if you are working with NTSC/PAL (video for that matter) 8 bits is the depth these formats support.
but if your compositing is for film then you should consider deeper depths. 10-12 twelve bits per channel would allow for a greater color resolution when film is projected. though the deeper depths bring with it conversion issues, like 10bit logarithmic or 12 bit linear. i am not involved with combustion but, if you are working with film res images you should consult the scanning service, because they would be supplying the image format. i found out (the hard way) that cineon files should be converted to a proper bit depth by the compositor (that’s me) depending on the footage and requirements of the project.
i also am fairly new to bigger bit depths, but if you are concerned over file sizes and processing times, 8 bits is okay if you are not working on something that is not going to be transferred to film.
hope this helps…
sinan vural