Printing out 8 Bit or 16 Bit photo

AC
Posted By
Andrew_Curatola
Nov 10, 2003
Views
1142
Replies
11
Status
Closed
I’m using a fairly decent printer (Epson 2200) and my question: Is there supposed to be a difference, aside from the file size, when printing out an 8 Bit photo compared to an 16 Bit photo?
The reason I ask is that I printed a 16 Bit photo that looked a little better than an identical 8 Bit photo. I then printed out another 8 & 16 Bit identical photo and I didn’t really notice any difference.

Thank you
Andrew

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L
LenHewitt
Nov 10, 2003
Andrew,

Since the O/S and printer drivers do not support 16-bit printing, you’ll never know!

Although CS supports the printing of 16-bit images, only 8-bits/channel will be sent to the printer.
AC
Andrew_Curatola
Nov 10, 2003
Thank you Len, I’m always learning from people that know more than me.

Andrew
CS
Carol_Steele
Nov 10, 2003
There will not be any difference – any 16-bit images will be converted back to 8-bit by the printerdriver before being sent to the printer. At the moment there are no 16-bit image printers available (at least not for the desktop ink jet printer market).


Carol
(Posted from the UK)
PC
Pierre_Courtejoie
Nov 10, 2003
Instead of exploding the resolution numbers, they (printer manufacturers) should explore this…(16bit/channel printing, or at least greyscale) the first one to do it will make a difference…
TF
Thomas_Fors
Nov 10, 2003
There will not be any difference – any 16-bit images will be converted back to 8-bit by the printerdriver before being sent to the printer. At the moment there are no 16-bit image printers available (at least not for the desktop ink jet printer market).

Colorbyte ImagePrint will print 16-bit images to the 2200.

–Tom
MM
Mac_McDougald
Nov 10, 2003
Colorbyte ImagePrint will print 16-bit images to the 2200.
–Tom

My HP will print 16bit images also, but that doesn’t mean there is actually 16bit output being produced.

Mac
TF
Thomas_Fors
Nov 10, 2003
I only know the details of the Epson driver (specifically the 2200), but the actual data stream being sent to the printer is neither 8 nor 16-bit.

The Epson driver converts the file from RGB 8-bit to CcMmYKk 1-bit raster image (at 2880 or 1440dpi) that is then sent to the printer. (Details of this may be obtained by downloading the programming guide from www.epsondevelopers.com). If you print a 16-bit file, I believe it is converted by the application before being sent to the Epson driver, since it only handles 8-bit images.

ImagePrint, on the other hand, accepts a 16-bit RGB file and uses all 16-bits in its conversion to CcMmYKk 1-bit before sending the data stream to the printer. It also handles this conversion much differently than Epson which gives far superior results IMHO.

–Tom

My HP will print 16bit images also, but that doesn’t mean there is actually 16bit output being produced.

Mac
MM
Mac_McDougald
Nov 11, 2003
Interesting.
Thanks for the elaboration, Tom.

Mac
W
Waldo
Nov 11, 2003
That might be true, but I doubt that you are able to perceive 65536 shades of gray (or any other color) produced by a printer.

I agree that the conversion to the device color space will be more accurate.

Waldo

I only know the details of the Epson driver (specifically the 2200), but
the
actual data stream being sent to the printer is neither 8 nor 16-bit.
The Epson driver converts the file from RGB 8-bit to CcMmYKk 1-bit raster image (at 2880 or 1440dpi) that is then sent to the printer. (Details of this may be obtained by downloading the programming guide from www.epsondevelopers.com). If you print a 16-bit file, I believe it is converted by the application before being sent to the Epson driver, since
it
only handles 8-bit images.

ImagePrint, on the other hand, accepts a 16-bit RGB file and uses all 16-bits in its conversion to CcMmYKk 1-bit before sending the data stream
to
the printer. It also handles this conversion much differently than Epson which gives far superior results IMHO.

–Tom
BL
Bill_Lamp
Nov 12, 2003
VERY interesting. Thank you.

Bill
BL
Bill_Lamp
Nov 12, 2003
I looked at the ImagePrint page and got hit with sticker shock.

I have done comparisons with my Epson 2200 (slide scans) using Ekta-Space (if I spelled it wrong, forgive me) vs Adobe color space and know the printer can make good use of the wider gamot.

Just how much more "response" is obtainable by using ImagePrint? HMmm (try 2) If a file in Adobe’s color space prints at 1.00 and a file in Ekta-Space prints at 1.2; what would a Ekta-Space file printed through ImagePrint rate?

Thank you,
Bill, hoping this question makes sense. If not, please ignore it.

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