Can anyone comment on this setting on a Panasonic G9? The choices are sRGB and Adobe RGB.
The manual is not too helpful on this. The monitor I am using for Lightroom and Photoshop is rated to show 100% of sRGB and 97% of RGB. I calibrate that monitor with a SpyderX Pro and that’s what the Spyder confirms. I am guessing that if I set the camera to Adobe RGB there will be some shades, of green (?) that I won’t be able to see or control. Thanks.
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I sure would like to know the answer. I have my camera set at Adobe RGB for no other reason that I believe it to be bigger… and bigger is better, right? I don’t know. I use Lightroom which uses the even larger ProPhoto RGB for its internal processes so I figure Adobe RGB can only help. Since my peripherals probably can’t handle anything other than RGB, it’s probably pointless but AFAIK, it does no harm.
After I posted earlier I found a good explanation: Color Theory Basics EVERY Photographer MUST know! - YouTube
It seems that the setting does not affect the RAW file, only the out of camera JPG file, the file that I do not use for anything. I bring only my RAWs into Lightroom and PS. So the Color Space setting does not matter to my photos. However, the choice of gamut for Lightroom and Photoshop exports according to the Youtube video matters only for the intended end use of the photo, i.e. for prints (ProPhoto RGB or Adobe RGB) or for viewing on computer screens (sRGB). I send some of my JPG exports out of Lightroom and PS to a really good printing company MPIX. But they do not indicate their preferred color space(s). Turns out all my JPG exports have indeed been while the LR export space has been Adobe RGB (1998). The prints have been very good so far.
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Glad you found your answer. Explanations about colour space are almost always either over-simplified or mind-numbingly complex; I understand colour spaces reasonably well and generally advise newcomers to avoid using anything other than sRGB unless there’s a real need to do so - “bigger is better” doesn’t work well in most use cases.
It’s worth noting that almost all devices and software that isn’t colour-managed will assume sRGB, so although that AdobeRGB jpeg looks fine on a modern device with a modern browser it may look terrible - “washed out” - on someone else’s older device. The de-facto standard for screen display is sRGB so it makes sense to go with the flow. For other purposes - mainly printing - bigger colour spaces like AdobeRGB can provide more colour information in some regions that translate well into ink, but often the effect is minimal or even non-existent depending on the image.
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JohnB, thanks for the clarity.
So, what happens when I’m printing from LrC to my Epson XP-970 printer? There is no mention of colour space just under Color Management, it has the default of " Managed by Printer"?
For exporting jpegs, LrC offers sRGB, Diplay P3, Adobe RGB and ProPhoto RGB. I’ve been using sRGB for the reasons you mention. I’ve never tried exporting then printing using another application and colour space. That might be interesting.
If the Epson software is colour-managed - which I suspect it may be - then it will correctly process any colour space you specify in the image file. I’d try a test print from each colour space and see what the printer does with them.
I haven’t used Epson for quite a long time but when I did I found it better to do all the colour management in Photoshop (which I used back then) and not leave it up to the printer software, but that was back in the days before Windows had any notion of colour management. Currently I use a HP printer and Lightroom on both Mac and Windows 11 and have found it all hangs together without any real effort from me. I can see slight differences in some colours with HP inks (mainly greens) depending on the colour space I use but it’s marginal.
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Thanks to you all. Bottom line for me is: camera setting for Color Space doesn’t matter, set LrC and PS exports to sRGB unless for prints whereupon I should continue setting exports to Adobe RGB. And continue evaluating printing results (I don’t have a printer), especially in greens and blues.
@ MFTguy Yep, that’s what I do. And if printing, make sure you choose LR/PS manages colours and not the printer.
Mike
Easier said than done on my consumer Epson. Firstly, LrC doesn’t help much. The default is “Managed by Printer” and the other options are all Epson profiles. The info to that states, “When selecting “Manage by Printer”, remember to enable color management in the printer driver dialogue box”. Finding the printer driver dialogue box was not easy. I found it and the color management tab. Clicked it but it seemed to be all about the monitor. I think I’ll just leave things at the default settings. It seems to work OK.
The true color space is defined by spectral properties of the optical filters on your camera matrix.
The only calibrated color space for all monitors is sRGB. The so-called expanded spaces “Adobe…”, “Prof…” are virtual color spaces - just a different way of color data manipulation (NO TRUE EXPANSIN EXIST!).
If you want to be compatible with all monitors and software, I do recommend using only sRGB. You can manipulate the color data just by adjusting the colors in your software (BTW, it is also changing the virtual color space, but these changes will be correctly visible on all the monitors).