PSE4 8 Bit vs. 16 Bit

[canon shooter]

I convert the RAW image in RSE and import to PSE4 as TIFF (16 bit), but to save as JPEG in PSE4 (once ready to print), it has to be 8 bit.

Should I convert to 8 bit TIFF instead of 16 bit. And if so will I notice any difference in printed picture??

[BillMarks]

Why not just save the 16 bit TIFF? You won't likely see much difference in the print, but if you save in TIFF, you can save any layers you have in the image in case you want to make adjustments later.

[jfrancho]

Almost all printers are 24 bit (8 bit/channel) devices. Since my output varies based on target device and/or print size, I keep a generic flattened 16-bit/channel .psd and the raw file. If you are going to edit after raw conversion, definately go with 16 bit color, and you can convert it to 8 bit later. This will result in much better color transistions and reduce banding. Depending on your print service, or printer, an 8 bit jpeg (highest quality) or 8 bit tiff should be fine.

[canon shooter]

Originally Posted by jfrancho

Almost all printers are 24 bit (8 bit/channel) devices. Since my output varies based on target device and/or print size, I keep a generic flattened 16-bit/channel .psd and the raw file. If you are going to edit after raw conversion, definately go with 16 bit color, and you can convert it to 8 bit later. This will result in much better color transistions and reduce banding. Depending on your print service, or printer, an 8 bit jpeg (highest quality) or 8 bit tiff should be fine.

Do you think a 8 bit JPEG vs. a 16 bit JPEG would make any difference in the final print from somewhere such as MPIX?

[jfrancho]

16 bit is not supported by jpeg format.

[InskiP]

Originally Posted by jfrancho

I keep a generic flattened 16-bit/channel .psd and the raw file. If you are going to edit after raw conversion, definately go with 16 bit color, and you can convert it to 8 bit later. This will result in much better color transistions and reduce banding. Depending on your print service, or printer, an 8 bit jpeg (highest quality) or 8 bit tiff should be fine.

What do you mean by generic file?

I've been shooting and editing in 16-bit, but the 16-bit images are really eating up my hard drive space. After I've made most of my corrections, is it okay to archive the images in 8-bit w/ layers intact? I may make minor adjustments later on... But 8-bit is all the printer accepts, and I've heard you couldn't really tell much difference between an 8-bit and 16-bit print anyway Of course, I keep the original RAW file. But I've been considering going through all of my files and converting to 8-bit to save space??

Jim-mpix only accepts 8-bit images, and their prints are beautiful by the way.

[jfrancho]

By generic, I mean that it is left as a flattened, full resolution, but with no crop/resize or output sharpening applied. This way, I can go back to it and make prints, thumbnails, web size, email, etc. in any size I want. If I want to make a changeg to my workflow up to that point, I can rework the original raw, but that isn't usually necessary. Even if I am not 100% satisfied with my results, I rarely go backwards with my work, preferring to shoot new subjects. The exception to that preference happened recently when I made some large prints of older work to display in a show. I wanted to be sure I displayed my best possible work, and, processing wise, some the 2-3 year old stuff was sub par compared newer stuff.