10.1Mp RAW and Adobe Camera RAW

[Bend The Light]

In ACR, when I open my CR2 file, I can select op[tions at the bottom to have the image as:

Adobe RGB,
8bit or 16bit,
size (from 1024x1256 @ 1.6Mp up to 4096x6144 @ 25.2Mp),
Resolution,
Sharpening (for screen, glossy, matt)

Does my camera capture 16 bit? Should I then have this set as 16 bit?
And secondly, if I change the size setting, what effect will that have on quality? Obviously reducing the size will degrade quality as I will throw away pixels (I assume), but what about increasing it? Is there any reason to change this size up (to 4096x6144 at 25.2Mp) or am I also introducing problems. I assume I am adding (interpolating) pixels?

Does anyone sharpen at this point, with these controls?

It just seems silly to me, that if these are changed and that degrades the image, why have them? The program can still deal with any input, but there'd be no need to change those settings.

Cheers

 

[Chappers]

Depending on your camera you are capturing the data in either 12 or 14 bit. ACR will convert this to 16 bit within ACR for the adjustments then allow you to output it at whatever resolution and bit depth you decide on.

I wouldn't increase the output resolution from the native one for the file. Down resing is useful if it's going to the web, but I cant see any point at this stage making the image bigger than it really is. It does come in useful if you have to supply an image at a minimum size, i.e 50Mb ,but I doubt if you will need to do this

If you are going to do significant amount of adjustments in Photoshop then you might want to consider outputting as 16 bit. If it's just to print then 8 bit is probably better as most hobbyist printers will only handle 8 bit.

Sharpening. Well you probably have added a small amount of Capture sharpening within ACR itself. I personally would leave any additional sharpening until you know the image's final destination

 

[Bend The Light]

Depending on your camera you are capturing the data in either 12 or 14 bit. ACR will convert this to 16 bit within ACR for the adjustments then allow you to output it at whatever resolution and bit depth you decide on.

I wouldn't increase the output resolution from the native one for the file. Down resing is useful if it's going to the web, but I cant see any point at this stage making the image bigger than it really is. It does come in useful if you have to supply an image at a minimum size, i.e 50Mb ,but I doubt if you will need to do this

If you are going to do significant amount of adjustments in Photoshop then you might want to consider outputting as 16 bit. If it's just to print then 8 bit is probably better as most hobbyist printers will only handle 8 bit.

Sharpening. Well you probably have added a small amount of Capture sharpening within ACR itself. I personally would leave any additional sharpening until you know the image's final destination

thanks. A very helpful response. Makes good sense. Cheers.