1. A system for processing targets electro-optically read by image capture, the system comprising: a workstation having a light-transmissive window past which a target is moved during image capture; an imaging assembly supported by the workstation, the imaging assembly configured to image the target to capture a source image having a bit depth greater than eight; a memory; a processor configured to: process the source image to obtain a plurality of 8-bit target images each corresponding to a different subset of the source image; store the plurality of 8-bit target images in the memory; generate statistical data representative of different portions of the source image; and select one of the stored 8-bit target images based on the statistical data; and a controller configured to decode only the selected one of the stored 8-bit target images.