default setting?

Jim


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## Johan Elzenga (May 6, 2018)

Jim Stewart said:


> Did the LR team re-write the sharpening algorithm for 7.3? Have they published anything about the rationale for this change in the default setting?


I don't think so. I think this may have been done because you often read raw-converter tests (done by people who lack the expertise to properly do this) where the tester claims that such-and-so raw-converter gets more detail out of the raw file than Lightroom does.


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## Jim Stewart (May 6, 2018)

JohanElzenga said:


> I don't think so. I think this may have been done because you often read raw-converter tests (done by people who lack the expertise to properly do this) where the tester claims that such-and-so raw-converter gets more detail out of the raw file than Lightroom does.


Figures.
You have to wonder why they listen to these people, though. Especially since the old Sharpen Faces preset sets capture sharpening amount to just 35, by which measure 40 (the old Sharpen Scenic preset amount setting) is over-sharpening for portraits etc
Strange choice, but again, thanks for the workaround

Jim


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## Jim Wilde (May 6, 2018)

When I queried this change with Adobe, this is the response I got:

_"The sharpening amount increase (from 25 to 40), in conjunction with the new Adobe Color default profile, are part of an effort to offer a more pleasing “out-of-the-box” rendering for Lr Classic, Lr CC, & ACR."_


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## Gnits (May 6, 2018)

I suspect that the original sharpening routines were built around sensors that were 10 years older. Also, as the resolution increases as well as the sharpening amount, you also need to consider the radius.


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## Johan Elzenga (May 6, 2018)

Jim Wilde said:


> When I queried this change with Adobe, this is the response I got:
> 
> _"The sharpening amount increase (from 25 to 40), in conjunction with the new Adobe Color default profile, are part of an effort to offer a more pleasing “out-of-the-box” rendering for Lr Classic, Lr CC, & ACR."_


Yeah, a nice way of saying "those testers need to be satisfied'.


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