This is something simple but it’s something that a lot of people still don’t understand and I get questions about it from time to time. The simply solution is to shoot RAW and not worry about it.

In your camera settings you can usually choose between shooting in sRGB mode, or RGB mode and you can see an example of this from the 5DMKII menu shown above. Now the first thing to know here, is that if you are shooting in RAW, it doesn’t matter which colour space you select, because a RAW image does not have a colour space assigned to it at all. So it makes no difference. The colour space your images will have is determined by the software you use to convert your RAW images such as Lightroom or Photoshop. In this conversion process you can specify whichever colour space you want to use whether it be sRGB, RGB, or even ProPhoto RGB. Each one having a larger colour gamut than the other respectively.  If you require a different colour space later down the track, you still have your RAW image which you can use to produce an image of whatever the required colour space is.

If you want the smoothest and easiest workflow, I would convert your RAW images into the sRGB colour space. This is pretty much the world standard for digital cameras and the internet so you won’t have any issues uploading and sharing your images around. 

If you are shooting JPEG’s or TIFF’s in camera, then colour space is important! When your camera shoots JPEGS it assigns or embeds a colour profile into the image file. So you need to make an educated decision which colour space you want to select. When shooting JPEG you don’t have as much flexibility as RAW, and converting to different colour spaces in post production can result in a quality loss and if you are converting to a larger colour space it serves no purpose what so ever. You cannot convert a jpeg image to a colour space larger than it currently has (eg: sRGB -> RGB). There is simply no additional data for the image to use so it is pointless. You can however convert to a smaller gamut, such as RGB -> sRGB.

If you do shoot in RGB, just remember to convert your images to sRGB before you go sharing them on the web otherwise they will look dull and horrible. Adobe RGB squeezes the colours into a smaller ranger and requires software capable of reading the colour space correctly, in order to view the image in its true form. Web browsers and email clients are pieces of software that cannot interpret the colour space correctly, so if you upload an RGB image onto the web, or send it via email, it will appear dull and unsaturated. So remember, always use sRGB for the web.

When printing images, personally I haven’t even noticed the difference between Adobe RGB and sRGB photos. Printing services happily accept both these days. In theory some photos will probably show a difference more than others depending on the colours involved, but for the most part, I haven’t picked up any difference, and I’m not going to sit and stare or get my monocle out to inspect prints.  There are other sites that look into the comparison in a lot more depth which you can google.   

As for Video Shooters…

I am yet to confirm the issue of colour space for the  Canon HDDSLR cameras such as the 5DMKII & 7D etc when shooting video. I have heard statements from multiple industry professionals stating different things so I will state what I know and leave you to draw your own conclusion.

I will share with you the two main sources I have which are the two people you are most likely to have heard of and respect.

Just before I do though, the manual of the 5DMKII states:  This movie will be recorded in the sRGB-equivalent color space optimised for movies. This suggests to me that the colour space you have the option of setting in the menu (sRGB or Adobe RGB) won’t matter for video. It does it’s own thing.

Vincent Laforet who is one of the leading industry HDSLR DOP’s and the first to ever get his hands on a 5DMKII and shoot a film, (being someone who is very close to Canon) and he stated in his CreativeLIVE workshop in 2010 that colour space does not matter for video and to not even worry about setting it. This is what I’m leaning towards.

Shane Hurlbut ASC is another well respected Director of Photography who has worked on such films as Terminator Salvation and even filmed a short called “The Last 3 Minutes” which was sponsored by Canon. Shane states in his HDSLR guide on BHPhotovideo.com that he prefers to set the colour space to the Adobe RGB as he believes he can achieve better skin tones. Shane definitely has plenty of field experience and has done tests with these cameras

I would be very interested to hear your thoughts!

B.