Hi, now I know 16bit would have to be better, but I'm wondering your thoughts on this.

I am using Camera Raw 4.5 and PSE7 to edit my files. When I open the raw file I can select 8 or 16 bit color depth in Camera Raw. I can't really tell a difference. When I then get to PSE7 step if I want to do any editing (ie spot healing or the like) I have to convert to 8bit, and also when I go to save as JPEG, I must convert to 8 bit first.

Now I can't tell a difference, but there must be a drop in the available range of colors. I'd be interested to know what those of you with more eye for detail and more experience than me think of the issue? Is it not a problem worth worrying about, or is this a reason to step up to a better software package?

Any thoughts?