10 bit display support

[turigeza]

Hi There,

 

I am planning to switch Affinity Photo but I am also looking to upgrade my monitor to a 10 bit monitor. Namely the ASUS PA329Q. I am on a mac, macbook pro to be precise with specs 

2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 

16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640

Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

OS : High Sierra

 

So my question is would I be able to set up a 10 bit workflow with this setup using Affinity ? Any information regarding the 10 bit workflow would be great on this operating system btw ...

 

Thank you,

 

 

 

[Patrick Connor]

@turigeza

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums. 

Forgive my ignorance, but how does the bit depth of the screen have any effect on the editing of photos?

The workflow is not affected from my understanding. 

All it should affect is how clearly and precisely you can see the end result of your edits, which are themselves restricted by the destination file format colour resolution, not by the screens colours.

If your SOURCE images are screen shots, then my answer is slightly different. 

[turigeza]

Hi Patrick,

 

In short the 10 bit signal going to the monitor makes gradients a lot smoother.

 

With an 8 bit signal only you will get banding in the colors. This problem has been around for long long time ... and I am happy to see that finally you can get rid of this issue. That is with photoshop. Keep in mind that I am talking about editing 16 bit images.

 

Here is link somebody setting it up if you are interested.

http://tedlansingphotography.com/equipment/10-bit-color-depth-and-adobe-photoshop-cs6/

 

When you are playing with images which have smooth gradations it will be obviously visible on the screen. It is also called posterization.

 

Take a blue sky you will for sure see the posterization on the screen. It isn't actually in the file just on the screen. Or you want simply reproduce it draw a 16 bit gradient black and white and then you will see the issue for sure.

 

Some people will tell you that it is not visible : ) Or it doesn't matter : ) For me it does. I don't want to see a posterized image on the screen any more. And it seem after about 15 years finally it is a reality : )))

 

Does that help ? 

 

You are right of course it will not affect the image data for sure ... it's just helps to display the image without posterization. 

 

Actually I would have sent you a test file you can see the banding on but I can not upload it here for some reason even though it is within size limit maybe because it is a tiff ... 

 

 

 

 

[Patrick Connor]

So you have explained beautifully what I already knew but didn't go into depth in my question as it's difficult with a customers first post to know where they are coming from, thanks. 

So as you already understand that it's just looking more like the underlying data not actually representing the 16 or 32 bit numbers, I'm still unclear why should it affect your workflow, as you asked? The only experience I have of avoiding the banding is to use a bit of randomisation in gradients and effects. I think I'll keep quiet and learn from the answers of others.

[turigeza]

6 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

I'm still unclear why should it affect your workflow, as you asked? The only experience I have of avoiding the banding is to use a bit of randomisation in gradients and effects. I think I'll keep quiet and learn from the answers of others.

 

It doesn't affect my "workflow". I just don't like to see posterization on the screen. I think I might mislead you by saying  "10 bit workflow" but I think people tend to call it that ?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=10+bit+workflow&oq=10+bit+workflow&aqs=chrome..69i57.552j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

"randomisation in gradients and effects" is not a solution : )) sorry ... I mean it's fine as a bodge if you have issues with printing but in this case is not applicable. 

 

Here i found something similar and colleague of yours replying to it. 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/41686-10-bit-display-graphics-cards-in-affinity-photo/

But that is Windows specific.

 

So I am essentially asking

 

"Does/Can Affinity Photo output 10 bit to the monitor ? Does it require any special settings like with Photoshop ?"

 

Any idea ? 

 

Thank you for helping btw,

[v_kyr]

Well for 10 bit output display support of course the whole chain of hardware + software must do fully support this in order to having any visual benefits. - See also the 10 bit test ramp file in the linked article there!

[turigeza]

@v_kyr Hi, Sure 

 

So let's leave the hardware out of the equation and assume it does. If it doesn't I replace my laptop  with another model which does. Screen supports it so that is not an issue.

 

But my question is still the same except forget my hardware listing. OS remains the same High Sierra.

"Does/Can Affinity Photo output 10 bit to the monitor ? Does it require any special settings like with Photoshop ?"

 

 

[v_kyr]

No it actually seems not to have 10-bit support. - See also:

• Does affinity support 10bit display on windows

• support 10 bit color display

[turigeza]

@v_kyr

 

Thank you for clearing that up for me much appreciated. I don't know why I could not find those posts btw I was googling maybe the wrong words.