v750 scans??

[Milton Tierney]

Thanks for the link. It’s a big help to my learning curve.

[rdenney]

I didn’t know you can edit 16bit with CS4. Yet, the cost of CS is over my head, for now I have to settle for second best. That begs the question, how does 16bit improve my prints over 8bit? Will my Epson r2400 give me that 16bit grayscale.

The printer won't, probably, though I think there are some RIP's that will drive the printers with 16-bit color. But the problem is that when you steepen the tone curve of an 8-bit file, you leave some gaps in the histogram. Those gaps can cause false edges in smoothly graded areas of the print, which is posterization.

With 16-bit color, each of those levels used by the printer has 255 levels in the underlying file. You can steep the tone curve dramatically and still not leave gaps in what the printer sees.

Lightroom is cheaper than CS4 and I'm sure it supports at least basic 16-bit editing. CS does, too, so you might scrounge for an older version of Photoshop on the web. I bought a full version of 5.5 when 6 was just on the market, and paid very little for it. But as a 5.5 bona fide owner, I could get the version 6 upgrade price, and after that I upgraded to 7, CS, and most recently CS4. As much as anything, I needed support for the raw files from my latest digital camera.

Nice thing about film enlargers, you do not need to upgrade.

I started out with some cheapie for 35mm, then when I bought a view camera I also bought an ancient Solar diffusion enlarger. I then traded that in on a D3 Omega, and were I still using it I would have upgraded most of the lenses for it by now. At today's prices, none of that sounds significant--they are giving that stuff away. But I didn't do it at today's prices.

Rick "who often buys older software at giveaway prices and then upgrades" Denney

[Paul H]

Another option for 16 bit editing at a reasonable price is Paintshop Pro.

"Professional-Level Options
Work with a variety of advanced features, including 16-bits-per-channel editing, color management settings and raw file conversion".

I seem to recall the later versions of PS Elements has some limited support for editing 16 bit mode.

[Milton Tierney]

How is it compared to PS Elements 7?

[Paul H]

Paintshop Pro is probably closer in capabilities to Photoshop CSx than to PS Elements. That considered, it is excellent value for money.

If I had to make the choice between buying PSP or PSE, I'd go for PSP.

[Milton Tierney]

The more I use PSe7 the more I do not like it. PSe5 worked will and I liked it a lot more. I would hate to spend money on PSP then find that I do not like it. It would be great if there were some place one can take all the different models for a test drive.

[Brian_A]

It would be great if there were some place one can take all the different models for a test drive.

Milton,

There is. Go to Adobe's website and download Photoshop CS4. They give you a free thirty day trial of the full version.

-Brian

[Mike1234]

PS may be complicated but any tool with that much capability/flexibility will be. Look at the latest high tech photo hardware offerings. If you want to take advantage of their full capabilties you'd better learn how to use them.

[Milton Tierney]

Great! Thanks

[mandoman7]

I don't agree about the 16 bit assertions that have been made. Doubling the file size needs to show advantages and I haven't seen them(yet!). My suggestion would be to not let the suggestions of others override the process of YOU experimenting with your equipment and learning what works.