This was PhotoJoseph talking about Output Sharpener Pro (direct link to the relevant part of the Webinar: https://youtu.be/poUjXXlyEJg?t=434). Output Sharpener Pro is not made for HiDPI therefore the effect may be relevant (I haven’t checked for myself).
For PL3 I expect it to be compatible with Retina-Displays. Also iMac Retina-Displays are running at their native resolution by default.
To help clarify my earlier post:
I observed the soft previews with multiple .dng raw files, PL3 at default settings, sharpness off (both kinds) and noise reduction off (did not make a difference.)
The camera lens combinations were Leica M10, M9 with Summilux 50 and 35, and Summicron 75.
I had deleted PL2 so could not make a comparison, but I could make comparisons to LR/PS, C1Pro, On1 and Luminar, some of which did not support the body/lens combinations. I also compared some DAM apps, including Neofinder, Apollo, PhotoMechanic, and FastRawViewer. The softness with PL3 was immediate and obvious.
Did you also notice the issue with native raw files? I never use .dng files myself.
Mark
Again, this thread is about a specific issue comparing PL3 with 2, not about general sharpness comparisons between software.
It is a very subtle sharpening effect when Lens Sharpness has been applied.
I have uploaded a short movie of the effect.
The image jerks left when I slightly nudge the PL window. At that point you can see the image snap sharper.
I see what you are showing. the difference is extremely obvious. However, I’m not able to recreate it on on my desktop or my laptop. Both monitors are 4K. Both computers are running Windows 10 with all updates applied. I have PL2 and PL3 on my desktop and PL1 and PL3 on my laptop. I’ve been comparing a number of raw files with fine detail at various zoom levels from 100% to 400%, first with no sharpening applied and then with different amounts of sharpening applied. I then did the comparison with some presets. So far if there is any difference at all on my monitors between the three versions of PhotoLab it is too subtle to be obvious and I’m certainly not seeing anything like the huge differences in your examples.
Mark
Thanks for looking.
I wish I could be more helpful. You are obviously not making this up. Something is causing the results you are seeing. But if I can’t recreate it, I’m not sure what else I can do. The soft version you are seeing in PhotoLab 3 isn’t just soft by comparison to PhotoLab 2, its soft by any measure, and would be obviously soft even if you didn’t have the sharper version with which to compare it.
Mark
Fortunately I can mitigate the issue by nudging the window.
Not sure what you mean by that.
Mark
i.e. resizing it slightly
This looks indeed very “bad” and the "resizing"action is bringing it back to real preview value.
my Win10 version isn’t doing this on any version of PL. (Yes i get the “sorry i am buzzy to (re) render fuzzyness” but it pops in to detail by it’s self i don’t need to “jerk” or “nudge” the image.)
i am very interested to see the reaction/reply of one of the dxostaff members about this.
(ps how many other mac users have testing your image about this behaviour?)
Yes the momentary preview fuzziness while scrolling through photos, that some experience, is not the issue discussed here.
For your flower image against the wall exactly how much sharpening did you add? I downloaded you raw file and am playing with it now.
Mark
Just the Lens Sharpness panel, default settings based on the Optics Module for the lens used.
The first screenshot is the raw file at 100% zoom in PL3 with the default sharpening and no other corrections on my Windows 10 Machine. It may be very slightly softer than the sharper left hand version of your image but, it is no where near as soft as your version on the right side of your image. A 100% version of an exported tiff file follows, and then a 200% zoom of the raw file. I forgot to add the optics model for your camera and lens in the first 3 screenshots so here is a forth one of the raw at 100% with the optics distortion module engaged.
The monitor being used is a 28" 4K Samsung.
If there is any preview softness in PL3 on Windows it is doesn’t appear to be anywhere nearly as profound as your images suggest. Perhaps it is a Mac issue?
Mark
This first screenshot is of the raw image with sharpening applied
The second one is a screenshot of an exported 16bit tiff file.
The third is the raw file at 200%
The fourth is the raw file at 100% with the optics module engaged.
You may not be experiencing the problem.
But the final test would be to grab the side of the PL3 window slightly shrink it sideways, and see if there is a subtle sharpening (with Lens Sharpness already applied).
Of course, to do this you would need a floating window.
I just tried that. As I shrunk and then expanded the window sideways I did get significant flickering of the image but as soon as I stopped so did the flickering and everything still appears to be sharp. I’m really trying to help you get to the bottom of this but so far I am unable to replicate the issue. Perhaps it is more related to the Mac platform. Sorry.
Has the subject of your specific operating system come up yet? Are you running Catalina?
Mark
Hi @Tom, I can recreate the problem on MacOS (running Mojave) and with PL3 as well! It really seems to be „just“ a rendering problem inside PL3, it doesn’t happen in PL2 and the image output is fine.
First there is a visible improvement in quality if magnification is greater than 75% (as mentioned above). But nevertheless the image stays extremely unsharp. If you resize the whole program window the image immediately gets sharper and now stays that way when zooming in and out (on both „quality levels“, meaning above and below 75% magnification). But it only applies to the image you have currently opened, if I switch to the next image it immediately gets unsharp again and you have to resize the windows again! Same thing if I go back to the first image where it worked before.
I also have attached an example (screenshots are cropped for better comparison):
1: 74% - PL3 - before resizing the window
2: 74% - PL3 - after resizing the window (subtle difference, but already sharper)
3: 74% - PL2 - looks like 2
4: 100% - PL3 - before resizing window
5: 100% - PL3 - after resizing the window (much better!)
6: 100% - PL2 - looks like 5
This is definitely a serious bug and extremely annoying! I was looking forward to using the new features in PL3 but working like this is just impossible.
@sgospodarenko do you have any explanation for this behaviour and when it will be fixed?
Lukas
Hello!
I wonder why you asked me 
Guys, my responsibility is only Win part of the Forum, neither NIK nor Mac. Let me ask @akarlovsky to assist you.
Regards,
Svetlana G.
Hello! Sorry, I wasn’t aware of that! Thank you for forwarding our issue.
Regards,
Lukas
