Author Topic: When to convert to 8 bit (Read 2407 times)

old crow · « **on:** April 22, 2013, 08:28 »

Hello Everyone,

I hope your day is going well. The workflow suggested by stock agencies show to convert from raw to 8 bit tiff and edit. Is this neccessary or can it stay 16 bit until ready to convert to jpeg ??

Thank you.

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2013, 08:30 »

Quote from: old crow on April 22, 2013, 08:28

Hello Everyone,

I hope your day is going well. The workflow suggested by stock agencies show to convert from raw to 8 bit tiff and edit. Is this neccessary or can it stay 16 bit until ready to convert to jpeg ??

Thank you.

Really? I didn't know that!
I stay in 16 bit until it autoconverts at the jpeg stage.

old crow · « **Reply #2 on:** April 22, 2013, 08:59 »

Yes, that was my thinking also. I couldn't see a reason not to.

grsphoto · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2013, 09:31 »

I keep it 16bit as long as I can as well. At some point the world might want 16bit images and I don't want to have to go back and re-edit all my images because I did the conversion too early in my workflow.

Beppe Grillo · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2013, 10:13 »

I edit all my images in 16 bits.
I keep in 16 bits (psd) only the more complex ones to edit in Photoshop.
If the editing part in Photoshop consists in simple actions, as remove noise or add some contrast mask, I keep only a final jpeg in 8 bits, as I have always the original raw file with the base corrections.