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Some needed corrections on this topic
1
ArtAlt wrote:
Apple is bringing us more colors!
No, a wider range of colors.
That is, the new iPhones use the P3 gamut rather than being limited by the traditional sRGB. This continues a trend started with last years iMac and iPad Pro. I expect future MacBook Pro's will be P3.
I hope so. I also hope this ends the 'trend' to funnel everything into a tiny gamut color space like sRGB because people believe that's a solution and that 'everything' out there is sRGB.
The press does not seem to have picked up on this transition very much but it might be the most significant part of Apple's announcement, because it means that if they are successful at setting this new standard, longer term we will all be viewing images with a wider array of colors, looking more natural and more vibrant.
I agree and hope the same.
In the shorter term, it has the potential to complicate the lives of photographers.
It doesn't have to be. What photographer can and should ignore simple color management?
Imagine if you deliver your traditional sRGB photographs to a client and they find that the colors are not as vibrant as the P3 images they just shot on their iPhone (not that they will have any idea that they are using a wider color gamut …).
sRGB in no way guarantees a proper color match. That requires color management. And with color managed app's, ANY RGB color space is fair game and works.
I can’t say that I’m losing sleep over this, since a brilliantly crafted image in sRGB will stomp a mediocre image that has a few more colors, but it does present a potential complication to our lives.
Again, important when discussing this to understand that the number of colors is an attribute of encoding what are called device values. Numbers. Might be colors, might not. An Adobe RGB (1998) image in 8-bits per color and sRGB have the same device values (what some call colors but may not be).
http://digitaldog.net/files/ColorNumbersColorGamut.pdf
An image that is inadvertently presented on a device in the wrong color gamut will usually look either oddly flat or oddly over-saturated, like a badly calibrated screen.
Has noting to do with the device per se and everything to do with if it's color managed or not. Non ICC aware app's have no idea what sRGB is. It has no idea about the conditions of the display.
We have been living in a world where it was safe to presume sRGB, so color management in hardware and software was optional from a practical standpoint.
Again, assuming, using sRGB is the best solution when there is no color management but doesn't guarantee a visual match.
sRGB urban legend & myths Part 2
In this 17 minute video, I'll discuss some more sRGB misinformation and cover:
When to use sRGB and what to expect on the web and mobile devices
How sRGB doesn't insure a visual match without color management, how to check
The downsides of an all sRGB workflow
sRGB's color gamut vs. "professional" output devices
The future of sRGB and wide gamut display technology
Photo print labs that demand sRGB for output
High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/sRGBMythsPart2.mp4
Low resolution on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvVUL1gWVs
Apple claims that their systems are fully color managed, if I understand the announcement correctly.
Yes, they have to be and they support (two) color spaces.
A related issue is choice of wide color gamut. The most widely used wide color gamut among photographers is "Adobe RGB", but Apple chose instead to standardize on a wide color gamut used in cinema called "P3". There is overlap among the extra colors offered by Adobe RGB and P3, but substantial differences as well.
They are similar but the P3 color space is aimed at video. Doesn't matter really because again, WITH color management, any RGB color space works as it should; color managed.