Acquisition Global Viewpoint – August 2018

The human eye can recognize about 10 million colors. So what is the benefit of a billion different colors if we can’t see it. Here’s a little primer on data in video.

Bit depth is the number of basic red, green and blue colors that can be stored in a frame of video. Each channel can display a variety of shades of the appropriate color. The number of shades determines the bit depth of the image.

The majority of video displays show images with an 8-bit depth, whether these are desktop monitors, laptop screens or mobile device screens. There are far more expensive and rare 10-bit monitors, but few of them are available to most eyes. Today, most 10-bit color in the TV market are when looking at 4K UHD TVs, while 1080p HDTV is 8-bits.

So, if our eyes can’t see 10-bit images and most displays can’t show it, why have all that 10-bit data? For display purposes, there is no reason at all. The value comes in processing the 10-bit data. With an 8-bit image, try stretching the saturation or contrast. You may fine you don’t have enough data and blank bars in the histogram are formed. With the extra 10-bit data, expanding the range will not cause gaps.

This is why it’s important to shoot precise video with today’s 8-bit DSLRs. Heavy post-processing will not be needed if the video is done well in the camera. But when that processing is needed, 10-bits is what you want to have when seeking beautiful processed video.

So working with 8-bit video is not bad unless you plan to do a vast amount of color or contrast changes. Most of DSLR video is 8-bits per channel and you have to make your picture as good as possible in-camera, otherwise post-processing may lower the quality of your final product.

The 4, 6 and 8K future is something else. As cameras get better and better and home receivers are further refined, expect to see more 10-bit video. It’s not about what we can see on a direct display, but for more flexibility in post-production.