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I just posted the below in response to a question on the Amazon forums re how much difference there is between 4 shades of gray for the Kindle Klassic and 16 shades of gray for the Kindle 2. Felt it might be of interest here also.
The choice of 16 shades of gray (or grey) over 4 shades is an easy one for me as the difference is HUGE (for someone whose hobby is photography and who likes to enjoy images in books too).
The illustrations are from the tutorial at http://www.thewonderoflight.com/articles/?page_id=109
It includes (ABOVE each photo) a description of gray shades used for that photo.
A grayscale image is made up of differences between white (0 bits) and black (1 bit) which is a sort of night & day thing, with nothing in between.
To add something in between, they can make it "2-bit," and this produces 4 shades of gray. You'll recognize the image below from what we encounter with our Kindle 1's (unless the publisher dithers* the image.)
Kindle Klassic style (4 shades)
* (Some publishers can choose to 'dither' a limited 4-shade image by
using diffusion to lessen the harsh transition from one shade to another
to make the image more photo-like.
But that reduces sharpness and can cause a grainy pattern that's visible.
We see nicely-dithered images on the Kindle Klassic by publishers who are
aware it can be done.)
Sony PRS-700 style (8 shades)
Kindle 2 style (16 shades)
For me, this is a REALLY desirable change, and it's the one reason I do want the Kindle 2, but not enough to pay $400 for it with case when I have a much-valued Kindle Original. So I wait for the day that Amazon decides to offer a tempting promotion (having decided it's not worthwhile to offer one now to K1 users for a device WITH which we are moved to order more from Amazon -- such as books with illustrations).
I already have 2 Photoshop tutorials on my K1, bought from Amazon and a couple of travel guides with pictures. I 'd buy many more if they gave K1 users a promotional offer for a limited time.
By the way that page at http://www.thewonderoflight.com/articles/?page_id=109 is excellent. As you browse it, remember that each photo is explained by the description ABOVE it.
- Andrys
The choice of 16 shades of gray (or grey) over 4 shades is an easy one for me as the difference is HUGE (for someone whose hobby is photography and who likes to enjoy images in books too).
The illustrations are from the tutorial at http://www.thewonderoflight.com/articles/?page_id=109
It includes (ABOVE each photo) a description of gray shades used for that photo.
A grayscale image is made up of differences between white (0 bits) and black (1 bit) which is a sort of night & day thing, with nothing in between.
To add something in between, they can make it "2-bit," and this produces 4 shades of gray. You'll recognize the image below from what we encounter with our Kindle 1's (unless the publisher dithers* the image.)
Kindle Klassic style (4 shades)

* (Some publishers can choose to 'dither' a limited 4-shade image by
using diffusion to lessen the harsh transition from one shade to another
to make the image more photo-like.
But that reduces sharpness and can cause a grainy pattern that's visible.
We see nicely-dithered images on the Kindle Klassic by publishers who are
aware it can be done.)
Sony PRS-700 style (8 shades)

Kindle 2 style (16 shades)

For me, this is a REALLY desirable change, and it's the one reason I do want the Kindle 2, but not enough to pay $400 for it with case when I have a much-valued Kindle Original. So I wait for the day that Amazon decides to offer a tempting promotion (having decided it's not worthwhile to offer one now to K1 users for a device WITH which we are moved to order more from Amazon -- such as books with illustrations).
I already have 2 Photoshop tutorials on my K1, bought from Amazon and a couple of travel guides with pictures. I 'd buy many more if they gave K1 users a promotional offer for a limited time.
By the way that page at http://www.thewonderoflight.com/articles/?page_id=109 is excellent. As you browse it, remember that each photo is explained by the description ABOVE it.
- Andrys