Introduction.

What differences are observable between 24bit and 48bit color? What sort of particulars and specifics do those differences comprise? Can observable differences be quantified? Are they merely anomalistic and not repeatable? How do we address these questions?

These, and others as they arise, must be addressed before we can proceed. Note that these questions move from the general to the specific, and so we shall take them up in reverse order. At this point, it seems reasonable to establish what constitutes an adequate response in these regards.

Questions raise issues that may or may not be tractable. They also most often generate other questions, and so a proliferation beyond the scope of the point of interest can quickly occur. In such cases, I shall simply note what is, and is not, obtained, and determine whether the question has been or has not been satisfied.

The question of repeatability is substantial. It directly addresses the issue of how we know what we think we know. As such, it must be treated in this exercise however is appropriate. In fact, it will be a fundamental concern in the execution of whatever is done in this endeavor, and so must be fundamental to the design as well.

The manner in which any result is described must address whether and how they are also defined. In this regard, it is not sufficient to establish prior standards; such as are observed must arise from the nature of what is sought, and what is found. Quantifiability, then, is also a fundamental concern, yet attention will be paid to what seems appropriate in terms of design, and what subsequently becomes evident from results.

The particulars and specifics of any finding must be presumed to emerge from adequate investigation of results. In this regard, completeness will be weighed against triviality by making some effort to justify appropriate areas of description. It is difficult to prejudge this, except to the extent that there exists some understanding of what is and is not of primary importance, yet even this must be tested at the time of determination.

Finally, we ask what we expect to find. At this point, I would observe that any attempt to answer in general terms will risk prejudging, which all too often winds up leading us to fool ourselves. We can say that we expect to find a difference between images scanned and rendered in 48bit color, as opposed to the same images in 24bit color. What they might be will be subject to what is found in each investigation.