NCN Forum

12-bit versus 14-bit
Is there a difference? Yes, there is. Can I show it? Probably not.

First a reminder: 14-bit is only available when shooting NEF, and the camera's frame rate slows to a maximum of 2.5fps when you enable 14-bit NEFs. All JPEG/TIFF shooting is done at 12-bits.

What do you get with 14-bit that you don't with 12-bit shooting? Well, two bits. That's the difference between 4095 and 16,383 tonal values. The question that lies underneath this one is: is the noise handling of the D300 good enough to make use of those additional tonal values? My answer to that is a definite maybe. At the base ISO I find it difficult to find anything that shows up as a visible difference. In a few cases at higher ISO values, I have seen small differences in the shadow detail. I actually tried measuring this by doing an exhaustive series of tests, and I came up with perhaps a third of a stop difference in absolute dynamic range at ISO 800 and ISO 1600, less at other ISO values.

Frankly, it's not enough of a difference to worry about. Most people can't see the differences the old Compressed NEF made versus regular NEF--they certainly aren't going to see 12-bits versus 14-bits. That said, I shoot at 14-bits. Why? Because I do all my NEF editing at 16 bits, and I'd rather have the data than not have it, even if it doesn't really give me a tangible benefit. I long ago learned that software is getting more and more clever at pulling out "errors" in data. Who's to say we won't someday have someone manage to figure out how to pull out the read noise in a raw file? That would likely be enough to reveal what's living down in those extra bits. Indeed, I can kind of see that today: using image stacking to remove noise with 14-bit images produces images that are spectacularly free of noise at the base ISO.

polleke666 schreef: Ik heb trouwens nog een vraag en dat is of er tussen "Raw ongecomprimeerd" of "RAW gecomprimeerd zonder verlies" (kan ik op m'n D300s instellen) verschil bestaat afgezien van wat MB's verschil.

Jur schreef:

polleke666 schreef: Ik heb trouwens nog een vraag en dat is of er tussen "Raw ongecomprimeerd" of "RAW gecomprimeerd zonder verlies" (kan ik op m'n D300s instellen) verschil bestaat afgezien van wat MB's verschil.

HIER vind je het antwoord.

yzf1kr schreef:Bij mij staat hij altijd op 14 bits.
Het geeft net wat meer ruimte met nabewerken.

Mocht ik echt een keer de snelheid nodig hebben dan is hij met 3 knop drukken omgezet.

Maar meer als 2,5 opnames per seconde heb ik echt zelden nodig.

peterpj schreef:Dus er is wel degelijk verschil.

Patrick schreef:

peterpj schreef:Dus er is wel degelijk verschil.

Ik geloof niet dat iemand dat ontkend heeft. Maar zie je er ook wat van terug in je foto's?

JanR schreef: De D300s kan ik niet beoordelen op 14 bits, de D7000 wel. Vooral bij complexe lichtsituaties ( groot verschil tussen lichte en donkere partijen ) heb je wat meer speelruimte met het nabewerken.