imwrite 12bit data?

Hello, I have a camera that gives me grayscale 12bit images. They are quite big, and the framerate is quite high, so I would like to avoid saving 16 bit tiffs from this data (as I am hoping to save some disk space and computing time when saving as 12 bit). Is there a possibility to save 12bit image data without loosing time for converting stuff?

Thanks!!

[Rik]

I sometimes use 8 bit RGB images to store 12 bit CT images. My trick is to merge two images, totalling 24 bits, which I then split to 3 8-bit channels, saving as png.

I don't know if that counts as not loosing time. For my application this is more than fast enough, but if you need to keep up with a high frame rate, that might not be an option.

[William Thielicke]

That sounds like a great trick, especially, because I am capturing double images anyway... Thanks!

But your comment also tells me that there apparently is no standard 12bit image format.

[Rik]

I'm not aware of any 12-bit standard. There might very well exist one, this method was just the easiest to implement while making sure no data would be lost and all half-decent programs would be able to process the resulting files.