RGB vs sRGB

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04-16-2007, 02:10 PM

Shalooby

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RGB vs sRGB

I'm hoping someone can help me out or shed some light on this topic which has left me disappointed and a bit confused.
I've got the Nikon D50 and it has three color modes available in the custom menu settings. sRGB I sRGB III and RGB. I've read the Magic Lantern series specific to this camera and it suggessted using RGB for most everything. It notes that the colors may not be as vibrant when viewing the images on a computer however their true brilliance will come out during processing. Well, I've seen the opposite. They look great on the PC but dull and mixed in print. It also played havoc indoors with the wb set to flash. All images were shot in Program (P) mode with no compensation.
I don't shoot in RAW mode much as I don't do much post processing and don't really have time to convert each image I want to print. Is this RGB mode only best for RAW data? If so, is there some way to batch process RAW to JPEG or TIFF for this without any editing? Can that even be done?
Can someone shed some light onto the whole color mode thing for me?

Thanx.

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04-16-2007, 03:59 PM

Billiam

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As a Canon user, I have to say that Nikon labels these color space choices very strangely. From your camera's manual:

Quote:

III a (sRGB) - Produces nature and landscape shots with vivid colors. Photographs are adapted to the sRGB color space.

Ia (sRGB) - Produces portraits with soft, natural colors. Photographs are adapted to the sRGB color space.

II (Adobe RGB) - Photographs taken in this setting are adapted to the Adobe RGB color space. This color space is capable of expressing wider gamut of colors than sRGB, making it preferred choice for images that will be extensively processed or retouched.

Personally, I would not consider choice "III a" and choose between the standard sRGB choice Ia and the Adobe RGB choice II. You can do searching on sRGB vs. Adobe RGB pretty much anywhere (including here) to get information on making this decision.

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04-16-2007, 05:29 PM

ChodTheWacko

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Shalooby

Well, I've seen the opposite. They look great on the PC but dull and mixed in print.

Is this RGB mode only best for RAW data? If so, is there some way to batch process RAW to JPEG or TIFF for this without any editing? Can that even be done?

The problem is all about color spaces. In your jpeg, say a pixel's color is stored as RGB value '128, 27, 130'. But what color is that exactly? It's whatever the device thinks it is. Your monitor can think it is one color, photoshop can show it as another color, and your printer can print it as another color. It's brutal.

Generally, programs that don't allow you to select a color space assume the picture's color space is sRGB. This includes stuff like web browsers, and basic graphic viewers like irfanview / acdsee. In general, stick with this.

I'm not sure, but I suspect the printer is using a different colorspace, and the printer driver should do the conversion from
colorspace A to colorspace B. I'll let someone who knows what they are
talking about continue. I'd suggest saving a picture under each of the 3 modes,
and printing it out, and seeing if one mode works well.

I always hear nightmares of 'why doesn't my print look like the one on my monitor' and that's probably one major reason I haven't bought a printer.