NikonScan 4

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nick Lockett
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Nick Lockett

I'm using NikonScan 4 with a Coolscan V ED. There is the option to choose
between scan bit depths of 8 or 14. If you scan at a depth of 8, the image
can be stored as a TIFF, NEF or JPEG. At 14 bits JPEG is not available.
Nikon confirm that this is by design. Please can anyone suggest a reason
why this should be the case?
Nick
 
Nick Lockett said:
I'm using NikonScan 4 with a Coolscan V ED. There is the option to
choose
between scan bit depths of 8 or 14. If you scan at a depth of 8, the
image
can be stored as a TIFF, NEF or JPEG. At 14 bits JPEG is not
available.
Nikon confirm that this is by design. Please can anyone suggest a
reason
why this should be the case?
Click to expand...

Hello Nick,

I think it is because the JPG format only accomodates 8-bit/channel
images. TIF handles 16 bits, as does JPEG2000 (JP2), and probably
some more formats do as well.
 
Nick said:
I'm using NikonScan 4 with a Coolscan V ED. There is the option to choose
between scan bit depths of 8 or 14. If you scan at a depth of 8, the image
can be stored as a TIFF, NEF or JPEG. At 14 bits JPEG is not available.
Nikon confirm that this is by design. Please can anyone suggest a reason
why this should be the case?
Click to expand...

Because it is outside of Nikon's control?

You question should be posed to the Joint Photographic Experts Group,
JPEG, who failed to include support for greater than 8-bit files in the
ISO/IEC IS 10918-1/ITU-T Recommendation T.81 specification or
integration with the lossless JPEG format which does support bit depths
of 2-16-bits when they defined the format in the 80's.
 
Nick Lockett said:
I'm using NikonScan 4 with a Coolscan V ED. There is the option to choose
between scan bit depths of 8 or 14. If you scan at a depth of 8, the image
can be stored as a TIFF, NEF or JPEG. At 14 bits JPEG is not available.
Nikon confirm that this is by design. Please can anyone suggest a reason
why this should be the case?
Click to expand...

Jpeg is a 24-bit standard, can't store 48-bit color files.
 
You may wish to evaluate JP2 (jpeg 2000), which is a format available
in Photoshop CS (though not installed by default); for other software,
it can be added as a plugin from 3rd party vendors. It is capable of
saving 16 bit files and has superior compression charateristics.
Unfortunately, its acceptance and usage is not widespread so it would
be useful only for personal archiving.
 
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