Hi, I have a nikon D80 and am using Transfer nx, View nx and Capture nx2 for basic workflow, and photoshop only where nescessary. Therefore I would usually print from capture nx2 rather than from CS3. I'd like advice about whether it's best to shoot in adobr rgb or srgb. I've read about srgb being best for web and rgb best for printing, and it has also been suggested to me that there isn't really much difference in the end print so that it's more convenient to shoot in srgb then you don't have to worry about changing to srgb for email/web etc. Other stuff I'm reading suggests rgb, but that stuff is really aimed at photoshop users so I am confused.
Any opinions or advice welcomed, thanks, Ruth
Ruth,
Are you shooting raw (NEFs) or JPGs? If you are shooting raw, it doesn't really matter what color space you shoot in. You can render the image into whatever color space you want in NX2 or ACR and Photoshop. Since the camera can capture more colors than can be contained in sRGB or aRGB, most experienced photographers render into ProPhotoRGB where you can be reasonably certain that no colors will be clipped. However, ProPhoto is not the best choice for a beginner, since it can contain colors that can't be displayed on the monitor or printed and you need to have some knowledge of color management, rendering intents, soft proofing, etc.
If you are shooting JPEGs, they you are limited to sRGB and aRGB with Nikon cameras. aRGB is a wider space which can contain more colors, especially greens. However, if you are viewing aRGB images with a non color managed web browser, the pictures will look washed out. Many drug store and discount house printers are not color managed and expect sRGB. As you mentioned, using sRGB simplifies the process but you may lose color information. If you use aRGB, you may have to edit the picture prior to use. You can convert from aRGB to sRGB and colors out of gamut for sRGB will be clipped and lost in the process. However, if you start out in sRGB and convert to aRGB, you won't gain any color, since colors outside of the sRGB gamut have already been clipped.
Some web browsers such as Safari and the new version of Firefox are color managed and will display sRGB and even ProPhotoRGB properly, but by and large, the web is not color managed and sRGB is best in this case. The situation may change, but for now using sRGB simplifies things but may not give optimum results. NX2 is a fairly sophisticated program and is color managed and has many of the capabilities of Photoshop and I wouldn't draw a distinction between the two.
Bill