Adobe RGB and Embedded Adobe RGB. What's the difference?

[stephen_jones8]

I just bought a KM Alpha sweet Dslr ( Maxxum 5D in U.S.A. ) and I have an apple i-book

and EPSON PMA700 printer.

On the camera menu there are two settings for color.

Adobe RGB and Embedded Adobe RGB. My question is which one should I use? I don't

understand the difference between plain Jane Adobe and embedded Adobe?

Could anyone explain this to me? by the way I'm currently making A4 size prints

and I'm only using JPEG. I'm not planning to use RAW until i get a new computer and

appropriate software later this year.

The camera is terrific! Sorry to see Minolta go.

[robert_martin5]

Embedded means the image contains information on which profile was used to generate the image. If you use color managed software, it reads which profile was used to generate the image and handles it correctly. If you do not embed the profile, when opened by color managed software you will need to tell it what profile was used before it can handle the colors correctly.

[stephen_jones8]

I see. So to keep things simple, i would be better off setting the camera to use Embedded

Adobe color space? I assume the color management is probably built into the Epson

printer and it will then be able to read this. Anyway, I'll try it and check the results.

Thanks.

[robert_martin5]

The printer will not read this profie. The software you use to open the image with will read it if it's color managed software - like Photoshop.

[stephen_jones8]

Thanks again, Robert. You are explaining things clearly that i couldn't find answers to in

all the fancy digital tutorials on the net. I am at present simply using the humble i-Photo

software that's installed on my mac. i will invest in more sophisticated software ( Aperture

or Adobe Lightroom) later in the year when I get my new computer.

[godfrey]

iPhoto is color managed and reads the profiles, so use embedded profiles if the option is

available to you.

 

iPhoto is a fairly sophisticated application, and actually works quite nicely in its latest

incarnation (iLife '06) on a machine with enough memory and disk space. I normally use

Photoshop CS2 but for a lot of stuff the current iPhoto is sufficient.

 

Godfrey

[michael_wooten]

According to the review on dpreview.com, your camera can use either Adobe RGB or sRGB. I assume that "Embedded Adobe RGB" = sRGB. Others may difer, but I always use Adobe RGB in my work flow.