Profile Conversion

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Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Profile Conversion

Post by Marpel »

Latest version (although I think that matters little for this conversation).

My images are shot on a Nikon D810, and I have opted, in camera, for Adobe RGB as the profile.

I use Nikon's NXD Studio for raw conversion (mostly minimal stuff) and I use Adobe RGB (1998) as the Default Colour Space, and I export as a TIFF. I also use this in PWP as the Working Colour Space.

However, when I open the TIFF in PWP, I am presented with the "Confirm Profile Conversion" dialogue, in which it advises the embedded profile is Nikon Adobe RGB 4.0.0.3001. Nowhere in the camera or NXD settings does it show this embedded profile as an option. So, even though they refer to Adobe RGB or Adobe RGB (1998), it appears they use the Nikon "twist" to this profile.

It appears my options in PWP are to turn off the Conversion dialogue in settings or convert each time to Adobe RGB (1998). Of course, option 2 presents further implications in that I then have to save as a different version and, I guess, delete the initial version. All more work.

In the help attached to the Conversion dialogue, it suggests to convert each file to the Working Colour Space to ensure consistent value interpretation between images.

Having said that, the little research I have done on this, suggests there is minimal difference between Adobe RGB (1998) and the Nikon version of same.

So, unless I am missing something in the 810 settings or NXD settings about exporting as a true Adobe RGB (1998), is there any noticeable issue with leaving the file as Nikon Adobe RGB and turning off the warning?

Any suggestions/comments would be appreciated.

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Profile Conversion

Post by jsachs »

Probably due to copyright concerns, Nikon did not want to or could not embed the official Adobe RGB profile. As far as I know however, the significant internals that define the white and black points, the color primaries, and the tone reproduction curve identical or virtually identical in all versions of Adobe RGB, so converting from one Adobe RGB color space to another should not affect the image data. This is what I recommend so as to avoid endless subsequent warnings about profile mismatches.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
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