RAW File - Bit Depth

Nick_1981

Nick_1981

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Nick
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Hi,

I've been pondering :thinking: over some of the camera and PP settings regarding image quality and colour options. Having searched the forums I think I have the answer to most questions regarding in camera colour space.

I have my cameras set to AdobeRGB but as I only shoot in RAW I don’t think this has any affect in camera.

However, I am unsure regarding the RAW 'Bit Depth'. I have the option to switch in camera between 12 and 14. I currently have the camera set to 14, would I loose much by switching to 12? :shrug:

Also, once the RAW files are imported I can edit the RAW file as 8 or 16 bit - I opt for 16 but once the image is imported into Photoshop (Elements) I have to convert back to 8 bit, so I’m not sure of there is any point is starting with 16.

Finally, once the image is in PSE I can choose the colour space, reading the forums I think sRGB would actually suffice although it seems to vary based on printer / display method.

I would be interested to hear your views and which settings you opt for in camera and during PP.

Thanks
 
Use the highest bit-depth for as long as you can. It gives you the most flexibility in adjusting exposure etc, and lets you recover the most detail. Get all that right in ACR (or whatever you use to process RAW), then convert to 8-bit.

As for colour space, use sRGB unless you have a particular need for Adobe.
 
There are two penalties to shooting in 14-bit RAW on the D300 - and I believe this relates to the D300s too.

Firstly, the shutter lag is increased to 40ms - only applies to the first shot if on continuous shooting. Secondly, the fps drops from 6 to 2.5.

In a well exposed image it's doubtful that you can see the difference between 12 and 14 bit but the higher bit count does give more leaway if boosting the shadows of an under-exposed image. The file size increases by about 30% in 14 bit too.
 
Thanks Steve. The file size increase is quite noticeable, I was thinking of getting shares in sandisk :) I think that unless an image really needed some rescuing that 12 bit would suffice for me. I appreciate your comments.
 
I just dropped mine down to 12 bit last night as I didn't realise it was even on 14, my 16GB card capacity went from 591 to 768 and the FPS certainly did increase as mentioned. I previously presumed that my card wasn't very fast and that's why my continuous shots seemed slow.
 
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