8 or 16 bit grayscale

[colyn]

Which do you prefer when scanning B&W negatives??

What res??

 

[__hh]

I save mine straight to JPG, so 8 bit for me... good enough is near enough

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I actually save mine as color TIFFs. Grayscale was nothing but trouble; Windows XP doesn't like it at 16 bits and won't show me thumbnails, and it's easy to just desaturate or click "grayscle" in Lightroom.

 

[whitecat]

I scan in 16 and then after all the work convert to 8.

 

[amateriat]

I'll second whitecat here: scan (or convert) and work in 16 bit, save in 8 bit when finished.


- Barrett

 

[ampguy]

16-bit, 2400 dpi grayscale for now.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I scan in 16 and then after all the work convert to 8.

I have worked in 16 bit exclusively ever since that version of Photoshop that allowed you to do high bit layers.

But I always save in 16 bit and with all original layers intact (not flattened). The reason is that I will occasionally take an old file that has been final printed and make some tweaks to accommodate a new paper, more closely match other prints in an exhibit, or simply because my taste change. It sure is nice to have that original 16 bit file with all the layers to work on.

I do have to flatten, resize and sharpen whenever I print but that is only a few mouse clicks. I just make sure I never save that file and overwrite the original.

Now I do have some old files that were originally scanned as 8 bit. And most of them show no posterization. But a high bit file sure is nice on those rare occasions when you do decide to make some dramatic adjustments.

The only downside to 16 bit is file size. But memory is cheap and hard disks are ridiculously cheap. If for any reason disk space becomes an issue just delete the lower 50% of your files and save the upper 50% as high bit with layers intact. You will be a lot better off in several ways.