How was it again with bits?

Thursday 20 December 2018, 14:50 by Michelle Peeters | 8,079 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

How was it again with those bits? 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 bit, what is the difference? A camera sensor can record with a colour depth of 10 or 12 bit. Professional models even use 14 bit. This is the number of brightness levels that can be detected per pixel.

Depending on which pixel the light falls on, a value in red, green or blue is assigned to it, and the software then interpolates, calculating an RGB value for each pixel.

One bit is black or white, so two brightness levels. Two bits is two to the power of two of that number, so four brightness levels between black and white.

A jpg file is an 8-bit file, which means that 256 levels can occur for each colour (RxGxB), resulting in 16.7 million (256x256x256) colours.

A raw file therefore contains more brightness levels than a jpg, which immediately explains why you can correct a 12-bit raw file (4096 levels per pixel = more than 68 billion colours) better than an 8-bit jpg.

There is simply more image information available, resulting in a better image.

Dit artikel is voor het laatst bijgewerkt op 20 december 2018.
De eerste publicatiedatum is vrijdag 27 april 2018, 16:08.

Share: WhatsApp Facebook

About the author

Michelle Peeters is fotografe en oprichter van DeuxBleus Fotografie. Michelle herkent het bijzondere in het gewone en het gewone in het bijzondere. Ze heeft zich nooit willen specialiseren en is daardoor van alle markten thuis.

The downside of a camera with lots of pixels
by Nando Harmsen
Photographing children: Shoot at eye level
by Elja Trum
6 tips for shooting great portraits in bright sunlight
by Elja Trum
The Perfect Picture; split-level and culinary Bonaire
by Elja Trum
Choosing a light source for your video recordings
by Nando Harmsen
Flash photography tip: Flash brightness is indicated by its power
by Elja Trum

Show every article in Basics

home

0 comments

There are no comments on this article yet.
Be the first to share what you think!

Have your say

Please note: Articles older than a week can only be commented on by signed-in visitors.
Would you still like to comment? sign in or create a free account.

Become a better photographer every week

A practical photography tip in your inbox every week.
38,886 photography enthusiasts already receive the tips! More about the weekly mail. Or keep up to date via Facebook. Sign-up secured with Google reCaptcha.

Elja Trum

Photofacts; everything to do with photography!

Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

Photofacts is made possible in part by