Why is my photoshop defaulting to 8bit?

[Ballistics]

When I open a raw image from Camera Raw to photoshop, it says the file is 8bit. I shoot 14bit raw.

Why is the default 8bit? I just noticed this, and this entire time I've been editing my images in 8bit mode.

Also - How do you make the default 16?

 

[KmH]

At the bottom/middle of the Camera Raw workspace is the Camera Raw Workflow Options bar in blue. Click on that and make sure your bit depth set to 16 bits per channel.
8 bits or 16 bits are the only options.

 

[Ballistics]

Holy crap. This whole time I've been using adobe 1998 and 8bit mode, and then converting to sRGB in photoshop before I save.
Thanks KmH.