VISUAL BREAKDOWN: 8-bit vs 16-bit images

[@darrenbivings4227]

You have just saved me many from many hours and days of frustration and humiliation with this video. There are no other words that I can say or think of other than to say, "Thank You!" and thank your mother for me when ever you get the chance for having such a brilliant and amusing individual like you! I sincerely mean this from the bottom of my heart, You are the MAN!

[@TheFreshkidd1234]

2 years later and this is still good. just subscribed

[@vikasvk_]

I've been following your channel since a year, you just keep getting better. This video opened my eyes towards the importance of RAW shoot and 16BIT images. The video is exactly to the point, zero gibberish. Awesome. Thanks a ton, Sir.

[@bala1000mina]

Wonderful explanation of the matter! Thank you very much!

[@lenzwizard]

What an amazing video. You have taken the time to create a video that explains so much in such a concise and easy to understand way. I love your choice of analogies and by the end of the video you have lead the viewer to understand the differences and not just say one bit depth is better than another. Powerful of learning right there.

[@tutvid]

Thanks, man!

[@Ankazarwarrior]

And that is how to end a debate

[@simon_patterson]

This is a very good explanation. I used to edit everything in 16 bits until I realised it was overkill for most of my images. The downside of 16 bit editing is the larger Photoshop files after importing the raw file into PS as a smart object in a 16 bit colour space. Those files take sooo much longer to save! Now I edit in 8 bit unless there's a particular reason to go up to 16 bit editing (eg an image I want to print big, or one where banding is obviously a problem with 8 bit editing).

[@gap6133]

If not mistaken, with 16 bit images you get 281 trillion possible colors (65,536 x 65,536 x 65,536). Regardless, love your tutorials. Thanks!

[@mexist]

Really appreciate putting this out there. The thing I was looking for you covered briefly but it seems super important. When you go from 16 to a final 8bit output for online or print use, Photoshop retains most of the quality and doesn't automatically start banding the images as it compresses. That's key! this is changing my workflow

[@hypersapien]

I went to a technical art school, and still have a hard time grasping bit depth. This was a great video to make it clearer.

[@tmjcbs]

There's an important element missing from this video: _color channels_ ! Whenever a number is mentioned the viewer should realise this is the number of colors per color channel, for an rgb image (the most used) that means 3 color channels (red, green, blue). Each time 256 or 65536 is mentioned this should be to the power 3 to get the number of colors (per pixel). This has been mentioned in previous comments, but for such a well-produced video I find this a serious shortcoming. BTW: magically at 10:30 the right numbers appear. The explanation of the difference in size with seconds is a nice touch though...

[@narayantx]

After all these years a clear and concise explanation. Thank you Nathan. Peace

[@TaylorCraneandRigging]

My boss was under the impression that shooting in Raw added pixels to the image. He basically thought that if you printed them each in large format that a jpg would be blurry. I explained to him that it just adds depth to the color but doesn't affect the sharpness of a properly exposed image. The difference is that if your exposure is off or there are two elements in the image that need different exposures, you can recover a lot more detail from an exposure problem with a RAW image. For our purposes, it's generally not necessary unless we are shooting something really important that we could use for marketing. But just for pictures of inventory, pictures of damage, pictures of proof of completion, and so on, it's really not necessary.

[@DJTronuk]

"Bah-bah-bah-bah-Billion colors" - LOL, that was great Nathaniel

[@tutvid]

It's what we do!

[@maramiranello]

u-u-u-u-uulltraaa combo!!

[@sergiocastillo9857]

at least i learnt something new, I though the number was 28 thousand millions colors. We simply count different, for me was billion - one million of a million

[@triciawilliamson2081]

The best explanation I've ever heard Nathaniel. Thanks so much.

[@speel1959]

Tremendous edification Nathaniel...many thanks for sharing with us :)

[@roderashe]

Thanks, Nathaniel! This is SO important and a LOT of people don't get this! I know people who've been using Photoshop for decades and STILL don't see why they should work in 16-bit...

[@sammyblackchow9541]

I wonder if they work with 8 bit audio too?

[@thevirginmarty9738]

Regarding 3:45... Up to 14 bit? The image file from the camera of my phone reads 24 bit depth.

[@GKOALA7]

EXTREMELY informative and, yes -- oh my goodness, YES -- EXTREMELY hilarious intro/outro! Great stuff as always.

[@Gravitytubes]

what a fantastic video! absolutely says it all for anyone to understand 8 -16 bit. Very helpful and extremely well presented.

[@SOMEONE-ME]

It's bit misleading. 2^8 is per each RGB component, so 8bit gives you 256*256*256=16.7M colors. Talking about levels without mentioned that this is for each RGB component somehow makes you think you have only 256 colors with 8bit, which is not true at all. Same for 16bit. Source is very important, but what is quite important and easy to improve is processing precision. When you have your 8bit JPEG you can still benefit using 16bit when you do processing as then rounding is smaller. Some hard pushed effects/operation will show advantage of 16bit processing even on 8bit sources. When Photoshop converts it back to 8bit is actually not that great at all. There is also no magic as you mentioned, you can still get banding when you go back to 8bit. There are nice techniques to dither image during 16bit to 8bit conversion, but Photoshop is not using anything advanced in this area as far as I know.

[@FrankNeulichedl]

and ... don't forget that all the displays we are using right now handle only 8bit ... so what you actually are seeing from the 16bit images is just the best representation of that

[@saadshah7857]

8 bit per channel, 256 levels for all four channels. The fourth channel being the alpha, right?

[@tamas11safar]

imagery can be greyscaled as well, not everyone is interested in RGB ;). The video was very informative on a general level without over-complicating RGB concept. You tips about Photoshop hard pushing effects are very valuable, thanks for sharing!

[@BakeLikeAPro]

Hi Nathaniel, I always thought that if I opened a RAW file in camera raw from my digital SLR, that I was editing it in the highest possible quality in Photoshop. I realized today that little very obscure button on the import screen in Camera Raw that says it's defaulted to 8 bit. So I have never even noticed that before today, does this mean that every edit I've been making in Photoshop ( latest version ) ... I'm using 8 bit ? ..... IF I didn't use the 16 bit option in Camera Raw to bring it in, then telling Photoshop to use 16 bit does nothing ... is that correct ? .... it's pretty confusing. Then add to that LightRoom..... when it imports RAW images you've taken... at what bit depth are they at ? ... is it only 8 ? Maybe another video tutorial could be in the works for you. Thanks for your time ! - Mark over at the BakeLikeAPro channel.

[@maeliht7094]

I like the videos, but for some effects in photoshop, if you want to use them you have to change the image from 16 bits to 8 bits. Can you apply the effect by an other way ? (Like Filter Gallery)

[@SimonBoothPhotography]

Thank you. I am all too well aware of the banding that you get when editing in 8 bit, but I had never realised why or questioned it!. I have usually kept my eye on those areas, particularly skies where it shows the most and then undone anything using history as and when it showed up. I have even cloned the banding out using content aware in the past. I have been shooting digital since it was developed but not being that into technical stuff, I had just put up with it. Considering I have just switched to medium format, this has been one of the most useful videos I have watched in a while...subbed!

[@malleshgm824]

Here is the MASTER OF Photoshop... Wonderful explanation on color bits. Great tutorial.. thank u Tutvid🤗🙏

[@malsmith69]

Spot on with the explanation. Lucky for me I'm a computer programmer so 2^(bit depth) is normal speak for me. I'm confident your explanation will help others understand it better (and realize the benefits of shooting in RAW, regardless of what some photographers will tell them).

[@cweb1988]

I love tips and tricks videos.....but I really like understanding WHY. Thanks for this.

[@llg4958]

Outstanding job on explaining the differences.

[@jean-paulvanswae7865]

What about scanning slides in 8bit and then changing to 16bit?

[@TheKillingTreeTT]

Where was that video when I had to dig through all these nasty forums and geek sites to explain Bit-depth to myself? Thank you for the nicely presented refresher and I am sure a lot of people will welcome this video to learn more about the potential of their cameras. Great Video!

[@MasterVycen]

Your videos are so good. I like how your offering so much high-quality education for free. Comparable if not better than what you'd fine at a university.

[@tutvid]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@aprylspage5852]

Thanks Nathan! This is so easy to understand & you explained it very well! I’ll watch it again just in case I missed something!

[@lexip4288]

You did a wonderful job with this video. Loved the amount of information and how easy it was to understand!

[@tedtedsen269]

so will my Fuji gfx raw files 14 bit saved as tiff 16 bit always have 14 bit colors

[@AndersonLasso]

so, if a retouch my portrait image in 16bit, It'll be large better than if I had retouched in 8bit?

[@j7ndominica051]

A higher bit depth allows to apply more steps of processing in increments, such as passes of the burning brush or a small radius blur, without losing precision, and to do some processes in gamma-linear space (blur, linear interpolation, blending). In sound editing it is standard to promote assets to a working bit depth that is substantially greater. I'm surprised that in photo editing this is often not done. A still image doesn't require that much memory, and there is no accumulation of noise when converting between 8 and 16 bits, as Photoshop only has noise shaping/diffusion, and returns matching colors exactly. The matter is quite pragmatic, and no reason to get worked up about in the comments section either way, unlike, say, defending a favorite brand. But the big pixels on the title image is low sampling rate, not bit depth...

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Hi. How will you see all that 16-bit color and tone if display today go up to 10-bit only? Thank you.

[@SJ-ku7bb]

Thanks for the video,really helpful. But recently i found out that i cannot save my image as PDF in 32 bit channel.why is that?

[@furryfurre]

Hey, have you noticed these little icons in the video description? They look awesome but who can see them? (except me)

[@Drzhounder]

Best description I have seen on this subject. Well done

[@tutvid]

Thanks, Michael!

[@yanachilingarova3378]

So helpful video but I need one info... Can u tell me the name of your intro?

[@StongePWilde]

Holy Moly! What a pretty good video, absolutely useful! :D

[@tutvid]

Glad you like it! I like your avatar.

[@extreme123dz]

Question, for Digital Drawing, what shoul take? 8Bits or 16Bits? and 72DPI - 300DPI or 350?

[@massakidi]

Ok so if open a 14bit raw file using camera raw, and camera raw settings are set to 8 bit, once I open and save, the final jpg will be 8 bits? I actually tried to save one as 16 bit and another as 8 bit, and there ware no difference.

[@charlesebenezer70]

The best informative video ever in KZbin!! Thanks

[@tutvid]

Glad it helped you out!

[@armanx2]

Very educative video ! thank you for this one; However i believe you should also point to the fact that 8 bit per pixel is not the same as 8 bit per channel. I think lot of ppl get confused by that (i was).

[@sumantkanala]

I'm a bit curious which camera did you use for this shoot +tutvid?

[@franklinmichael671]

9:24 If you save it as a JPEG once it's been edited right?

[@JW-wt8yu]

That was wonderfully explained!

[@mikehattias5837]

thanks! you deserve a b-b-b-billion subscribers

[@tebrazepam]

What about the filters like 'black and white' that dont work in 16 bit mode? Do i need to switch to 8 bit in order to apply the filters that only work in 8 bit, and will i loose image quality by doing that? And can i then revert to 16 bit and maintain the full depth of the image?

[@mmenjic]

Others are pretty much explained how good your videos are, this one is not different from others, best of the best but I suspect I am not only one wanting to have this song :)

[@tutvid]

Thanks! 🍻

[@gardenglory6624]

this was great information. thank you, But what if someone is creating illustrations in Photoshop. What i'm doing Is creating my images in Illustrator then saving them as vectors and then importing them into photoshop and creating my compositions in photoshop? Should I be in 8bit or 16bit. Can I EVEN put Vectors into Photoshop? thank you.

[@Rajendrakpatelproduction]

Canon mark 4 shoots 16bit?

[@wgmann0303]

Out of curiosity? What camera did you shoot the 16-bit RAW file? My understanding that all sensors Full Frame and smaller DSLRs are 14-bit RAW.

[@PostColorGear]

Well said! Accurate. And able for beginners to understand. Easy to know, hard to explain, but you did a GREAT job of explaining it.

[@TAW4SHI]

please help me) What is the name of the music in outro 11:40

[@IliaSibiryakov]

4:45 - Correction, you mean: if you've *underexposed* your image, Example: if you shot an image 25% as bright as it really was, only 25% of the range would be used.

[@byazrov]

I don't understand why Canon and other won't make 16-bit option in dslr? Thanks for an amazing educational video. Loved it.

[@saqlaindossa387]

It's computationally very taxing on the camera processor, and it does not make much of a difference in Image quality. But the the new 100 megapixel Fujifilm GFX 100 uses 16bit images.

[@MLS.22]

hello iam working in 3d model pore face that need macro details, so can i covert raw file to 32bit and add little blur will it work ?

[@saulo5216]

I did not get the last color calculation. 8 bits per color x 3 colors (RGB) = 24 bits 2^24 = 16.777.216 16 bits per color x 3 colors (RGB) = 48 bits 2^48 = 281.474.976.710.656 That is 280 trillion colors. What did I get wrong?

[@Aveey]

What happens, or better said how should i do this next step , If I have an image in LR and want to also edit the skin and so on in photoshop , should I export the photo as jpeg and then put it into PS or should i right click in Lightroom and go to : edit in photoshop ? .. does that make a difference between the two in terms of bit and so on ?

[@michellclaveria5211]

So helpful, very well explained 👍🏻

[@ajb73]

Another great video saving me a tonne of time to get answers - This guy is my go to guy - Thanks

[@tutvid]

Thanks, Andy! I appreciate you, man!

[@jennygw1883]

Nicely explained. Would really like to see a tutorial on how bit depth is handled in Premiere and how to get the best quality output. Thanks :-)

[@FrankNeulichedl]

well video uses YUV color space which is a completely different story and is by definition 32bit ... while not all are used in video file formats ... just search for "what is 4-4-4 video"

[@CaspermeansTV]

My friend. It was majestic.

[@atephoto]

Best video ever on the topic! Make another one on the topic pleeeease! 😊

[@jdcentury820]

Very well done and valuable info. Great job.

[@InnocentORTH]

Is there any type to calculate the bit?

[@eraldylli]

You should be able to see it in the file's properties.

[@2creativo11]

Always love your instruction Brother. Thanks

[@NicolasRao]

i always shoot and edit in maximum bit depth but these days we have so much posting to do on the net which only handles sRGB profile. Apart from "Save for web" we do have the option for "Assign profile" on the Image menu or is it edit menu...My point is which is the best way..... what is the best reduction method to use without creating sharpening halo's or what is the best tecqnique to prepare for let us say, Instagram where everybody seems to be nowadays. Flickr gives you more room but have their own process, 500px is more expensive but does not place restrictions on file size but it will display on the net as any other photo social media....I have left out FB as no security exists there. I am sorry if you have answered all these questions already but really would love to know what best to do. I know its a bigger subject than meets the eye considering the start image....but please if not another lesson, can you point me to one already done. Thanks for your excellent Tuts. I have followed you for years and am very grateful...However, like all mortals, issues have kept me from getting them all. Thank you ever so much. Nicolas

[@dollyesd]

Great vid man!!!

[@miquelito1000]

Thanks Nath, great video. I use FUJI XT2 and shoot in both RAW and Fine Jpg. I only use the JPG for evaluating my images, but all the basic editing is in RAW. So far I have the RAW editor set to open the images in Photoshop as 8 bit images. So if I understand you right, if I do my editing in RAW, the loss I get of opening the images in 8 bit JPG compared to 16bit , is not very big??

[@steveh718]

Why the 32-bit mode? Seems like such overkill. Any practical use for it?

[@FrankNeulichedl]

32bit color space actually works completely differently than 8bit and 16bit - so it's important if you make calculations with it because it si linear - also all color profiles are created in that space

[@marcosicuso875]

Perfect explanation very helpful!! I'd like to ask you something. I always switch 8 bit to 16 bit on camera raw before open it on photoshop. If I forget to do so, I work the file and at the end I notice I'm working at 8 bit, does it make sense to switch to 16bit before export? Thank you very much.

[@tgmwright]

"256 ft tower vs 65536 ft tower" so what you're saying is every foot is like a tone? So what's the point of using feet instead of tones?

[@tutvid]

To take a comparison of numbers in the abstract and convert it to something tangible to further emphasize the vast difference 👍

[@tgmwright]

Maybe, except you didn't quantify what a 256ft building is by calling out what buildings are 256ft tall. Coupled with the fact that most people don't have a sense for how tall the Burj Khalifa really is because they haven't seen it or even seen it compared to something they DO know, you've taken an abstract concept and made it equally abstract.

[@tutvid]

I think it conveys the point pretty clearly and stands for itself.

[@tgmwright]

Clearly, or you wouldn't have put it in the video. But I guess you're not into constructive feedback. No worries.

[@jinglebell9107]

thanks tuts, forgive me for my ignorance, I just have one question. How do I know if a Jpeg file is 8 bit or 16 bit.

[@tutvid]

A JPEG is always 8-bit. The JPEG file type is 8-bit by its very nature.

[@hollandthomas747]

JPEG is a lossy file format, So regardless of your bitdepth you are going to get compression banding. It would be more fair to use a lossless format like PNG for your comparison against raw.

[@nanar1971]

Thanks for all your video work ! Always interesting and very well made ! Keep going !

[@AndyMoradi]

Great info Nathan. Always keep it up

[@MainCS]

9:25 I don't see the difference lol. Maybe it's the youtube quality?

[@WhittyPics]

Isn't that 8 or 16 bits PER CHANNEL? You have 3 channels for your 3 primary colors

[@Bruttus1983]

In a photographic way of say it, I think I love you. So many thank you for this kind gorgeous of quality on your knowledges & videos. THANK YOU!

[@theZshun]

Loved this! You should do some more of this style of education.

[@bagatelleno.2593]

what is the music :o

[@victormultanen1981]

Such a good explanation! Thank you for educational content

[@filmic1]

16 bits of thanks! What a great tutorial!

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Hi. How about for video game consoles. Which 8-bit console had the most color that can be displayed at the same time? Which 16-bit console had the most color that can be displayed at the same time? Thank you. God bless, Proverbs 31

[@wersene50ni]

First, great tutorial, willing to show my students thanks

[@rbnsmntk7735]

10:32 ---> It's not correct. With a 16-bit RGB image you can handle 65,536*65,536*65,536=281,474,976,710,656 colors.

[@MurrayFrost]

I love this! You should do more of them! 😊👍

[@tutvid]

🍻

[@Vokr01]

If I work in PS only in 32 bit, it's mistake? Or it's useless?

[@Ankazarwarrior]

Vokr doesn't make a difference. It's just a bigger "room" to work in.

[@1dot119]

I was talking about this with a friend yesterday lol awesome timing!! thanks for this vid!!

[@billycullen6832]

First class tuition.....thank you!

[@davidchristiansen4849]

Exellent explanation! Thanks a lot!

[@tutvid]

Love it. Thanks so much! 👍

[@DavidMFranks]

Great vid. I am going to show my heathen colleagues that shoot in JPG!

[@why_though]

I would kill for a video like that about color spaces (assigning, converting...)

[@tutvid]

Maybe!

[@usukhduckduck]

Oh what an awesome tutorial. Thanks!

[@tutvid]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video! 👌

[@davekirwin]

Very informative and useful, thanks for sharing.

[@originunknown3209]

Absolutely superb Sir, highly informative video!!!!! 👏👏👏👏👏