Bit depth is how many tints of color are available. With 8 bits per color you are limited to 256 tints. More is better.
Density range is how much of a scale for pure white to pure black can be recorded on an scale of 0=white to 4=black. Dynamic range is the difference between the two numbers. You could compare it to the contrast grade of your B$W paper. The thing to be aware of is advertising people lie, or at least hedge the truth a bit which is why two scanners that seem to have the same specs can have different performance. Ciao, graywolf [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:21 PM Subject: Re: Scanning Terminology Questions > Thanks for everyone trying to explain this to me. I do not understand > any of the responses. Could someone please explain this to me like I > was a child, and perhaps avoid jargon, acronyms, and the like. I'm > really ignorant about this and I'd like to buy a scanner this year. But > I'm afraid that, if I don't understand even the most rudimentary > information, I'll end up with the wrong scanner. Describing bit depth > as color depth, for example, doesn't help me. I'm having the same > problem with this as I have with understanding electricity, and all the > analogies people give me about garden hoses and water pressure don't > seem to make sense. > > What is "bit depth" and, perhaps even more important, what's important > about it? > > > Jostein wrote: > > > I think the "bit depth" means how big a binary number the scanner use > > to describe a colour or shades of gray. So bigger numbers mean more > > colours. > > Fritz wrote: > > > Bit depth, is color depth I assume. 24 bits, that is 8 bits per color > > channel, is what you need, but before you start to tweak the exposure and > > color and curves etc, it is better to have more then that, so your end > > result looks better. After that you can go back to 24 bits. A scanner might > > do 30 bits or 36 or so, but if it's more then 24 Windows will use 48 bit as > > the next step. So it doubles your file sizes. > > Steve wrote: > > > Bit depth is the number of bits used to describe the color of a pixel... So > > 4-bit gives you 16 possible colors for the pixel, 8-bit is 256 color, etc... > > Doug wrote: > > > Be aware that some people will "name" the same color depth differently. > > For example, "True Color" generally refers to representation with > > twenty-four total bits of color information, eight bits each for red, > > green, and blue. Some people call "True Color" 24-bit color and others > > call it 8-bit color. > > -- > Shel Belinkoff > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/ > - > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to > visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
