Originally Posted by philbaum 
I use Lighroom exclusively for processing, but whenever i transfer to Adobe Elements 7 for the edit module, it stops me from doing anything and asks if i want to convert the Lighroom TIFFs to 8 bit.
Photoshop may have 16 bit, i don't know, but Elements sure seems like an 8 bit operation.
Phil
Pretty sure you are right regarding Elements.and Photoshop definitely has 16bit (and at times 32/64 bit) capability.. You may be interested in this though:
Elements+ unlocks hidden features in Photoshop Elements
No guarantees on my part .............
BTW: I'm leaning towards Bibble as of now.. not that it really matters