Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 17:26:26 -0500 From: Bob Shell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: pentax-discuss@pdml.net Jeez,Don't let Rockwell hear this then.
Dave Subject: Re: Why I Haven't Yet Switched Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> On Nov 28, 2005, at 4:28 PM, Bob Sullivan wrote: > My understanding is that RAW gives you more shades of colors in > eachpixel and more opportunity to adjust colors in post production, > butjpeg or RAW, you still have 6 million pixels to work with...no > more,no less. So I look on RAW as just a way to get better post > processedimages, not anything to improve resolution. It isn't RAW per-se that gives you more shades of colors. It is the bit-depth of the file. Most everyday digital images we encounter are 8-bit, meaning that for each color there are 256 possible shades. RAW files are generally 16 or 32-bit, meaning that the space between no saturation and absolute saturation of each color is divided into far more than 256 possible shades. Millions of shades in fact. This is an advantage for depicting subtle colors and shading. But remember that if your final file is to be a JPEG, you'll have to drop it back down to 8-bit color before converting to a JPEG. Photoshop was conceived as an 8-bit editing program and is just now learning to do many of its operations on files with greater bit depth. Bob
