Canon Camera Hackers Manual page 56

sRGB VS. AdobeRGB
The sRGB (standard RGB) color space was defined by Microsoft and Hewlett-
Packard. It is used by basically all consumer devices such as monitors, printers,
scanners, and LCD projectors. It is also used as the standard color space in the
Windows operating system. Because this color space is fairly narrow, the de-
vices can be simple and cheap. The downside is that the sRGB color space does
not cover some colors used in the printing process—so prints are not as color-
ful as they could be.
The AdobeRGB color space, in contrast, was designed by Adobe to meet
the demands of the printing press. It is larger than the sRGB color space.
However, the problem with this color space is that AdobeRGB images cannot
be properly viewed on standard monitors. A Wide Gamut Monitor is required
to view the full color range.
So, if your intention is to produce images for the web, by all means go for
sRGB because the majority of your audience will not be able to display the full
range of AdobeRGB. But if the printed image is your main concern, go for
AdobeRGB and consider a Wide Gamut Monitor for your next monitor.
Also, a PC-based RAW converter usually does a better job than the proces-
sor in the camera. This is particularly true for the small consumer cameras
for which the CHDK was developed. The small processors in those cameras
cannot run sophisticated interpolation algorithms in the short time after a
shot. In addition, when converting RAW files on the PC, the output of the
4.5 Shooting RAW
Figure 4-34
AdobeRGB covers the sRGB color space
as well as most of the CMYK color
space used for printing. Modern
camera sensors capture an even larger
color space.
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