Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

But that is not related to what "lossless" means.

While converting on a one to one pixel value per pixel value basis between a 16 bit RGB format and an 8 bit RGB format loses data (and that is the way we normally do it), there is no inherent reason that it could not be converted to an 8 bit format that doesn't lose data. We could develop a format with 6 bytes of data per pixel instead of 3... We could also consider gamma correction! An 8-bit gamma corrected data set is essentially the same as an 11 bit linear data set.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

I'm not speaking about lossy vs lossless. I'm just pointing out that converting from raw to tiff, whether 8 or 16 bit, throws away data, but converting to 8 bit throws away more than converting to 16 bit, even though, let's say, converting to tiff is a qualitative loss whereas converting from 16 to 8 bit is primarily a quantitative loss. Converting to tiff from raw is making a different animal, whereas converting from a 16 bit to an 8 bit tiff is just making the same animal smaller, descriptively speaking.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Okay, that is absolutely true. (I like the "different animal" description!)

Linckinn Loc: Okatie, SC and Edgartown, MA

You guys are terrific. The wealth of knowledge on this forum is unbelievable.

Thanks.