If a photographer, using their new DSLR or Mirrorless camera, takes photos of the eiffel tower and wants to display them on the web, or make 5x7 prints, and that's as far as they are going to venture with their image use, should they use sRGB or AdobeRGB?
I've read all 13 (and counting) pages of this discussion and have been fascinated. I'm hesitant to jump in as I am not knowledgeable about colour management, however I am a photography instructor and workshop leader and deal with dispelling internet myths on a regular basis.
Gary - Your instructions to your public regarding setting the camera to sRGB will give people more pleasing results right away. Your error is in explaining it with misinformation and not providing them with enough info to make an informed decision. You bashed aRGB as if you have a vendetta against it.
What dismays me most is the way you close the door to the
value of using AdobeRGB. It's similar to telling your public: "Just shoot at a low resolution because you'll never use high resolution for the web and album prints anyway". While it may be expedient for the vast number of your followers at that particular point in time, it sets them up for having less than ideal results once they catch on to photography and wish to take it further.
Years ago, I blindly followed similar advice when I lived in Africa and was new to digital photography. Shooting at lower resolution meant I could get more pictures on my memory card. In your case, you suggest shooting in sRGB so that colours will look better right away. But once I knew more about what I was doing and went back to re-visit those images, I was upset that I had followed such narrow-minded, expediency-driven advice. A local chain of camera stores here in southern Ontario still gives the same, unfortunate advice.
Once I started teaching digital photography, I made a vow to myself to never do this to my students. Never assume they don't want to know more, to explore more and to learn more. I take the same 5 minutes and help them to understand better what the advantages and disadvantages are of both. I give them options and let them choose. I don't treat them like robots - they are thinking human beings who appreciate some background.
They have the ability to understand better than you think, especially when you show them a proper XY or XYZ colour space and superimpose one on the other. They can see the advantage of aRGB even if they may not yet be in a position to use it to their advantage. They can then make a properly informed decision. In fact, borrowing just two or three slides from Andrew's presentation (with appropriate credit) would go miles towards everyone having a better understanding of why using aRGB may be a better option if you want to more from your photography than shooting glorified Polaroids.
I like to use the analogy of a tennis court or basketball court. If the cement walls of the gym are built to the exact size of the court, then you are less likely to play as hard and fast, since you would bash up against the cement walls all the time. This is an sRGB colour space, one that is wrongly used for printing when the person operating it is ignorant of colour spaces and profiling. If you shoot in sRGB, you can't play (edit) as hard as you can compared to, for example, an aRGB colour space (or, better yet, ProPhotoRGB) where the cement walls of the gym are beyond the dimensions of the court, thereby giving you room to play the game as it was meant to be played. My students find this analogy to be very helpful in understanding WHY sRGB may be limiting them.
You see, once your audience starts to realize they can do more with their photographs then simply point-shoot & print (or post), once they realize how they can improve their images with just a bit of editing on a computer they already have, they won't thank you for limiting them by evangelizing the sRGB colour space.
Many of us here the LuLa forum are "that type" who want to do more with their photos than shoot and print/post, so we take issue with well-known instructors like yourself, who make broad proclamations backed by misinformation. Stop turning aRGB into the boogeyman man it isn't.
Gary, your print test will do nothing but further entrench the sRGB mindset. Instead, spend your time, effort and money really helping your audience understand the options they have and the trade-offs they may be making. This is the mark of a good instructor