[Leica] New M(246) Outputs 12 bit Files

[Adam Bridge]

In an image exposed so the lightest white is all the way to the right on the histogram then the darker parts of the image won’t have as much detail in a 12 bit image as in a 14 bit image because it’s in the very dark regions where there are fewer bits available.

If the camera’s noise attributes don’t warrant 14 bits of detail then keeping at 12 would make sense since the noise in the darks wouldn’t be resolved.

In audio the difference between 12 and 14 bits in the sampling system would be obvious to many - probably even to me.

I’m a little troubled by the reviewer whose “loyalty is to Leica”. I almost quit reading at that point even though he tried to make it better in subsequent sentences. 

Adam

> On 2015 May 5, at 9:50 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 12 bit = 2 raised to the power of 12 = 4096 shades of gray
> 
> 14 bit = 2 raised to the power of 14 = 16384 shades of gray
> 
> Quite a bit of tonal difference technically. Whether the human eye can
> perceive it in a meaningful way in a print - who knows?
> 
> Cheers
> Jayanand
>