Scanning at higher bit depths

The COOLSCAN LS-2000 and LS-40 film scanners are capable of scanning an image at a bit depth of 12 bits while the COOLSCAN LS-8000 and LS-4000 can scan at a bit depth of 14 bits. This means that each pixel is measured to an accuracy of 1 part in 4026 per color of red, green and blue with 12 bit (1 part in 16104 per color with 14 bit).

By comparison an 8-bit scanner measures each pixel to an accuracy of 1 part in 256 per colour.

The increased accuracy of the higher bit depth scans means that the scanner is able to resolve many more colors and therefore provide smoother and better graduated tones. As computers tend to work in multiples of 8 (eight bits being called one byte) the 12 or 14 -bit scan is delivered as a 16 bit file where the color information of each pixel occupies two bytes per color: a total of six bytes per pixel as there are three colors.

If using Nikon Scan as a stand-alone application save the files in TIFF mode, as JPEG and other file formats do not have a 16-bit mode. If scanning within Photoshop using Nikon Scan as an Acquire plug-in, the file is delivered directly as a 16 bit image into Photoshop.You can check this from the Image:mode menu. (See below)

Note that Adobe Photoshops has limited editing of 16 bit files; filters and options cannot be applied until the files is converted to 8 bit format.