8 Bit or 16 Bit ??

I have a Canon 10d camera and just recently received Photoshop CS2. I always shoot raw and am wondering if I should select 8 bit or 16 bit when processing the pctures. Thanks in advance for your help.

I guess that depends on what you're going to do with the image after converting it from RAW. If you're going to do more editing in PS, having more data to play with using 16 bit would be helpful. If you're just going to print the images, 8 bit would probably suffice.

Thanks,appreciate the reply, Happy New Year!!!

My thoughts:

If I even think I'm going to print something or want it hi rez; I process the shot as 16 bit tiff.
If it's just a snapshot and I'm only going to post on the web; I process as 8 bit jpg.

Hope it helps.

i keep it at 16 unless i'm specifically going to use it on the web. then i bump it down to 8 at the end.

I also go with 16. It's particularly important if you want to open the shadows, since it will lessen the chances of causing banding. It is essential if you are editing in a space wider than AdobeRGB.

Keep it on 16 as long as you can during post processing. Even though the actual bit-depth is 12 bits, you've still go far more tonality/colour values per pixel than you would do with 8-bit. Processing with the larger bit depth will help prevent any possible posterization and banding in fine graduations as you process.

Granted, your output will probably be 8-bit, but you want to minimise any potential corruption during your workflow.

Another good reason to shoot in RAW in my opinion.

Thanks to all, the information is most helpful.

It can't hurt, but since you're doing as much as possible before converting from RAW, you're probably getting the most out of the image that you can get.

Okay, can you explain this. When I open a 16 bit TIFF into Photoshop 7 why cant I access layers with it ....

Balliolman wrote in post #2483079
Okay, can you explain this. When I open a 16 bit TIFF into Photoshop 7 why cant I access layers with it ....

I haven't used PS-7 in a number of years but as I recall it's very limited as far as what you can do with 16bit files.

For working with 16bit files you really need CS-2 at this point it probable best just to wait for the release of CS-3

Mike