[john carter]

I have been enjoying my K-1, and recently have branched out from Manual settings only to try Pixel Shift. I've tried to understand process and have become confused. So, I will give you my workflow with RAW Therapee (RT), and maybe someone with tell me where I'm going wrong (if I'm going wrong).

1. Shoot a pixel shift RAW image with the K-1
2. Open the file in RT
3. Click on the RAW icon (it is the checker board icon)
4. Under the 'demosaicing' hit the down arrow for 'method'
5. Choose 'pixel shift'
6. Go to the 'Color' icon, click and go to the bottom and choose your color output profile
7. Finish your processing as normal, save in 16 bit TIFF

Am I doing this correctly?

John

[K1N8]

Yes. The difference is most noticable in dark areas with high ISO. Also check the motion mask, since too much motion will null the results.

I posted a extreme example at pixls, which was very helpful to understand the use and limitations of PS.

[Play Raw] Sunset: Pentax PixelShift ISO 12800 De-noise challenge - Play Raw - discuss.pixls.us

[Flanoman]

Thanks for this discussion John and k1n8 as I also need guidance on pixel Shift using Raw therapee .hope others can help.

[K1N8]

It's best to explain from an actual photo, since under some conditions PixelShift results will have almost no differences from normal demosaicing.

[house]

You're better off selecting a pixelshift preset in the top left drop box whilst in the edit tab. This applies some other settings that are beneficial to pixel shifted files.

[john carter]

Thanks, a couple of things so far that I haven't done correctly.

---------- Post added 09-30-2019 at 02:46 PM ----------

House, sorry to bother you but I'm not good with computer English. My bundled profiles include pixel shift, and I shoot at ISO 100. So do I choose 'PS Low ISO?'

[kiwi_jono]

While I have not done much with Pixel shift myself (I rarely shoot a scene static enough), I certainly like RawTherapee. I will also take on the advice linked from here.

Thanks for posting, John, and it would be great to see your results now!

[john carter]

kiwi_jono, like you I haven't done much pixel shift (PXS). My photo with PXS have been just trial runs. But with the adjustments that I have received above I have to say things are looking much better than my first attempts. I'll put one up in the next few days.

I will also revise my workflow if I get more advice.

[house]

Thanks, a couple of things so far that I haven't done correctly.

---------- Post added 09-30-2019 at 02:46 PM ----------

House, sorry to bother you but I'm not good with computer English. My bundled profiles include pixel shift, and I shoot at ISO 100. So do I choose 'PS Low ISO?'

Yes, use the low iso preset.

[Rondec]

Your work flow looks about right. Once you find that you have settings the way you like them, save the preset and apply it to future pixel shifted images.

[house]

If you want to squeeze the last bit of shift out of those pixels you turn on the motion mask in the demosaic tab and adjust how much gets detected as motion. For some scenes the defaults are rather conservative.

[john carter]

Thanks everyone, I feel more confident now about what I'm doing and what I will do. I hope others that try pixel shift will use this thread, as I'm sure there are other photographers that have been confused like I was (and maybe still am).

[clickclick]

I'm far from an expert on pixel shift, but would also throw out doing some comparisons with the in camera processing compared to your efforts in Raw Therapee. I'm thining it will give somewhat of a baseline/sanity check on the results your getting.

[john carter]

My revised workflow:

1. Shoot a pixel shift RAW image with the K-1
2. Open the file in RAW-Therapee
3. Under 'Processing Profiles' you will see 'last saved' click on this arrow
4. Now you will see "bundled profiles" click, then click (pixel shift) then click "PS ISO Low" (I used 100 ISO in camera)
5. Finish post processing as normal
6. Go to the 'Color' icon, click and go to the bottom and choose your color output profile
7. Save in 16 bit TIFF

Here are three images from Flickr: first the entire scene, second and third are crops (second no pixel shift, third with pixel shift):

Pentax K1 Pixel shift | The large image is the scene, of the? | Flickr

Pentax K1 Pixel shift | The large image is the scene, of the? | Flickr

Pentax K1 Pixel shift | The large image is the scene, of the? | Flickr

The Pixel Shift crop looks a little over sharpened, I'll have to do more research. Any further suggestions?

[house]

PS iso low uses both a lot of RL sharpening and additional microcontrast sharpening. Both are under the detail tab. Try turning the microcontras on/off att 100% zoom as well as pulling the sharpening amount back a bit. It's at 100% default using PS iso low.