I kicked myself many times for not keeping RAWs from older images I shot many years ago. Keeping only the 8-bit JPEGs means any and all future edits you'll want to do, whether it is that you learned a new trick to make an image look nicer or have some new software that will produce better results, will substantially deteriorate the IQ. There is no reason to keep the 16 bit files if you don't want to and there is no reason to convert to 8 bit until you are true with editing. What are your thoughts, experiences and/or advice on using 16 bit vs 8 bit for image processing?ĭo all processing/modifications in 16 bit. I will definitely keep Elements XXL though because it has other benefits and features that are much more useful to me than editing in 16 bit mode. My Preliminary Conclusion: I most probably will continue to process my raw files in 16 bits but continue editing the images in PSE in 8 bit mode because the lack of visible benefits on screen and in print using 16 bits does not justify the extra disk space taken up by 16 bit image files. ~100MB difference might not sound like much on its own but given the number of photos I output, the extra space accumulates pretty quickly. In 8 bits they weigh in at ~100MB each whereas the equivalent 16 bit version of an image file weighs in at ~200MB. Looking at the prints (all from 8 bit image files) I have hanging on walls in my home I see no indication of banding or any other colour issues in them.Īccording to my so far brief testing/evaluating Exxl, one downside I see in 16 bit processing is the roughly doubling in size of final. I also understand the concepts of banding and posterization which can occur in 8 bit images when you have colour gradients (like a varying blue sky) but are very much less likely in 16 bit images. I haven't tried this out yet but I have read on a few web pages now that you can send only 8 bit rgb data to an ink jet printer to guarantee colour accuracy. I know the human eye cannot see all the colours an 8 bit image can produce, let alone the colours a 16 bit image can produce.Īlso, afaik, if outputing a jpeg from a 16 bit image file, the jpeg data will be only 8 bits anyway because jpeg format does not support 16 bit data. On my monitor I cannot see the difference at all when I compare a given photo processed from raw to final image in 16 bits and its 8 bit version. Now this is where I start scratching my head I can then continue applying adjustment layers and/or filters like usual to the smart object and then save the final image with its layers as a 16 bit. The workaround in Exxl to be able to continue editing in PSE in 16 bit mode is to simply use the Render command in Exxl on the opened image file to create a document in 8 bit mode with the original image file being converted to a smart object retaining the original 16 bit data. Perform global and/or local adjustments in PSE to final image. By default PSE opens the raw file in 16 bit mode.ģ. Develop/process raw files in ACR in 16 bit mode.Ģ. A few tools and commands/features support 16 bit, the rest are 8 bit. PSE on its own has limited support for 16 bit editing. Reading through the Exxl documentation it describes a workaround which enables all edits in PSE to be in 16 bit mode. I currently use Photoshop Elements 2020 with its ACR and the Elements+ plug-in to process and edit my raw files.Īfter a recent discussion in another thread where the Elements XXL plug-in was mentioned, I have since downloaded Elements XXL for its trial period.
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