32bit PSD vs 16bit PSD

Started by Jikkk, November 28, 2018, 12:02:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Jikkk

Hey,
It's still confusing me why 16bit PSD has been added while 32bit one has been existing already? Isn't 32bit better than 16bit?
Thanks :)

DriesV

16-bit images have much higher precision than 8-bit images (65536 vs. 256 values per channel). While the difference may not immediately seem obvious, as e.g. the dynamic range is the same, you gain a lot more flexibility in editing with 16-bit, and a lesser likelihood for artifacts.
32-bit has even higher precision, but at the cost of significantly increased file size. Also, many editing operations in Photoshop are not supported in 32-bit mode.

In many ways, 16-bit is a great "working" color mode.

Dries

Seth Richardson

Just to echo the above.  You rarely need 32 bit for editing post, nor will you run into issues editing 16-bit.  It's just one of those things where the perceived value of 32 bit is much higher than it really needs to be.  I can't really think of many instances where 32 bit is actually needed.

Jikkk

Thanks guys for making clear for me!