G5 - 8 bit or 16 bit

[Paul Devlin]

This may be a stupid question but I have an G5 and I'm wondering whether it produces 8 bit or 16 bit images?

What has prompted this question is that I'm thinking of puchasing Noise Ninja and the 8 bit version is cheaper than the 16 bit version. I mainly want to use NN to clean up some 35mm negatives which I've been scanning using my CanoScan LiDE 500F but I want to give myself the option of using it with any photos I may produce with my G5.

Also, if anyone has any idea what bit the images the CanoScan produces I'd appreciate knowing.

Thanks,

Paul

[ATucker]

From the Canon website: "The LiDE 500F scanner delivers a maximum 2400 x 4800 color dpi resolution and 48-bit color depth, for over 281 trillion possible colors."

This means CanonScan does 16bits per channel.

Your G5 can produce jpegs (8 bits per channel) or RAW files (12 bits per channel). Using a RAW converter, you can convert the RAW to 8 bit jpegs or tiffs or 16 bit tiffs.

[Paul Devlin]

Thanks ATucker. I had a look at your gallery and I must say I was very impressed, do you mind me asking how much post processing you do on average? Your photos really seem to have a great depth to them.

[Robert_Lay]

This may be a stupid question but I have an G5 and I'm wondering whether it produces 8 bit or 16 bit images?

What has prompted this question is that I'm thinking of puchasing Noise Ninja and the 8 bit version is cheaper than the 16 bit version. I mainly want to use NN to clean up some 35mm negatives which I've been scanning using my CanoScan LiDE 500F but I want to give myself the option of using it with any photos I may produce with my G5.

Also, if anyone has any idea what bit the images the CanoScan produces I'd appreciate knowing.

Thanks,

Paul

Like most of the Canon line, the G5 produces a 12 bit RAW file. But that is 12 bits of RAW and must be extrapolated into three color channels of 8 bits each. In other words, by the time the camera (along with a RAW converter, if shooting RAW) develops a JPG that you can use or a , it's in RGB, 8 bits per channel or a total of 3 bytes per pixel, which in the case of the G5 at its maximum size image, amounts to approximately 15 Megabtes.

So, if your scanner can only deliver 8 bits per channel, you would have no use, whatsoever, for the 16 bit version. However, I was under the impression that most scanners purchased in the last 3 years would all have optional 16 bit per channel output. I know that my "Epson Perfection 1660 Photo" can supply either 8 or 16 bit per channel scans, and that was only a $150 scanner, brand new.

[ATucker]

Thanks ATucker. I had a look at your gallery and I must say I was very impressed, do you mind me asking how much post processing you do on average? Your photos really seem to have a great depth to them.

As little as possible. Usually localized contrast adjustment using curves / masks. Most of the time I do not change the saturation. Most of the images are sharpened for viewing on the web.

I do shoot a number of blended images to increase the dynamic range so of course this requires more PP.

Thanks for the comments.

Tom