Tiff files - 8 or 16 bitt?

swag72

Suspended / Banned
Messages
7,969
Name
Sara
Edit My Images
Yes
Can you tell me the difference in these? When I process my pics in DPP I have the choice of saving them in either an 8 or 16 bitt tiff. Which should I pick and why?

Thanks :thumbs:
 
Each channel, R,G,B has a brightness value. 8 bit gives you 256 values, 16 bit gives you 65536 values.
It would depend where your images are going next.

I always keep as much info in my files until the final output, ie print or web. If your computer can cope with dealing with the bigger files, then cant see a reason for not using 16bit. (even if some people claim they cant see the difference)
 
16 bit holds a lot more information, if your doing any further editing I'd go for that, it'll take the editing better.
 
If you are going to do much PP work on the file you are better off using 16 bit. This way you reduce the chance of anomalies such as banding. However 16 bit files do take up extra room on the Hard drive and also demand more processing power from your computer.

Personally I only output 16 bit files if they are going to Photoshop or similar. Everything else is 8 bit low compression jpeg. But then these are destined for repro and this quality is more than good enough even for A3
 
Back
Top