Color matrix setting on EOS 1D Mk II??

I am seeking advice on the selecting color matrix option. Excluding custom settings there are 5 other settings, Standard (Default), Portrait, H-Saturat, Adobe RGB, L-Saturat.

Is this something that fellow members just default to and leave unchanged or is it something I should be concerned about?

I am new to the EOS 1D Mk II and although pleased with the results so far (on monitor) the RGB histogram, although showing a bell curve, appears centred, i.e. not much spread at the left and right of the histogram. Hope this makes sense....

I have searched through the forum and read a few good pointers but none of them address a better (more even?) spread of the bell-curve.

Thanks

Paul

I don't have a MKII but I use the portrait matrix more often than not on my 1DMkI. Gives the most natural skin tones and a slight pastel tone to many other colours. I also use Adobe RGB if I know I am going to send something to get printed. This has the broadest colour spectrum even though the RAW files look very dull and uninspiring when they first appear........

I use Adobe RGB and always shoot RAW. Photoshop CS2 is far better at adjusting colours than the camera will ever be.

Another vote for Adobe RGB. Although I have the camera set to custom mostly: I set contrast back one noch, because I'm in High contrast situations fairly often.

If you shoot RAW and use DPP, than those setting matters. Otherwise, most RAW software skips those settings in RAW. That being said. Since the the Mk2 have multi personal settings, use them.

For example. Personal Setting #1 I have it set up so that the color matrix is set to ARGB, flat contrast, and flat sharpness. Because I use this one for a complete raw workflow.

#2 I have it set for High Sat, with a +2 contrast and +3 sharpness. This is where I shoot outdoor landscape and products with RAW+Jpeg.

#3 I have it set for Portrait +1 contrast +1 sharpness, this is where I shoot only family photo where I know I am only using Jpeg only.

My personal preference is "H-Sat". Shoot mostly outdoors.
ARGB seems sorta flat. Didn't like "standard" for several reasons, mainly I had to use photoshop to boost "saturation". Never tried the others.

I shoot everything AdobeRGB as that will give you the most options out the back end no matter if you shoot RAW or JPEG. I saturate and adjust in Photoshop rather than leaving that up to the camera. And, if need be, then convert to sRGB for more accurate, vibrant colors on the Web or if my particular printer requires sRGB.

As an aside, most magazines, etc. require AdobeRGB.

Thanks for the quick feedback and obviously RAW seems the way to go, although I still shoot in JPEG mode. However, the real question I am asking is why are the RGB curves steeper than I expect? Is there an adjustment I can make to overcome this, or is this the norm?