Color Gamut question; other monitor questions

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Michael H
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EDIT - I forgot that most of these questions were answered in a prior thread that I had forgotten about:

If your monitor doesn't have Adobe RGB?

As I understand it sRGB is fine for posting to the web, but if I want a wider color space for printing Adobe RGB is better, but what if my monitor doesn't have that space? I reviewed this Eizo article. So if prepare an image using sRGB or P3 and then output to Adobe RGB for printing, it won't...
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This thread below got me wondering about the Dell mentioned. And then I noted in the thread that the color gamut seemed plenty:

Recommendations for 32 4k Display Under $1k (not Apple's)

I am looking at retiring my 2017 27 inch Core i7, 40GB ram iMac in favor of a M2 Mini Pro. I am looking for a 32 inch 4k display preferably under $1,000. Any recommendations?
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Color Gamut
100% Rec 709, 100% sRGB, 98% DCI-P3

And I was considering the Dell as well and I wanted to make sure for my usage the color gamut would be ok?

I don't print at home and if I did print I would probably use Bay Area Photo and have them check the color gamut for their printers.
I do run slide shows on our Samsung NeoQled TV's of our trips and photo shoots.
I do post to websites.

What would I be missing if I didn't have AdobeRGB coverage such as the Mac Studio Display (at 5k) has that comes at more than double the cost?

Remind me if you have links to the other BenQ and Eizo models that have been discussed as good for photography?

Does anyone see any issues in this review of the Dell that concerns them?

One other factor - my editing room is pretty bright and I can' control that. I see one of the popular BenQ's has only 250 nits but it has a "hood." Not sure what I should be looking for here? Is that enough for indoors? I don't usually have direct sunlight.

Thanks Michael
 
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BarkingBeansCoffee said:
What would I be missing if I didn't have AdobeRGB coverage such as the Mac Studio Display (at 5k) has that comes at more than double the cost?
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When processing for the web or email use where the output should be sRGB you won't lose anything.

For print use you may in some situations make subtly better processing decisions on some wide gamut images if your monitor supports all of the larger Adobe RGB color space.

FWIW, in my experience many if not most images intended for printing don't push color gamut so hard that the resulting print will be much different when processing on monitor with say 98% Adobe RGB vs 100% Adobe RGB. If your subjects, what you shoot and what you print need every bit of the wider color space and your print house and their print processes can reproduce all of that wider space then there may be some benefit to investing in the wider gamut monitor. But in my experience most images can be processed and printed beautifully without a monitor capable of reproducing every last bit of the wide gamut of Adobe RGB as long as you have decent gamut coverage (e.g. 96%, 98%) and good contrast in your monitor and keep it well calibrated.
 
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Lance B, I've been looking at the newer version of that, the Dell U3223QE, for the MacBook Pro I just ordered. Are you using yours with a Mac, and if so, are you seeing any of the scaling issues from MacOS? Also, where did you find that it is 98% Adobe RGB? Dell only lists 100% Rec 709, 100% sRGB, 98% DCI-P3, but not Adobe RGB.
 
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Ben C said:
Lance B, I've been looking at the newer version of that, the Dell U3223QE, for the MacBook Pro I just ordered. Are you using yours with a Mac, and if so, are you seeing any of the scaling issues from MacOS? Also, where did you find that it is 98% Adobe RGB? Dell only lists 100% Rec 709, 100% sRGB, 98% DCI-P3, but not Adobe RGB.
Click to expand...
I don't use it on a Mac, only PC. I was sure I read it at the time when I purchased it.
 
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This thread caught my eye......

I have a BenQ SW270C
It has this gamut spec
100% sRGB, 97% P3, 99% Adobe RGB

As the commercial printer I use only accepts sRGB embedded files, my workflow has been sRGB for print.

However, with the recent introduction of DxO PL6 and it's "Wide Colour Gamut" setting has confused/bemused me.

I read (at DxO website and elsewhere (?)) that one should post process using the widest monitor gamut (is P3 at 97% wider than 99% aRGB?) as that allows for greater control especially in regard to 'red' channel.

Hence, only at the output stage do you squeeze(?) the gamut to sRGB but as the all the work was done in a wider gamut the colours will be better. Compared to working in sRGB from the start, where out of gamut colours lose finer details e.g. red flower petals when pushed into gamut.

I would welcome better brains insights than mine on just what changes I should introduce to my workflow:)
 
DXO's wide gamut is slightly smaller in some areas than the version of prophoto that Lightroom uses, but not in an important way. Prophoto can include parts that are impossible for us to see while DXO sticks to the visible. Lightroom has no choice of color space it uses its version of prophoto for the develop module and Adobe RGB for the library.

My workflow would be to keep the largest workspace throughout the process, then convert the profile at the end depending on the output needed. So I set dxo if using at wide gamut, set ightroom to go into photoshop at prophoto, set Photoshop at 16 bit, do my thing, save the file, then use File/convert profile in Photoshop for whatever is needed, then a final check and adjustment using the HSL adjustment layer if needed, resizing if needed, and a final output sharpening if needed, then save a copy to jpeg or tiff or whatever is called for. For printing my service will accept jpeg or tiff at 8 bit at either srgb or Adobe RGB so I save jpg full quality with Adobe RGB imbedded.

A shortcut to this would be Photoshop's export as.

If exporting from Lightroom, it does a lot of this automatically once you tell it you want a jpeg and using the various dropdowns provided. Not as many choices for how to convert where photoshop lets you choose the method used to convert profiles. I'm sure DXO must have similar choices if exporting directly from there.

The general idea is to work as wide as possible in case you need the latitude/headroom to pull from as you adjust. Once adjusted, the eye can't see much more than SRGB. I doubt many people could tell which one was srgb and which Adobe RGB side by side. For web viewing the safest choice is jpeg with srgb imbedded. Jpegs are always 8 bit so no need to convert.
 
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Bill said it very well - work as wide as possible and then create the output to the specifications needed.

When a particular product displays or prints a % of sRGB or AdobeRGB, it may not match perfectly. It is possible to have some images that have a lot of area represented by the 1% that is not included so the portion out of gamut is 10% of the image - and this can result in visible banding. It's a lot more likely to be problematic with a narrow gamut - like sRGB - than with AdobeRGB or ProPhoto. Even if your monitor shows an issue, it may not show up in the final print. Many printers have a gamut wider than AdobeRGB. There are also some print houses that accept an AdobeRGB image file, but convert to sRGB for printing anyway.

I prefer to send sRGB to outside printers even if they are capable of handling AdobeRGB files. It lets me handle conversion to a gamut well within their likely range. For my own printing on my Epson printer, I use as wide a gamut as possible and let Lightroom manage print color using a profile for my printer and paper - not the printer. I always make proof prints before a final output so I can address any issues.
 
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Thanks guys for the thoughts & insights.

I usually finalise my files in PS 6 but have no idea what colour space that uses.

IIRC some recent'ish files I exported as 16 bit TIFF once my DxO steps were done (legacy gamut) and opened it/them in PS 6 for, as mentioned, final tweaks and output sharpening> saved as JPEG sRGB. So hopefully, when I use DxO wide gamut to preserve as much colour details as possible, the finalising in PS6 will not impact more than expected on the colour rendition..... whichever colour gamut it is using?
 
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I just got a new monitor with a wider color gamut. This got me thinking, and hence finding this thread ... what color gamut do you shoot 'in-camera'? I had always used sRGB, but now will set it to adobe RGB. Will my captures suddenly become wall hangers? (joking, but am serious about what color gamut to shoot 'in-camera').
 
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