question about cs4-16 bit

just got phootoshop cs4 and I think last week all my files open in 8 bit and now they all open in 16 bit even checked my elements 6 and they are opening in 16 bit. Anyone know what Idid or how to change it back

Opening an 8 bit psd file shouldn't convert it to 16 bit. To do that you need to explicitly change it.

If you're taking about RAW/ACR just click the blue link underneath the image and set it to 8 bit.

yeah I know that but when I open in acr I thought they opened in 8 bit and now they all opeen in 16 bit or am I wrong about that, semms like I always remember seeing 8 bit

tim wrote in post #8906807
...just click the blue link underneath the image and set it to 8 bit.

Quoted for emphasis.

Jay T wrote in post #8906926
yeah I know that but when I open in acr I thought they opened in 8 bit and now they all opeen in 16 bit or am I wrong about that, semms like I always remember seeing 8 bit

ChasP505 wrote in post #8907034
Quoted for emphasis.

Like Chas suggested I think you'll have more luck if you read my post more carefully. If you check the FAQ link in my sig there's an ACR FAQ as well, you'll probably learn something if you read that.

You evidently need to understand: there is a "bit depth" difference between 8 bit and 16 bit, and Photoshop CS4 seems to default to the higher quality 16 bit. This is useful for doing fine, subtle shifts in colors and tones. Keeping an image in 16 bits is actually the way to keep the best image quality during the editing process, although it costs in terms of file size and processing speed.

But, especially if you are shooting in jpeg, and not doing major but subtle changes, 8 bits can suffice. So, to change this behavior, you can, in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) click on the little blue link at the bottom of the ACR window to bring up the Properties dialog and change the bit depth. Or, you can do this in Bridge By selecting Edit/Camera Raw preference.

If you are editing a jpeg or tiff file, you can set your bit depth by selecting Image/Mode and select 8 bits per channel (altough a jpeg should already be set).