Printing 8-Bit or 16-Bit

[rpcrowe]

I attended a Photoshop Seminar presented by a professional photo printer who recommended editing a 16-bit image but reducing that image to 8-bit before printing. His rationale was that 8-bit is the most a printer can work with.

I had not heard that before and wonder if it is true for printers like the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mark II which is my go-to home printer...

[Shadowman]

Article is probably dated.

http://www.earthboundlight.com/photo...-printing.html

[Manfred M]

Absolutely true. Printer data is hard to come by, but the numbers I've seen seem to indicate that a printer can create between around 375,000 and 625,000 distinct colours; depending on make and model. I look at my Epson 3880, with one black, two greys, a yellow, two magentas and two cyans.

A printer works by depositing variable sized droplets using a CMYK process. Unlike a screen, where the intensity of the individual element can be varied in a large number of individual values, a printer either deposits ink or it doesn't, so far fewer practical combinations exist.

[DanK]

The Canon Pro-100 has 16-bit drivers: http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/...xma_pro-100.do. Don't know about the pro 9000II. I print from LR, which doesn't even ask in the print module. I've never converted to 8 bit when printing from LR.

[Polar01]

I like Dan do not convert to 8 bit, I print from Photoshop psd files that are 32 bit on my Epson 4900 which is similar to Manfred's 3880 except that I have two additional colours green and orange.

Cheers: Allan

[Jim B.]

Canon Pixma Pro 9000II uses 16-bit drivers.

[rpcrowe]

Thanks my friends. I have never reduced my images to 8 Bit for printing. I just wanted some confirmation...

[lukaswerth]

I think Merklinger's book is still a very interesting read, and it clearly concludes (as I had the chance to remark on earlier) that hyperfocal distance is no more or not a very practical approach; not for analog 35mm, not for DSLR.

Lukas