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Anonymous
>>264074 "1) 12 vs 14 bits has nothing to do with more dynamic range. That is theory, and this chart, from Nikonian bclaff, based on actual data from bodies like a D3 show this to be the case. So differences are unlikely to be noticable in most case http://home.comcast.net/~NikonD70/Investigations/Photographic_Dynamic_Range.jpg
2) the extra 2 bits should not have any "direct" advantage on prints. 12 bits gives us 4096 shades of grey, 8 bits gives us 256, but a printer offers less than that. In one printing seminar I went to, sponsored by Epson, it is closer to 100 bits so proper PP is critical to preserve print detail
3) Benefits of 14 bits come in the form of more information that can be stretched without posterization or excessive noise in areas where extra detail needs to be pulled out --- like shadow detail 'recovery' You know how you can take a 8-bit jpeg file of a low contrast capture and bring the levels sliders together and see posterization? Well, if it is a 12-bit RAW you can do more of this before the image posterizes. Extend this argument to 14-bits and you have more information to separate, when needed and if needed, minimizing potential problems/artifacts
4) Indirectly, there is an advantage for printing certain captures, since this additional information can be separated to provide the added detail/local contrast for the print. The entire concept of levels and curves is, as Bob Johnson put it, 'stealing contrast' from one area to another to get detail and tonal balance as desired."
TL;DR - Space is cheap, shoot 14-bit.
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