Do I need 16 bit?
-
John
Do I need 16 bit?
I'm rather new at computer processing of my photos and not sure if I need the 16 bit capability. I shoot all my photos in RAW format and develop them into TIFF files.
16bit vs 8bit needs
Hi, I'm new to photo processing as well. RE 16 bit, how do I tell if my photos are 16bit? When I go to the properties of my image, it seems to imply 24bit, not 16 or 8. Thanks,
Do you know the PSP 8.x menu selection? I can't find a 'mode'. Does the 8/16 bit difference have to do with color depth?
//from PSP help//
In Paint Shop Pro, you can create 2 color (1-bit), 16 color (4-bit), greyscale (8-bit), 256 color (8-bit), and 16 million color (24-bit) images.
Many of Paint Shop Pro’s effect and correction commands work on 16 million color images only. Therefore, it is best to create most images using 16 million colors. After you finish working on an image, you can decrease its color depth and save it in another format.
Computer monitors also have a color depth that is determined by the monitor’s capabilities as well as the selected color setting. If you display an image with a higher color depth than the monitor can display, the image will have some color distortion. Some file formats limit the number of supported colors so that images display correctly on a variety of monitor types. For example, GIF images, a popular format for the Web, contain up to 256 colors (8-bit depth).
The number of colors actually used in an image is usually less than the color depth. For example, in a 16 million color image, the image is capable of displaying that many colors but may only use 50,000 colors. You can use the Image > Count Colors Used command to count the number of colors in a layer of the image.
// PSP also talks about decreasing color depth of a 24bit, but still doesn't mention 16bit anywhere//
To reduce the number of colors used in a 24-bit image, decrease the color depth of an image to 32K (32,000) or 64K (64,000) colors. Displaying images with 32K or 64K colors on older monitors results in better refresh rates than displaying 24-bit images with 16 million colors.
//from PSP help//
In Paint Shop Pro, you can create 2 color (1-bit), 16 color (4-bit), greyscale (8-bit), 256 color (8-bit), and 16 million color (24-bit) images.
Many of Paint Shop Pro’s effect and correction commands work on 16 million color images only. Therefore, it is best to create most images using 16 million colors. After you finish working on an image, you can decrease its color depth and save it in another format.
Computer monitors also have a color depth that is determined by the monitor’s capabilities as well as the selected color setting. If you display an image with a higher color depth than the monitor can display, the image will have some color distortion. Some file formats limit the number of supported colors so that images display correctly on a variety of monitor types. For example, GIF images, a popular format for the Web, contain up to 256 colors (8-bit depth).
The number of colors actually used in an image is usually less than the color depth. For example, in a 16 million color image, the image is capable of displaying that many colors but may only use 50,000 colors. You can use the Image > Count Colors Used command to count the number of colors in a layer of the image.
// PSP also talks about decreasing color depth of a 24bit, but still doesn't mention 16bit anywhere//
To reduce the number of colors used in a 24-bit image, decrease the color depth of an image to 32K (32,000) or 64K (64,000) colors. Displaying images with 32K or 64K colors on older monitors results in better refresh rates than displaying 24-bit images with 16 million colors.
The 8 vs 16bit is a little confusing. What is meant is resolution (bit depth) per colour channel.
A normal RGB image has three channels; red, green and blue. If the per channel resolution is 8 bits then we say we 24 bit per pixel image (16 million colours).
So, a 16bit per channel image, which Neat Image support, has a sum of 48 bits for each pixel (several billion colours).
Paint Shop Pro does not support 16 bit per channel images. Only a few applications support it. Photoshop CS has full support, whereas Photoshop 7 only has partial support.
A normal RGB image has three channels; red, green and blue. If the per channel resolution is 8 bits then we say we 24 bit per pixel image (16 million colours).
So, a 16bit per channel image, which Neat Image support, has a sum of 48 bits for each pixel (several billion colours).
Paint Shop Pro does not support 16 bit per channel images. Only a few applications support it. Photoshop CS has full support, whereas Photoshop 7 only has partial support.