Edward Troxel

[bluespoet]

I am now using Canon DSLRs for video, I see 8 bit and 10 bit color bandied about, but not sure how to take advantage in Vegas? I bet it has to do with color correction and so think a vegas color correction article helpful esp considering the use of Canon DSLRs. Newblue effects also have color correction effects, but I have no direct experience with their color correction.

[Edward Troxel]

When you go to Options - Preferences, you can change to "32-bit color mode". There are actually two different 32-bit modes. I know I have read articles from others who know much more about color spaces but an unsure of the links off the top of my head.

[Edward Troxel]

http://www.glennchan.info/articles/vegas/v8color/vegas-9-levels.htm

http://wolfcrow.com/blog/the-advantages-of-working-in-32-bit-float/

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-happens-vegas/506366-8bit-vs-32bit-settings.html

[TheHappyFriar]

The bits are per color on the pixel. 99% of everything out there (hardware wise) is 8 bits per color on the pixel. 8 bit red, green and blue. That's 2^8, = 256 shades for each color. 256 red * 256 green * 256 blue = 16,777,216 possible color combinations. And you still get banding.

10 bit helps. That's 10 bit per color, 2^10 = 1024 shades per color. That's 1,073,741,824 possible color combinations.

Now, your monitor is only 8-bit. TV's are 8-bit. PDA's, tablets, phones, laptops, etc. are all 8-bit. Odds are you'll always display in 8-bit but the processing will turn out better (in theory) with a higher precision, but you'll always get banding & the like on 8-bit displays (because they can't display the same shades as 10/32 bit color).

So even if you have 10 bit footage and edit it in 32-bit, you can't actually SEE what it will look like, you're 100% dependent on levels unless you have a higher bit monitor.

[TheHappyFriar]

I thought about it more and thought to myself "Why use anything above 8 bit if you deal with 99% 8-bit display?"

The answer I came up with is this: digital is 8-bit. Film (both camera and on the big screen) and printing aren't limited to the digital color space.

So there ya go as to why it even exists (digital photography and film).