an analogy would be trying to measure 14 inches with a
foot-long ruler). If they cannot acquire data with enough depth, then they
cannot be told to acquire the entire range.
But you're assuming that a bit has some meaning as a unit of measure; or at least a relationship with a unit of measure. It doesn't. Putting more marks between the ends of a ruler doesn't make it longer. Puttiing fewer doesn't make it shorter. When the analog signal is converted to digital bits its completely up to other hardware characteristics to determine how dark of a value is assigned to zero and how light of a value is assigned to the max available value. Whether the max value is represented by 255 (eight bit) or 4095 (12 bit) or whatever doesn't change the brightness value that creates the max recordable lightness. Bit depth doesn't determine the length of the ruler... at any stage... during capture or later processing... it only determines accuracy.
Bob Smith
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