Digital BW, The Print

>... at Bowhaus (the guy behind OPM/IJC) he
>would work on the photo in 8-bit, and only convert it back
>into 16-bit for the actual printing. ...

This must be the reflection of a strange driver/RIP.  It makes no sense to
me otherwise.

Once you convert to 8 bit you've lost the additional information/grayscale
steps 16 bit can hold.  Conversion back to 16 bits from 8 bits does not
restore those lost steps; it does not add information.  You have the same
number of grayscale steps you had in the 8 bit image, but with a file that
is twice as big.  Why would one do this?

I agree that 8 bits is all that is needed for a fine B&W print, but it is in
the manipulation stage where there is a major loss of information.  When you
apply curves, etc., you lose grayscale steps.  The purpose for keeping the
file in 16 bit as long as possible is usually to have enough extra
steps/information so that when you're done you have at least close to the
256 gray levels that 8 bits can hold.

If you drop much below 256 levels, the quality of the image may suffer.
Take a look at a print of the 100-step test file.  You can clearly see those
steps.  That means that 100 levels is not sufficient for a very fine grain,
clear sky.  (Grain will help to mask this problem if it surfaces -- but that
is not a very attractive remedy.)

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com