Color Setting on Camera

[mary_beth_aiello]

I have a Canon 30D, and have a question about preset color settings. Which is

preferred? Adobe RGB, or sRGB? And what is the difference. Many thanks.

[gdanmitchell]

Adobe RGB is a "wider" color space. You'll want to choose this if you plan to bring your

photos into photoshop or similar for post processing.

 

If you just do in-camera jpgs you won't really need to change this setting.

[rainer_t]

While you haven't established a workflow which is completely colormanaged you better stay with sRGB. Search Pnet for "sRGB vs aRGB" and you should be able to locate quite a few threads covering the question.

[mary_beth_aiello]

Many thanks.

[tommyinca]

I also would sugest staying with sRGB until you have a good understanding of color management. If not, a common next question is why is the color of my photo look so pale and de-saturated?

[JDMvW]

Second the sRGB posting--as you get into managing color space, you can play with Adobe or, better still, that fascinating place called LAB color!

[robert_tan1]

Would choosing sRGB now have consequences later on if i wanted to specialise in aRGB?I am not sure about this since i just got my xti 2 weeks ago...and all these things are a whole new ball game!

[robin_sibson1]

Shoot RAW. Then the settting simply creates a tag telling DPP what colour space to use as a default, and you can over-ride that if you wish.

[mark_schafer1]

Get a RAW converter (Lightroom, Adobe's Camera RAW, or DPP if you have to) and

experiment with RAW+JPG. With the RAW files you can get anything, from sRGB, via

AdobeRGB to ProRGB (that's what i like) and the JPGs give you a translation of your camera

settings from the actual RAW capture. Now with the RAW converters yo can try and mimic

those results or improve on them. All said, i usually start with ProRGB (to keep all the existing

colors of the captured image), convert to AdobeRGB (which is what i use for clients that do

prepress and for high end Lab prints) and sRGB for the web (it's great for Monitor and simple

prints (Costco etc.). Oh, and calibrate your monitor...

[emptyspaces]

I used to think that Adobe RGB would be better - but it can cause serious nightmares when you try to print pictures yourself. What can happen if you're not careful is that the color profiles get misaligned between your monitor and printer, and you'll get some really wacky results (while wasting a lot of ink and paper).

 

Your monitor is sRGB. Shooting your pictures that way ensures a better match onscreen. Color management is difficult, and I've never seen proof that Adobe RGB looks any better.

 

Robin is right about RAW, too - if you shoot RAW you choose your ppi & color settings right before opening up in Photoshop.