Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "digikdm"
<monroekd@...> wrote:
>
> Not to dwell on this forever, but while memory these days is cheap
> it's not dirt cheap.

I didn't mean to sound elitist. Any expense is an issue for many of
us. With regard to hi bit's effect on memory use- I have a workaround
I have been using for years as I've never been able to afford the
amount of memory I would prefer. I'll post it if anyone is interested,
it's obvious and not rocket science.

> Whether to save your final versions as 8 bit vs.
> 16 bit files remains a good question.

And this would be a storage issue, not a memory issue.

> If you merely save your keeper
> original raw "negative" files, plus the keeper raw conversion files,
> plus one non-layered keeper final print file and possibly a back-up
> raw conversion-DNG file (not to mention any B&W conversion files), it
> doesn't take that long to fill a 500GB hard drive. Saving your final
> print as an 8 bit file does save some storage space and money.

The various versions you mention wanting to keep on hand does make
storage more of an issue. All of us have differing preferences with
regard to this, After an agonizing deliberative process, once I have a
print I like, I only keep the final high bit, if it was a capture I'd
keep the raw as well. I like to commit to my decisions and move on to
another image, life is short. Also, since it's hi bit, it can stand
some future edits if necessary.
However, your last sentence mentions color. Since this list is
primarily about B&W printing, most of my comments relate to that. A hi
bit version of a grayscale file will be smaller than its pixel
dimension equivalent in 8 bit RGB, I still don't consider it a storage
burden. I'd also mention that generally, problems resulting from 8 bit
will more likely show up with a single channel file than color, so may
be more important for B&W particularly with hi fidelity output systems
like the K7s.

> Does
> anyone think we will ever be able to tell the differnce visually
> between a good 8 bit color file print and a 16 bit color file print?

I don't think anyone can claim to have an answer. One assumes the road
to each was the same, and simply converted down to 8 at the end, vrs
saving in 16 bit? So then it's simply a printing issue.
I'd just say again that I don't want to take the chance. But your
point that this approach could become burdensome is well taken.
Tyler