Raw @ 8 bit 0r 16 bit?????????

[rbbblues]

i process my raw images in cs......it is done at 16 bits per the raw adjustment pop-up.........i print (color) on an epson 1280.......should i convert the image to 8 bit or leave at 16?????? someone please give me some advice and wzplain the difference under these circumstances.....
thanks
www.richardbluesteinphotos.com

[scottbergerphoto]

Convert Raw to 16 bit tiff and leave it there unless you need to use a filter or other plug in that only works at 8 bit. I print almost all 16 bit tiffs on my Epson 2200. I leave it a 16 bit so that if I need to go back and reedit more of the data is there. I don't have to go back to the Raw file.
Scott

[rbbblues]

thanks scott....i'll follow your advice.....but can you please explain the difference.......

[tim]

If you do a lot of color manipulations in PS 16 bit will give you better color accuracy. If you don't change things in PS except for a crop, you're unlikely to see any difference in your final result. I use different printing services, most of them convert to JPG for printing, even if you supplly a Photoshop file, and JPG's 8 bits. Scott might be able to explain it better, i'm not an expert.

This book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/032127878X/qid=1107482395/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-1058892-7018242?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) is very helpful for working with RAW.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Converting to 16 bit just becomes an equal aspect of maintaining the highest quality for your images as possible as when you decide to shoot RAW.

For a good explanation check out Rogers site;
http://www.rogercavanagh.com/helpinfo/35_rawor-2.stm#BitDepth

[tim]

Incidentally, archiving to 16 bit TIFF is going to take a HUGE amount of disk space. Personally I keep my RAWs archived as RAW/CR2, and if it looks like support for the format will be dropped i'll convert them to DNG or similar.

[scottbergerphoto]

I save The raw file, the edited file saved as a 16 tiff and the jpeg for web if I made one. I store them on DVD's which are cheap. I do that to maintain the most data that I can and to save me work if I need the edited image later. I can always get a new unedited 16 bit Tiff from the Raw file. Some people also archive an unedited 16 bit tiff to start. Everything I've read about this stresses keeping as much data (largest file) as possible till the end of the process.
Scott

[PacAce]

I save The raw file, the edited file saved as a 16 tiff and the jpeg for web if I made one. I store them on DVD's which are cheap. I do that to maintain the most data that I can and to save me work if I need the edited image later. I can always get a new unedited 16 bit Tiff from the Raw file. Some people also archive an unedited 16 bit tiff to start. Everything I've read about this stresses keeping as much data (largest file) as possible till the end of the process.
Scott
I do basically the same thing. I save the original RAW files, of course. I don't save my TIFF files but, if a lot of work went into editing the file, I do keep the "work in progress" file created from the TIFF file with all the layers, masks, etc. as PSD files so that I can always go back to it for further editing if needed. I'll save them just before I do the final resize and sharpening for output. If the RAW to JPEG conversion just went through my standard workflow steps then I don't bother saving my "work in progress" files because my standard workflow is automated with two actions and is very easy to redo from scratch.