I think you can say the same for most people. But, for professional purposes or for people who like to get their scanned photos to look as close as possible to the original, higher color depths are important. A little thinking about just what kind of use you will put your scanner to will help you decide what minimum color depth you require. Density Range Probably the least known aspect of scanners is the density range they are able to reproduce. If you have spent anytime at all playing around with a photo editing program, you should know that regarding the tone of the picture every photo consists of highlights, midtones, and shadows.
Highlights are the least dense, while shadows have the most density.
Now, the range of densities the scanner is able to produce in one scan is called the density range. There is no question that density range can have adverse effects on the quality of your scanned photos. Most noticeably, density range effects how much detail the scanner can record in the highlight and shadow areas. Numerically, density range is measured in a scale ranging from .1 - 3.x. Many scanners have a density range of around 3.0.