Optipix User's Guide:  Why 16 bit Images?

These high-depth images can contain much more shadow and highlight detail than their 8 bit counterparts. By keeping as much of your workflow in 16 bits as possible and going down to 8 bits carefully, as a final step before printing or editing, your images will look better on screen and in print.

There are more brightness levels contained within the image, so it is possible to adjust the levels or gamma within the image before the step down to 8 bits and keep the detail in the areas that you need it.

High-depth images come from scanners (typically 12-14 real bits per channel) and from medium to high-end cameras (also 10-12 real bits per channel). In many cases there is a lot more detail in the image than you can actually see on the screen, but this detail can be brought out with the Adjust Levels control in Photoshop.

You can also construct a high-depth image by averaging two or more 8 bit images together, or by using Blend Exposures.

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