Bill, I think this has to do with color conversion algorythms. Normally to achie ve the best possible quality, you would scan an image in RGB for inkjet or Lightjet prints or for the web, and in CMYK for pre-press. Now, if you don't know what you are scanning for yet, or are scanning for multiple purposes, the 16 bits HDR data gives you the total information available in both color environments. So converting an RGB image in CMYK from the 16 bits files should be just as good as scanning directly in CMYK. The drawback is that on some scanners, the 16 bit file is produced without the possibility of intervening on the process. If t he original is too dark, for example, it will be scanned too dark, even if the scanner had the possibility to correct the curve in 8 bits mode. So, not yet perfect.
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