8 bits vs 16 bits

gerardo2068

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Hello,

What are your thoughts about exporting photos to PS?

Does anybody use 16 Bits?

I'm sure 16 Bits its better but I've heard there's many filter that don't support 16 bits?

Are they important filter used frequently or for specific creative purpose only?

Thanks!
 
I shoot in Raw so all of my files are 16 bits. I haven't had an issue with any filters so far. Is there a specific filter your having an issue with?
 
Well, I shoot in Raw and the max Bit I can get in the camera too, but when exporting from Lightroom to PS I set it for 8 bit, because I while back in many different video tutorials the people keep suggesting that 8 bit it's more compatible with PS and 3rd party plug ins ( as of right now I don't use plug-ins beside what came with CS5).

So following what those guys said I never used 16 bits. Now I'm curious to know if this still the case, or if the filters or 3rd party plug ins that are not compatible with 16bits are some of the ones I would hardly use.
 
You can't EDIT 16-bit. You can use the smart filters and layers above it to change it, but you can't pixel edit.
Everything I pull into PS is raw. I rarely pixel edit, so it stays that way until I flatten an save as a jpeg.
 
There's basically no point in shooting in Raw 16bit (65,536 values) and converting to (usually jpeg) 8 bit (250 values). Might as well shoot in Jpeg.

If you don't use any plug ins that you might have an issue with, why are you exporting to 8bit? If you find one random one thats not compatable, wouldn't it make more sense to just change the mode on that single one to 8 bit rather than compress them all on the off chance you'll use a 3rd party plug in that might not work?
 
You can't EDIT 16-bit. You can use the smart filters and layers above it to change it, but you can't pixel edit.
Everything I pull into PS is raw. I rarely pixel edit, so it stays that way until I flatten an save as a jpeg.

Sorry I'm not sure what you are talking about. What i would like to really know is, When you export from Lightroom to PS by pressing the the command+E shortcut, should I have the Bit Depth set to 8 or 16 in the preference/setting panel in Lightroom?

Thanks
 
You can't EDIT 16-bit. You can use the smart filters and layers above it to change it, but you can't pixel edit.
Everything I pull into PS is raw. I rarely pixel edit, so it stays that way until I flatten an save as a jpeg.

You can edit a 16 bit, you just can't save it as a jpeg as 16 bit. I could be reading what your saying wrong though.
 
There's basically no point in shooting in Raw 16bit (65,536 values) and converting to (usually jpeg) 8 bit (250 values). Might as well shoot in Jpeg.

If you don't use any plug ins that you might have an issue with, why are you exporting to 8bit? If you find one random one thats not compatable, wouldn't it make more sense to just change the mode on that single one to 8 bit rather than compress them all on the off chance you'll use a 3rd party plug in that might not work?

LOL yeah I think so too. I don't know what I didn't just think about that. Thanks, this it's a great place to learn.
 
Pixel editing is changing the image pixels.
I don't use lightroom, but if I did I would be exporting to a DNG which leaves you in the full data that your camera captured.
 
There's basically no point in shooting in Raw 16bit (65,536 values) and converting to (usually jpeg) 8 bit (250 values). Might as well shoot in Jpeg.

If you don't use any plug ins that you might have an issue with, why are you exporting to 8bit? If you find one random one thats not compatable, wouldn't it make more sense to just change the mode on that single one to 8 bit rather than compress them all on the off chance you'll use a 3rd party plug in that might not work?

This statement is kind of like saying that ALL jpegs of the same image would always be the same. That's not true. You are adjusting the output from the raw in lightroom What you export from that post processing will look VERY different than what the camera would have processed-which is the beauty if shooting raw. You control what that output into your jpeg is.
I do not keep my raws or dng's. Along this line of thinking it was silly for me to shoot in raw to begin with. I can tell you that what the camera puts out in jpeg mode is VASTLY different than what I put out in a jpeg for editing. I have no NEED to have that 16bit in photoshop... the only reason I don't change it is because I don't need to. However what I am putting out at the end of my PS action is an 8-bit, sRGB, jpeg for both print and internet use.

You are right on the editing... I forget that I always open to PS as a smart object and you can't pixel edit that! My bad!
 
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There's basically no point in shooting in Raw 16bit (65,536 values) and converting to (usually jpeg) 8 bit (250 values). Might as well shoot in Jpeg.

If you don't use any plug ins that you might have an issue with, why are you exporting to 8bit? If you find one random one thats not compatable, wouldn't it make more sense to just change the mode on that single one to 8 bit rather than compress them all on the off chance you'll use a 3rd party plug in that might not work?

This statement is kind of like saying that ALL jpegs of the same image would always be the same. That's not true. You are adjusting the output from the raw in lightroom What you export from that post processing will look VERY different than what the camera would have processed-which is the beauty if shooting raw. You control what that output into your jpeg is.
I do not keep my raws or dng's. Along this line of thinking it was silly for me to shoot in raw to begin with. I can tell you that what the camera puts out in jpeg mode is VASTLY different than what I put out in a jpeg for editing. I have no NEED to have that 16bit in photoshop... the only reason I don't change it is because I don't need to. However what I am putting out at the end of my PS action is an 8-bit, sRGB, jpeg for both print and internet use.

I'm talking about what the OP is doing, pulling files straight from the camera into Lightroom and converting there, then working on 8 bit files. I'd be surprised if there was that big of a difference between a camera compression and a LR compression. We're not talking about post processing at this point.

We're talking about the same thing, just different stages.
 
A couple of corrections:

You can't EDIT 16-bit.

Yes you can.

There's basically no point in shooting in Raw 16bit (65,536 values) and converting to (usually jpeg) 8 bit (250 values). Might as well shoot in Jpeg.

Yes there is. While in ACR all the raw data is available to use in recovering clipped highlights and blocked shadow details, plus all the color information for adjusting color values. Then you can open that in Photoshop in 8-bit and edit further if you like before saving as a jpeg.

But if you shoot jpeg in the first place, you've thrown out one-third to one-half of the raw data that would allow you to make all those adjustments in ACR.

We're not talking about the same thing. --

Ok I just went and re-read. I was under the impression OP uses LR to import and use as a library, then exports into PS without making adjustments. If that is the case, then yes, its as I said and you might as well shoot in jpeg. If he IS making adjustments first then exporting, then your scenario is correct. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Yes there is. While in ACR all the raw data is available to use in recovering clipped highlights and blocked shadow details, plus all the color information for adjusting color values. Then you can open that in Photoshop in 8-bit and edit further if you like before saving as a jpeg.

But if you shoot jpeg in the first place, you've thrown out one-third to one-half of the raw data that would allow you to make all those adjustments in ACR.

We're not talking about the same thing. --

Ok I just went and re-read. I was under the impression OP uses LR to import and use as a library, then exports into PS without making adjustments. If that is the case, then yes, its as I said and you might as well shoot in jpeg. If he IS making adjustments first then exporting, then your scenario is correct. Sorry for the confusion.

Sorry I forgot to mention that I do make adjustments in LR. So basically I was doing what Peano said. But I will do now like Bossy says and send it as 16 bits to PS too. To keep as much data available till i'm ready to flatten the image. Thanks.

I try to edit the quotes but it came out as one single quote*
 

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