kevinma wrote:
The above's really helpful.
In my 20D manual, they write:
"For normal images, sRGB is recommended."
and
"Adobe RGB... is mainly used for commercial printing and other industrial uses. This setting is not recommended if you do not know about image processing, Adobe RGB, and Design rule for Camera File System 2.0 (Exif 2.21). Since the image will look very subdued with sRGB personal computers and printers not compatible with Design rule for Camera File System 2.0 (Exif 2.21), post-processing of the image with software will be required."
Why do they make these statements?
Does it have anything to do with shooting in RAW vs JPG? Does shooting in Adobe RGB matter less for the latter?
Kevin.
Design rule for Camera File System (DCF) 2.0 and Exif 2.21 set standards for sharing and annotating image data transferred between different devices and applications (cameras, printers, Photoshop, etc.). The older standards centered on universal exchange of sRGB image data. The newer standard referred to in the 20D manual includes provisions for sRGB and Adobe RGB color space files.
The basic manual advice is good. Canon 10D/20D and 1 Series cameras can capture JPEGs in sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces. If you don't want to bother with color management issues, use sRGB.
If you shoot RAW, you choose the color space (sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB, etc) at the time of RAW conversion to JPEG or TIFF files during post processing. The embedded or associated JPEG captured with that same RAW image is in the color space set in the camera menu (sRGB or Adobe RGB).
Finallly, some Canon camera JPEG images may be recognized by Photoshop as "untagged" as if they don't have an associated color space. These are actually Adobe RGB files. Only Canon can explain and defend this apparent oddity.
