Simple question about RAW

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Originally Posted by Bobobird

In camera settings, we have options to shoot either in sRGB or Adobe RGB.

ACR has 4 options to choose from which leads me to think that it does not really matter which in-camera profile is used.

Question then is - does it matter which profile is used in-camera if shooting only RAW?

Thanks.

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No. That's the short answer.

But the answer may be "it depends". If you are using Nikon software (CaptureNX, ViewNX) it can probably read which color space you have set and display it accordingly. If you are using other software (LR, Aperture, etc) it can probably not read the color space and it will display in the default color space (usually, but not always, sRGB).

Since most computer screens cannot even display 100% sRGB it is somewhat of a moot point.

Thanks Ben.

Not sure if that is correct. In my case, in-camera is sRGB, in ACR it is aRGB (usually). After making all the ACR adjustments, image goes to PS6.

Now in PS6, the color profile is still aRGB, if it is now changed to sRGB, there is an immediate and very significant drop in colour vibrance, saturation, levels, etc. It will look dull and washed out.

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Originally Posted by Colin Southern

I have no idea how they're represented internally, sorry.

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Well, notwithstanding my usual facetious tone, I was just mentioning that the RAW data from a Bayer-CFA'd camera is in groups of two green, one red and one blue pixel - which we all know. And we all know that de-mosiacing four channels has to be done to produce a picture. However, I'm sure that cameras and raw converters differ in how that's done and I have no idea how they're represented individually either.

Ahhh . . . Foveon, the simple 3-channel life :)

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Originally Posted by DanK

Of the commonly available color spaces, ProPhoto (or the Lightroom variant, Melissa) is the largest, retaining more information than the others

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Just keep in mind that Melissa (Prophoto space with an RGB gamma) isn't used to store the image internally (that's Prophoto with a linear gamma) - it's just used to generate things like the histogram and display the image for the benefit of our non-linear eyes.

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Originally Posted by Bobobird

Thanks Ben.

Not sure if that is correct. In my case, in-camera is sRGB, in ACR it is aRGB (usually). After making all the ACR adjustments, image goes to PS6.

Now in PS6, the color profile is still aRGB, if it is now changed to sRGB, there is an immediate and very significant drop in colour vibrance, saturation, levels, etc. It will look dull and washed out.

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Bobo - when you change from Adobe RGB to sRGB you need to select Edit -> CONVERT to profile, not assign profile. You shouldn't see any visible change to the image usually.

If you're using ACR then there's a hyperlink at the bottom that determines the colour depth and colourspace that it's passed through to Photoshop as - doesn't matter what colourspace the camera is requesting; that's passed in the metadata, but ignored by ACR

Thanks Colin, you are right it should be CONVERT. Dang!!!!

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Originally Posted by Bobobird

Thanks Colin, you are right it should be CONVERT. Dang!!!!

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It's an oldie, but a goodie :)