Digital BW, The Print

Hello Jack,

>Hi, I need some clarification on mode changing from 8 bit to 16 bit. 
>It's my understanding that unless the file originated as a 16 bit file 
>there is no advantage to change an 8 bit (or whatever) to 16. No net 
>gain. Is that right? In a specialized photoshop class there is 
>instructions to convert an 8 bit file to 16 but as I recall there is 
>not an advantage. Can anyone clarify? Thanks in advance.

I have found some benefit in doing this when using 8-bit jpgs from my
pocket digicam.  Because I'm converting to grayscale and applying
various curves and layers on the way to a BW print, the resulting
histogram is much less combed and ragged if I first convert to 16-bit
before doing anything else.  I've found it does make a difference in
the quality of the final print.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm