A 12-bit depth can distinguish how many gray levels?

• A. 4,096
• B. 256
• C. 1,024
• D. 65,536

Answer: (A)

The number of distinct gray levels is determined by the bit depth, with each additional bit doubling the possible values. For 12 bits, you can encode 2^12 values, which equals 4096. So a 12-bit depth can distinguish 4096 gray levels (typically ranging from 0 to 4095). For context, 8-bit depth yields 256 levels, 10-bit yields 1024, and 16-bit yields 65,536.