Open a higher bit-depth image (or convert a 8-bit/channel image to the 15-bit mode, then enter to the filter dialog and press Alt+g to open the Define screen settings -dialog.

Enter the system gamma space that is the gamma value from the Adobe Gamma utility (or from other system calibration utility) not the gamma value from the RGB setup.

This one-time-only step is needed in order to have the image in the preview box to appear somewhat correctly (the preview-box when the image is in 16-bit/c mode is not color-managed due to the bug in Photoshop).

Range from bit 1 (least significant bit LSB) to 16 (MSB, most significant bit).

Note that in Photoshop the 16-bit/c mode comprises only level 0 ... 32768 where the true 16-bit range comprises levels 0...65535. Therefore the 16th bit with Photoshop is just a delusion, it contain only 1 level where in a true 16-bit range it contains 32768 levels. But since the 1 level (level 32768) over the 15-bit range is there in Photoshop the 16th bit is provided in the filter.

Selection Dropdown

Output data is binary.

When the selected bit level is 1 the output is max level and when the selected bit level is 0 the ouput is level 0.

Output data is the image data masked by the selected bit.

When the selected bit level is 1 the output is the image data and when the selected bit level is 0 the ouput is level 0.

This filter enables some rather interesting editing operations and also provides a very good way to visualize the noise level of an image: Shoot or scan a very smooth surface and inspect the bit-slices in Binary mode , e.g. in an image that is truly and honestly of 12-bit quality then the bit 15-12=4 should be very stable, not noisy at all.