To sRGB or Adobe RGB? That is the question!

[Martin Thomas]

According to the Canon handbooks for my 30D and 40D "Adobe RGB is mainly used for commercial printing and other industrial uses.... Since the image will look very subdued with sRGB personal computer environment and printers not compatible with Design rule for Camera File System 2.0 (Exif 2.21), post-processing of the image with software will be required."

I ran a couple of test shots using my 40D and 100-400mm but the Adobe RGB images are far from subdued and only marginally dfferent to the sRGB alternatives. In fact, the shots included foliage which looked more natural under the Adobe RGB setting when viewed in both the Windows picture viewer and in PhotoShop CS3.

Might I ask which of these settings members here use please?


I also tested Standard and Natural picture styles with the former producing a slightly sharper image as expected but perhaps it's better to sharpen post camera?

Thanks in advance.

[Saphire]

Martin, I asked exactly the same question a while back and all the answers are in this thread.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=48311&highlight=srgb

I now use srgb only as most of my shots are displayed on the web.

[Martin Thomas]

Thanks Christine. That'll teach me to check the archive first! I've read quite a bit about colourspace in the past but the complexity still has me reeling.

[JohnZ]

I only use sRGB as it suits any prints that I do.

[Keith Reeder]

sRGB here - my stuff is mainly destined for websites, and my printing requirements aren't so demanding that Adobe RGB or other wide gamuts are really necessary.

Plus, shooting in RAW means that I can always reprocess with a wide gamut colour space if I do need to print something at its absolute best.

Martin, make sure you've calibrated your monitor properly before making any decisions about how the various colour spaces look to you: I can see a big difference in sRGB's favour when looking at the same picture on my monitor, processed for sRGB and Adobe RGB...

[Mono]

It might sound obvious but sRGB is designed for 8bit monitor displays hence it looks good on an 8bit monitor. Adobe RGB is wider than that so won't look as good but has the capacity to print better.

Or you could just buy one of these (http://www.eizo.com/products/graphics/cg241w/index.asp) and then you can see in Adobe RGB.

[mike from ebbw]

sRGB here too.My pics are mainly used on the web (here mostly!) but I find it adequate for my printing needs too.

[NoSpringChicken]

My work computer, which I normally use for viewing this site, is set up for commercial printing. I use a Mac with a CRT monitor which is calibrated using Adobe RGB (1998) and 1.8 gamma with a white point of 5000. This is completely different from the setup which most users here will have, so if I am processing a photo for the gallery I change the Photoshop Colour Settings to 'Europe Web/Internet' which uses sRGB colour space. I also use 'Save for Web' which automatically converts the image to sRGB in case I forget to change the settings. I always have my camera set to sRGB. There again my photos probably look terrible to everyone else! :-O

Ron