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In ACR it is possible to set a depth for an image of either 8 or 16 bits per channel. The online help doesn't mention this option. What is the effect of applying 8 or 16 bits to an image?
(Moved to the ACR Forum and Merged with another ACR question by the same user by Moderator)
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I have been applying various profiles to my RAW files because it can produce some quite pleasing effects. But I'm not sure what these profiles are, and I can't see any explanation in the online help. For example, what is the difference between the Adobe Landscape and Camera Landscape profile? Where does ACR get this info from?
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Clicking the underlined text bottom center in the ACR window will open the Workflow options, where you among other things can set the the bit depth of the image.
8-bit has 256 levels (shades of colors) per channel (red green and blue), a total of 16.7 million colors.
16-bit has 65,536 levels per channel, a total of 281 trillion colors.
Working in 16-bit gives you editing headroom. If you do heavy editing on an 8-bit image, you'll lose a lot of the original levels in the image, which will lead to banding - transitions between shades are no longer smooth - and the histogram will look like a comb because of the missing levels. Heavy editing on a 16-bit file, on the other hand, will not have any detrimental effect.
If you have finished editing in ACR and just want to use the image for printing, use 8-bit.
For example, what is the difference between the Adobe Landscape and Camera Landscape profile? Where does ACR get this info from?
I only use one profile - Adobe Color - but I think Camera landscape is an attempt by Adobe to mimic a corresponding profile in your camera (camera matching profile), whereas Adobe landscape is a more generic profile, not made for any particular camera.
All these profiles are part of the ACR installation.