Again, I think we begin to misunderstand - the guts of the camera is an array of posh light meters (see eg http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/sensors.htm ) wired to a microcomputer.

The manufacturer does the wiring and programming so as to suit most purposes, fairly loosely in 'unprogrammed' modes, much more elaborately in programmed ones (for point-and-shooters), but nevertheless programmed with as much control left to us as we care to take up.

So there is no such thing as 'no sharpening', at very least there is the minimum level the manufacturer has deemed sensible to give us as a starting point, set for a softish image in case that is what we want. Setting slightly higher levels of 'sharpening during conversion' either in the camera or conversion software is needed to give crispness if not sharpness. Canon & Nikon (group) use different type of sensors, so degrees of latitude are different. Where are you Robski, you are the guy that really understands?

I doubt if any of us lot do, but you can also plug the camera straight into a printer and in that case the manual gives instructions for processing roughly equivalent to the RAW stage of DPP + red-eye removal and other common tweaks. Just gives some idea of the computer circuitry within the camera.