sRGB or AdobeRGB Color Space? | Ask David Bergman

Today's question from Greg S. is, “My Canon 5D Mark IV has two different color space options: sRGB and AdobeRGB. Which setting should I use and why would I change them?”

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✘ PRODUCTS USED:

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Body

BenQ SW321C 32" 4K Photo and Video Editing Monitor

✘ PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT USED:

Canon EOS R Mirrorless Full Frame Digital Camera Body

Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM Zoom Lens

Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 Black Aluminum Tripod with MVH502AH Pro Video Head

CLAR Illumi Max 500 High Power 5600K LED Light

Glow EZ Lock Octa Quick XL Softbox With Bowens Mount (48")

#srgb #adobergb #adorama

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sRGB or AdobeRGB Color Space? | Ask David Bergman
00:00 Intro
00:51 What are color spaces for photography?
02:42 Is AdobeRGB better?
03:58 Monitors with wide color gamut
04:23 Color profiles for printing
05:03 How to set your camera

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THANKS SO MUCH FOR WATCHING!

[marcusfrank]

If you use RAW it doesn't matter what you set, the setting only and exclusively affects the jpg. In jpg you should use sRGB, so you should set the camera to sRGB if you are photographing jpg and RAW. If you then use a jpg, it also has the correct color space. And the RAW is in maximum quality anyway and the color space is only specified when exporting.

[donprice]

I'm happy to see someone talking about this. I've worked in graphic design for many years and have had customers ask me about this very often. sRGB is just the norm.

[thatcreole]

Fantastic. Thank you for clearly spelling it out like this.

[ihknilsen]

Thanks for the great info! Congratulations on being back on the road! It’s a great feeling, I’m rolling into rehearsals this week and start our tour the 28th.

[tonypags]

Clear and to the point... That's what we all need for answers. :)

[johnleighdesigns]

Thanks David! I had been going back and forth trying each colour space and in the portrait, headdshot and product shoots I do in London at the home studio and on location, just like you say, I find sRGB colour space in camera works great.

[agnieszkakj]

That's what I call informative and decent portion of knowledge. Without unnecessary fuss. Thanks a lot and regards from Poland.

[Marek_PL_]

Finally someone explained it thoroughly. Why the hell can't this information be published in camera manuals? For years I use Sony's cameras such as A55, A77, A99, currently A7RIV A. For years I set my cameras to aRGB color space in order to have wider color gamut in RAWs. I was wonder why and how technically color gamut is limited by the camera's firmware. Absolutely nowhere in the manual was mentioned that limited color space is related only to JPGs! Why???
Generally, issue of color spaces, calibrating monitors - especially with LUT memory seems to be top secret knowledge. Even Dell's helpdesk can't answer question how to configure Windows in order to support aRGB (or wider) mode in extremely expensive their monitor (with LUT). What if we have 2 monitors? Primary with LUT, secondary good quality but without LUT? Only long time investigations multiple trials and errors gave me the answer how to configure and calibrate cameras, two types of monitors, printers, operating system (Windows 11) to properly process colors. I probably don't know something anyway.
David... in my opinion, if someone use aRGB monitor - always should work in aRGB everywhere - in ACR/Lightroom, Photoshop, camera etc. sRGB should be our final decision to limit color space (eg. before sharing photos). Source material should be as wide in gamut as possible for our hardware. Most of the mobile devices supports wider color spaces than sRGB. Browsers can recognize embedded profile. If some user can't view on their device - it should be his/her problem. Current standard is definitely not sRGB at technical point of view.

[chazM]

shoot in RAW then edit with the max date i.e. ProPhoto then convert to the required color space you need for the output

[maysamd]

Excellent, thank you for the professional explanation

[avibongo]

Excellent overview. ( and communication skills) Thank you!

[panomaxstudio]

Finally I get answers to my question. Thanks.

[FC-CG]

Great video and knowledge, keep up the great work

[simonmaduxx]

Import as Prophoto if you can (LR, camera raw).

Export srgb. (save for web, save as)

Printing? Likely srgb or just ask your printer. Done! thanks David!

[maggnet]

I'm sorry, but this is so wrong. Adobe RGB and sRGB in jpg have both 8 bit available and thus have the same amount of color values they can represent.

Adobe RGB however uses those values spread over a bigger range (in saturation) of colors, while sRGB spents them on a smaller amout.

In result Adobe RGB shows more perceived colors, however sRGB allows for finer color transitions. Each has pros and cons. The later is particularly helpful if you want to edit those jpgs later and want to keep those smooth transitions in the background and the skin tones.

[InesSilveyra]

SO CLEAR AND SIMPLE! tHANK YOU SO MUCH

[MEK]

When editing a raw file in Lightroom and printing it directly (using the right icc profile /calibrated printer) without saving it 1st, will the print be different from a print that would be coming from the same file, after it was saved with a color profile? If so, in which ways? Will it be noticeable?🤔

[cosmicfxx]

Great video, thanks. As digital artist that might want to print, if i only have a 100% sRGB monitor, should I still work in Adboe RGB even although I might not be able to see all the colours of Adob RGB?

[deansnipah]

I shoot in adobe at 12bits, after my editing in PS, i then compress it into an 8bit srgb jpg if I want to post it online.

[nguyenthinhphu]

I think you have to hightlight that color space setting on camera is only apply and effect Jpeg pic but not the raw file so if shoot raw then do not need to border abt that setting.