8 vs 16 bit Images

[Wishgranter]

Hello.
what are differences when using 8 or 16 bit images, the memory problem is not a issue, but can i get "more" details with 16bit as when 8 are used ?
My camera Canon 550D shot with 12 bit per channel, but the overall quality is better with 16 bit per channel - tiff file
when using the console - every time im getting different numbers - that was mentioned earlier that every run takes little bit diffident approach, therefore cannot fully compare difference here.......

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello Wishgranter,

Currently 16 bit tiffs could be uploaded into PhotoScan but there would be treated as 8 bit, because by now PhotoScan support only 8 bit images.

[human-engine]

Hello Alexey,

I just wanted to check if this is still the case:

"Currently 16 bit tiffs could be uploaded into PhotoScan but there would be treated as 8 bit, because by now PhotoScan support only 8 bit images."

and are there any plans for supporting 16 bit images.

Thanks!
Vincent

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello Vincent,

In the latest release 16-bit images are fully supported.

[FoodMan]

cool/

when you say fully supported.. do you mean Pscan treats them like 16 bits now and takes advantage of it...?

h/

[human-engine]

Great news! Thanks Alexey,
Vincent

[bartosh44]

What about 32 bits (hdr exr from photomatix). Is there any benefits in cloud and geometry calculation than 16 bits. I know that will help in texture quality but what about geometry calculation quality.

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello Foodman,

Yes, I mean that PhotoScan uses all the information of the image without any conversion to the 8-bit.


Hello Marcin,

The benefit from the HDR image could be gained if there is any additional information in HDR compared to the regular image format. For example, more info in the dark parts of the photos. But I think that in most cases there will not be much difference.

[bartosh44]

Thanks. I`ve noticed that newest Photomatix make good job with creating 32 bit HDR from one RAW (exposure fusion) but there is one cons (maybe it`s a bug) for Agisoft purposes. It changes image size ratio (crop ora/and resize). It caused bad aligment and bad geometry creation

[bmc130]

Maybe a stupid question...
Alexey, when you say supported in the latest release are you talking about the 1.0 (beta) release or the ordinary release?

[David Cockey]

Version 1.0.0 Build 1795 is now the standard release.

[David Cockey]

A 32 bit pseudo "HDR" created from one RAW file does not contain any additional information compared to a 16 bit TIFF created from the same one RAW file. RAW files have 12 or 14 bits of precision.

32 bit pseudo "HDR"s from a single RAW files may be worse for PhotoScan if the pseudo "HDR" contains artificial details which are inconsistent from photo to photo.

A HDR created from multiple RAW files with properly bracketed exposure may have additional information if the dynamic range of the scene was large enough that the dynamic range of the camera was exceeded. In that case the HDR creation combines data from the multiple RAW files.

If the dynamic range of the scene fits within the dynamic range of the camera then an HDR from multiple RAW files will not contain any additional information compared to a 16 bit TIFF provided proper exposure was used.

[vlanger]

I am doing something wrong or how do I get a 16bit Texture when using 16bit tiffs as input images?

cheers,
Vincent

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello Vincent,

Texture will be automatically generated as 16-bit image if the input images are also 16-bit.
Are there any problems with it? Try to export texture in TIFF format.

[vlanger]

I have definitly 16bit input tiff and get only 8bit tiffs as textures.

do I have to set something somewhere?