Comments on: Q: Does it matter which color space I select in my camera?

By: Herman Meisner

Herman Meisner — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:40:35 +0000

As an avid photographer, I’m happy to have found your website. It’s always nice to see other’s work and get new ideas; it’s refreshing and gets the mind working. Everyone’s style is so unique. Check out my site if you’d like at http://www.ducktrapphoto.com

By: It’s Tuesday. In August. Have some links. « Central Illinois Photoblog

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:00:06 +0000

[...] Stephen J. Herzberg put together a nice little article on Color Space (sRGB, Adobe RGB, Prophoto RGB, etc.) that can help you sort out where you should set your color [...]

By: Buster Kowis

Buster Kowis — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:04:54 +0000

Steve, I was wondering about this issue in Lightroom. I have it, but have not installed it at this time. All my photos at this time are in Adobe RGB.

By: Steve Herzberg

Steve Herzberg — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:43:14 +0000

Richard,

Jim is busy moving and asked that I respond to you. (I’ve run the answer past him to make sure it is right.)

As I understand your question, file size is a primary concern of your students; I assume that they are trying to conserve storage space both in their cameras and on their computers.

If that is the issue, Jim confirms that the choice between sRGB and Adobe RGB will not influence the size of the .jpeg and, therefore, will not make a significant impact on space conservation. Said another way, an sRGB .jpeg will not differ, meaningfully, in storage size from one shot in Adobe RGB.

By: Richard Vallon Jr.

Richard Vallon Jr. — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:00:16 +0000

Dear Jim, Thanks for this repsonse.
Jpegs shot in the Adobe 1998 color space-
do these actually have a wider gamut of color than RGB- and does this mean the files would be a little larger. I was once told by an expert- forgot who- that ( in camera processed) jpeg is native sRGB
anyway and since it could not contain more data- there was little use to setting Adobe 1998. Hey I’m not doubting you – simply a bit confused. I’m a RAW shooter- but this sort of thing could scare my students that shoot jpegs…

By: Jim DiVitale

Jim DiVitale — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:24:49 +0000

Richard,

If the camera is allowed to process a JPEG file, than choosing the color space in the camera menu is very important. There is no quality advantage to changing colors space after the process and Adobe RGB 1998 would be a larger starting gamut to print in with Inkjet material. It’s best to have the settings on the camera menu set to the known space you want to be ending in if possible to prevent unnecessary color shifts. When shooing and processing Raw, color space is chosen last on the export process of the digital workflow. Jim DiVitale

By: Richard R. Vallon Jr.

Richard R. Vallon Jr. — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:37:59 +0000

Greetings all,

I myself shoot RAW – and use Lightroom and love the ability to fine tune RAW images.
My main question is for my photo students…
and their JPEGS- does setting the JPEG color space to Adobe 1998 in camera actually give any more quality to the file?- or is the color space simply mapped better for home inkjet printing using a 6 ink or better printer with real photo grade paper?
IF they were to ——convert—– their sRGB jpegs to Adobe 1998 for printing on “better” inkjet printers with high quality photo paper- would the results be better this way- and no different than if they had set adobe 1998 in camera to begin with.
BTW- Lightroom does a great job fixing problems with “legacy” jpegs- especially when the jpeg expsosure is right on- and can also allow subtle color changes w/o fear of losing color data to keep that “rich color look”.

By: vincent versace

vincent versace — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:53:17 +0000

Color pace matters. If you are shooting JPEG+RAW and a fine artist set your camera for Adobe RGB 16 bit. Set your raw processing software to Prophoto RGB. If you are a wedding photographer, or portrait social, and use fuji frontier or Durst Lambda and the like, or have your proofs done at the local Costco or Wall-mart sRGB is the way for you.

THis is a workflow solution. For example fuji frontier, Durst etc. only work in sRGB. SO bigger colorspace doesn’t matter. But should you need to work “heroically” on an image then you have the RAW file that you can change the colorpace. As far as I am concerned there is only one colorspace to work in for editing and that is 16bit Prophoto. If I have to go to 8bit then I convert to Adobe RGB then convert to 8bit from 16 bit.

By: prairiefire

prairiefire — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:50:42 +0000

Thanks Tony and Mark for the very helpful contributions.

The ability to get this interaction is why I switched from a newsletter to web based content.

By: Tony Corbell

Tony Corbell — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:32:48 +0000

Well done, Steve and well stated,

You listed 98 percent. Here are my two cents. ok ok, my 2 percents..

My statement is a simple one. Always begin with the end in mind. Portrait or wedding labs almost exclusively use sRGB. Ink jet in your home studios use Adobe RGB. So, why don’t we simply match our CAMERA setting with our PHOTOSHOP setting (in preferences) and match them both the final output device or printer.

Seems like if you match up all three eliminating any interpolation (expansion of information) or compressing (contraction of information) by any of the three, you’ll get a great print. I have beautiful 30 x 40 wall prints made in sRGB…Same in RGB. Let”s try to keep it simple..

Keep up the great work…Love reading this stuff here..

Tony Corbell
San Diego..