filters grayed out on 16bit TIFF files?

[Anthony Martinez]

I'm not sure this is normal, and if it is perhaps someone can explain why, but about half of the items under the filter menu are grayed out if I'm working on a 16bit TIFF file. After I export to JPEG, those options return. Would anyone care to make sense of that for me?

[Thorpeland]

I think the 16bit is the issue. Many filter options wont be there until you go to Mode ---> 8bit and convert it. Either that or go to a JPEG. At least thats been my finding.

[Anthony Martinez]

hmmm interesting.

[srwatters]

Quite a few standard and aftermarket filters don't operate on 16 bit data. Take care that if you down sample the image to 8 bits your color space will still fit in the 8 bits you now have. This is NOT the case for ProPhoto color space. The gamut is too large for 8 bits.

[jeffkohn]

CS3's filter support is pretty good for 16-bit files, at least most of the important built-in filters. I guess if you use the Lighting Effects filter or some of those "artistic" filters this could be an issue, but I've never been impressed with any of those.

I would think any 3rd-party filter that's been updated in the last couple of years should have 16-bit support unless the developers are just incompetent. All of the 3rd party filters I've used or evaluated worked in 16-bit, many of them will even work on the L channel in 16-bit Lab mode.

I would tend to think any filter that doesn't work on 16-bit is probably not worth using.

[Anthony Martinez]

Oh I was mostly wondering why they weren't available, and the bit depth makes sense. I use Photoshop for about three things, and three things only. Usually things go through Bibble for a tweak here there, get exported to a jpeg, and that's all she wrote.