sRGB vs Adobe RGB, and favourite jpg setting

[Adalsteinn S.H.]

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Sorry guys if this question sounds a little silly but I understand that setting the Q to Adobe RGB broadens the colour spectrum to work with. But my question is this: I now and again export jpgs from the Q to my iPhone. Adobe RGB jpg's tend to appear washed out when poblished on the internet as opposed to sRGB which shows the colours perfectly, does setting the camera to sRGB also set the RAW file to the same colour formar or does the sRGB/Adobe RGB setting not matter when it comes to RAW files? Hope this question makes sense.

 

Also, I'm kind of curious what jpg settings you find most pleasant in colour and monochrone when it comes to contrast, saturation and sharpness.

[bernie.lcf]

Working with AdobeRGB requires a full color managament capable chain from camera to computer and monitor to output (printer). Unfortunately the situation with AdobeRGB is: not only will you not be able to use its potential without the proper infrastructure, but your pictures will actually look worse if you try. 

 

Note that the "world" has settled on sRGB and most printing services only do sRGB. In other words, even if the infrastructure on your end eventually handles AdobeRGB, you will end up converting the final result to sRGB for others to see.

 

The typical answer to the question sRGB vs AdobeRGB has always been: if you need to ask, you should use sRGB. It is a rather unfriendly way of replying and comes off as arrogant, but it really answers the question perfectly. I would like to add: if you are anxious about "loosing something" for the future, shoot RAW and make the choice later if you wish. RAW is RAW.

 

Leica has taken this one step further with the T by eliminating the choice. The T is sRGB only (or RAW)

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[jaapv]

Everything related to Internet display - like IPhones must be in -or converted to- sRGB (and ideally not contain an embedded colour profile).

Using Adobe RGB is a good choice if you have a monitor capable of rendering it and full colour managed workflow throughout (as mentioned above.)

[wda]

Occasionally I rework old files produced before there was a Raw option in digital capture. Progressively those old Jpegs become slightly or extremely degraded, depending on the number of iterations. My scope for improving those old files with acquired expertise is very limited and I rue the lack of choice in the early days of digital. The moral is try to decide what the long-term value of your digital files is likely to be. I now always shoot Raw which gives me the greatest scope in processing, yet still affords the frequent option of providing jpeg copies for web or print use. I rarely have problems.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Occasionally I rework old files produced before there was a Raw option in digital capture. Progressively those old Jpegs become slightly or extremely degraded, depending on the number of iterations. My scope for improving those old files with acquired expertise is very limited and I rue the lack of choice in the early days of digital. The moral is try to decide what the long-term value of your digital files is likely to be. I now always shoot Raw which gives me the greatest scope in processing, yet still affords the frequent option of providing jpeg copies for web or print use. I rarely have problems.

You should be saving your old jpeg files to a TIFF or PSD format and keeping that as a "master" file. It won't give you the ultimate flexibility of a raw file but will stop the recompression of a recompressed file that working in jpegs tends to lead to. It's even possible to save them to a DNG format so you can push them around in a raw converter. The third option is to use a program like Lightroom to work on your jpegs as it will never try to write over the original file.

 

Gordon

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Sorry guys if this question sounds a little silly but I understand that setting the Q to Adobe RGB broadens the colour spectrum to work with. But my question is this: I now and again export jpgs from the Q to my iPhone. Adobe RGB jpg's tend to appear washed out when poblished on the internet as opposed to sRGB which shows the colours perfectly, does setting the camera to sRGB also set the RAW file to the same colour formar or does the sRGB/Adobe RGB setting not matter when it comes to RAW files? Hope this question makes sense.

 

Also, I'm kind of curious what jpg settings you find most pleasant in colour and monochrone when it comes to contrast, saturation and sharpness.

 

Firstly, RAW format does not have a colour space so you can shoot raw files set to either sRGB or aRGB with no difference. You'll still have the full raw file to work with.

 

Based on the above you can then shoot in sRGB and jpeg+raw. You'll get sRGB jpegs for transfer to your phone and web use plus the full raw file should you wish to make a "higher quality" file later on.

 

Gordon

[Adalsteinn S.H.]

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Firstly, RAW format does not have a colour space so you can shoot raw files set to either sRGB or aRGB with no difference. You'll still have the full raw file to work with.

 

Based on the above you can then shoot in sRGB and jpeg+raw. You'll get sRGB jpegs for transfer to your phone and web use plus the full raw file should you wish to make a "higher quality" file later on.

 

Gordon

Perfect. Thanks for your help here, this is exactly what I was hoping for in order to use the jpg's instantly but the RAW's later on without compromising the quality.

 

Have you found any favourite settings for colour and B&W's ?

[jaapv]

And do note that files that have been reduced to (or originally converted to) sRGB will not benefit from expanding the colourspace to Adobe RGB or Prophoto. Colours that have been lost or shifted cannot be recreated in the wider space.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Perfect. Thanks for your help here, this is exactly what I was hoping for in order to use the jpg's instantly but the RAW's later on without compromising the quality.

 

Have you found any favourite settings for colour and B&W's ?

I don't own a Q. yet. I'm here researching. I do have 3 m system bodies which are all set to raw+jpeg medium.

 

I tend to prefer doing all conversions with lLghtroom and Silver Efex. I just have the jpegs set on normal for sending/showing via my tablet.

 

Gordon