----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 2:42
AM
Subject: 8 bit and 16 bit and 32
bit
There's no question that the more bit depth you have the better.
However, if you're going to take it all back down to 8-bit in the end
then you might as well just work in 8-bit all the way.
The consumer and prosumer level output equipment has not
caught up with more than 8 bit yet. It's pretty dangerous to be looking
at a 32 bit image and thinking everything is marvelous and then outputting to
an 8 bit printer. There are bound to be a few surprises.
I tell my students to stick to a level slightly higher than the weakest
link in the processing chain.
CS2 has some fantastic 32 bit features now. WHAT a dynamic
range!!!
And I agree that the sooner we get with DNG, the better for all
concerned.
herschel
Bob Talbot
<BobTalbot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
Hmm, 'JPGs are fine', that sort reminds me of what some on this list
>
believe. Pity you weren't shooting RAW...
> Overall I found
JPGs a poor substitue for a RAW file. No comparison
if
> it needed
any tweaking, and definitely one stop short on the capture
> tonal
range, even when the exposure was spot on.
Jim
I've changed
the subject line because it ain't gonna help the
original
question.
It's one of the ironies of the "digital
revolution" that many of those
who have made the jump (leaving us film
dinosaurs behind) now refuse
to accept, (in some cases almost religiously
oppose) the quality /
flexibility benefits of greater bit depths. It's as
if 8-bits good
... is the new mantra. It's as if it was so [8-bits per
channel] for
some logical reason when in fact it was largely a
historical
accident/processing convenience. On line and off (last months
EOS
magazine) you find statement after statement about how "there is
no
difference". 8-bit shooters are pretty much in the same
position
slide shooters were cf users of negative film in that
sense.
The simple fact, read FACT, is that a real HDR workflow could
do away
with almost all exposure worries at the time of capture. If you
want
shadow detail: it's there. Ditto for highlight detail.
In
terms of progress ... maybe it really is time for all manufacturers
to
adopt Adobe's open source "Digital Negative" rather than their
own
self-interest-generated "proprietary" raw formats.
Digital
Negative (DNG) main
page:
http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/main.html
Bob
Herschel Mair
Head
of the Department of Photography,
Higher College of Technology
Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Adobe Certified
instructor
+ (986) 99899 673
Do you Yahoo!?
Make
Yahoo! your home page
