D610 Color Setting

[jbylake]

I googled this and could only find two answers, both of which contradicted each other. In the color settings in my D10 you can select RGB or Adobe. Being new to digital, from film, I don't have a clue.
could I get some opinions and why to select one over the other.

All replies will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks you,
J.

 

[Derrel]

Ohhhhh, you dinnit' just ask that, did you?

Oh,no! You just launched the combined fury of "Coke versus Pepsi and while we're at it Ford vs. Chevy,and what the heck, what about Windows versus Mac? You know, since we's all a' arguin'?" kind of thread...

Kirk or Picard?The first Darrin on Bewitched, or the later Darrin? Connery as Bond or ______ as Bond? Star Trek or Star Wars? Colt or Smith & Wesson? Winchester or Remington? Blue ink or black ink? Whisky or vodka?

 

[jbylake]

Ooops...o.k., which requires the least amount of cognitive skills? LoL.... Want to really see a blood bath? Go to a Harley forum and ask, what's the best kind of oil to use in my bike. Plus, language non-censored, those threads get pretty brutal. O.K., I guess I'm going RGB, because I think I know what that means, and I have no idea of what to do.....maybe someone will jump in and risk getting castrated for my ignorance.

P.S. Definitely the second Darin.

 

[jbylake]

O.K., I found some more info here on the forum. One popular theme is sRGB unless processing in LightRoom. Can set in Light Room to sRGB or Adobe. If shooting in RAW camera setting doesn't matter until processed in Lightroom. Some photo printers request sRGB, some request Adobe. Shooting in JPG should be sRGB.

Is this fairly accurate?

Thanks again,

FT

 

[Ysarex]

O.K., I found some more info here on the forum. One popular theme is sRGB unless processing in LightRoom. Can set in Light Room to sRGB or Adobe. If shooting in RAW camera setting doesn't matter until processed in Lightroom. Some photo printers request sRGB, some request Adobe. Shooting in JPG should be sRGB.

Is this fairly accurate?

Thanks again,

FT

Fairly. Shoot raw and ignore this issue entirely -- problem solved.

sRGB and Adobe RGB are device independent color spaces. When available as options on a camera they only apply to the JPEG file that the camera creates so that shooting and saving raw files renders the choice moot.

There are dozens of similar color spaces but in photo we basically have 4. If you look at Adobe (ACR/LR) those four choices are available to select for the RGB output file that you generate from your raw file. They are:

1. ProPhoto
2. sRGB
3. Adobe RGB
4. Colormatch RGB

You can scratch 4 as old and depreciated (Kodak). If you use LightRoom then you are forced to start with 1. ProPhoto (LR uses a slight variant of ProPhoto). LR enforces ProPhoto on all raw files run through the Develop module. When you are ready to output a finished RGB photo (JEPG/TIFF) from ACR/LR you have to choose the output color space. You can select from the list above.

Choice 4 is scratched (Adobe should really get it off there, but there's some old industry hold-outs).
Choice 1 is if the photo really isn't finished and you intend to edit it further in which case you'll still have to select choice 2 or 3 later as ProPhoto is not appropriate for a final choice. ProPhoto is only for use during editing.
Final choice then should be sRGB for everything and Adobe RGB if you're neurotic and really believe you can see a big difference in the prints you make yourself with your 12 color inkjet printer.

The sRGB space is smaller than the Adobe RGB space. Smaller here means it includes a smaller range of colors. If you're a Harley rider you probably think bigger is always better but that's often a specific Harley rider neurosis we can't talk about politely. It is however the same neurosis that goads many photographers to believe they have to use the bigger one (Adobe RGB). Think of it this way: Smaller is good because you have less room in which to screw up. Adobe RGB primarily extends the range of color into the greens and is nearly coincident with sRGB in the reds and blues. The overwhelming majority of printing hardware out there and the really overwhelming majority of viewing hardware (LCD displays) out there can't even print/display all of the color in the sRGB range yet alone the larger Adobe RGB range. We do get some small spots where a specific printer (that 12 color inkjet) or a very expensive wide-gamut monitor can print/show you specifically Adobe RGB colors. That however can leave you in an odd place; you've dropped the $1800.00 to get an Eizo Coloredge display and you can see some extra green in your landscapes and then you decide to share that photo with the rest of us. And of course all we TPF photographers are also using one of those $1800.00 Coloredge displays and can appreciate your amazing photo -- as my niece would say: NOT! So if you have any desire to participate with others and have others see your photos (your presence here would indicate that you do) then this one's easy: sRGB. Do you really want to process your photos one way for yourself and then change them all before you show them to everyone else? sRGB is the lingua franca of shared photographs -- speak some other language and you'll be misunderstood.

As you noted; printing service outlets want your photos in sRGB. If there are a few that don't they are a select few.

Joe

 

[KmH]

Digital cameras are able to record way more colors than the sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998) color spaces have in their color gamuts.
The sRGB and Adobe RGB settings on your camera only apply to TIFF and JPEG files made in your camera.
Adobe provides a color space that lets you take full advantage of all the colors your digital camera can capture - ProPhoto RGB.
If you want to see all the colors, shoot Raw files.

Lightroom's Develop module uses a version of the ProPhoto RGB color space Adobe calls Melissa RGB.
Melissa RGB has a gamma of 1 and an sRGB tone curve.
ProPhotoRGB has a gamma of 2.2.
Melissa was a member of the LR development team.
By the way. Raw file image data get processed in many ways in a Raw converter, like LR's Develop module, to make the photograph you see on your computer screen before you make any edits of your own.

LR users cannot change the Develop module working color space.
LR users can set the output color space to sRGB or to Adobe RGB.

RGB is a color model.
RGB has a family of color spaces.
sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB, and Melissa RGB are just 4 of the color spaces in the family of RGB color spaces.

 

[jbylake]

Thank you, all. Especially Ysarex and KEH. I've leaned more with your posts, than I did with 2 days of "googling".

I don't know about others, but coming from a film background, after taking about a 4 year hiatus and transitioning, is nowhere as easy as I thought it would be, and the folks here willing to help, is, well, just unbelievable.

Oh, a special thank to Derrell, Goodguy, tirediron, and a great many others whom I cannot remember. If I forgot to mention you, don't feel slighted, I'm just getting old and dumb.