sRGB or Adobe RGB?

This is a very common question people ask when they start with digital photography. I am pretty sure all recent digital SLR cameras give you the option to choose between them in the camera. If cameras didn’t give you the option you probably wouldn’t even know they existed. The quick and short answer is to shoot in sRGB. If you want a detailed answer then you should continue to read this post.

sRGB and Adobe RGB are both color spaces which determine how colors are rendered. sRGB is the accepted standard worldwide for color and is even used online. Adobe RGB was created to allow a smoother transition between colors. Most monitors can’t display the color advantage that Adobe RGB has over sRGB. There are however monitors that can do this but they are very expensive.

Why you should shoot in sRGB.
Capturing your images in sRGB means you can instantly put them on the web and email them to family because it is the accepted standard. The colors also closely match to what you see on the screen. I have been to numerous professional photo labs and they all print in sRGB. Even the stores that do online printing use sRGB.

So you might be wondering why Adobe RGB even exists!


Why you should shoot in Adobe RGB.
If you like to edit your photographs I recommend you edit them in Adobe RGB. Because Adobe RGB gives you smoother transitions you can usually edit the file much more before it starts to lose data. A great example of this is by just adding contrast to the exact same file but with different color profiles. The Adobe RGB data can usually take a lot more contrast before you get pure blacks without any detail.

When you are done editing you file and want to print or publish it online you should convert it to sRGB. Photos that aren’t converted to sRGB before posting them on the web will usually have less saturation and contrast which isn’t pleasing to the eye.

Conclusion
I highly recommend you shoot in sRGB because it is easier to edit, print and email. By shooting in sRGB you never really have to worry about the color profile. If however you want more quality and detail while editing you should shoot in Adobe RGB but remember to convert it back to sRGB once you are done with the file. The last thing you need to remember is that there is no benefit of shooting in sRGB and then converting to Adobe RGB. The colors are already lost when the camera saves the file to your memory card unless of course you are shooting in RAW mode.

I hope this article has helped clear up some of the confusion for you.

Here is a comparison of Adober RGB and sRGB. The exact same photo converted from RAW.

Adobe RGB

sRGB

Happy shooting!