Scan b/w in color?

[fredley]

So I've been asked by a friend if I can restore an old b/w photo. I did a search, but didn't find anything to tell me if I should scan this photo in b/w or would I get better information to use in Photoshop by scanning in color? If the answer is color, what kind of bit depth is recommended?

[Doug Nelson]

Color, since there will be differences in the individual channels. 16bit if you can.

[fredley]

Thanks for the quick response, Doug. I can do 32 bit. Is this overkill?

[Doug Nelson]

I think we're talking to cross-purposes. We we talk about "bits", we normally mean "bits per color channel". When scanner marketers talk about bits they normally mean all channels combined (so devide by 3).

But you really need to know the difference to be able to exploit them, so you might want to stick with 8 (they'll call it 24).

[fredley]

Thanks for the clarification!