Epson 3200, 16 Bit Greyscale or 8 Bit?

[edward_feltman]

Can someone tell me what if general consensus regarding the use of 8

bit or 16 bit Greysacle. I am scanning bot 35mm and 645 negatives.

I see a very slight gradation upgrad in going to 16 bit, but double

the file size. I think my also see a slight increase in sharpness.

Is it worth double the file size.

 

Regards,

 

Ed

[Ed_Ingold]

BW should be scanned in 16-bit mode. They're still a lot smaller than RGB scans at the same resolution. The actual bit-depth is determined by your scanner; the lower bits are filled with zeros to make up the difference. I find that 8-bit BW scans are too contrasty, even posterized. Flat-bed scanners tend to be electronically noisy, so it helps to combine multiple scans (e.g., 4x) if you have that capability.

[pierre_andr__grandchamp]

Can someone explain how to switch from 8 to 16 bit with the Epson 3200?

Thank you!

[custom film holders for fl]

The larger 16 bit files are worth the extra size if they don't put you in a disk space bind. 16 bit allows the data to be parsed into many more shades of gray. The real value of this is not so much what you see on screen but when you go to do tonal adjustment like curves. With a lot more data, you can make more adjustments before you start experiencing problems with things like posterization.

 

The 16 bit function is something I know you can set in Epson Scan when you are in the "Professional Mode". Just look through the drop down box choices and you will find it.

[edward_feltman]

It's unanimous then, 16 bit is clearly the way to go! I have also found that by using Neat Image I can significantly reduce the file size by removing the noise. Of course it's rather slow with these large files.

 

Thank you all for the advice!

 

Ed

[leonard_evens]

If you are going to manipulate the image, say by setting black and white points or making other such manipulations, you should in principle put off switching to 8 bit as long as possible. That is because any operation which separates values can lead to gaps in the histogram and as result possible banding or posterization.