# How to convert Adobe RGB to aRGB and not lose quality



## WP50a (Jan 4, 2011)

First - please forgive me diving in as a new menber with a question right away!

I'm aware that the color space arena is huge and I'm gaining understanding as I read but there is one thing that I cannot seem to find an easy procedure for:-

I generally take sRGB but I disovered that my camera was set to Adobe RGB for a set of pictures. 

Putting aside (for now) what I should be using going forward (eg RAW), I simply want to convert the Adobe RGB photos to sRGB and resave.

I appreciate there will be two parts to this
1/ the conversion
2/ the resaving once converted

I do NOT have Photoshop! But this surely can be achieved using eg Irfanview or View NX (I have a Nikon D5000) or other software like GIMP? I just can't work out how.

Once converted, if I resave as a jpg the picture would undergo another loss process. So I can resave as TIF (or ZIPTIF to use lossless compression)?

Or, I see in Irfanview, there is an option to save jpg at 100% quality - I assume this would men lossless compression?

Many thanks!


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 4, 2011)

If you took it with RAW, you can change it to sRGB or vice versa without a problem. You can even take RAW in black and white and convert it back to color.


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## Light Artisan (Jan 4, 2011)

How do you shoot B&W RAW files?


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 4, 2011)

Light Artisan said:


> How do you shoot B&W RAW files?


 

Go to picture style and select monochrome. Your preview on your lcd will be monochrome all the time.


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## Light Artisan (Jan 4, 2011)

The preview is always a rendered JPG based on your settings for JPG conversion, the RAW file comes through in color. In other words, there is never a B&W raw file to convert or preview.



> You can even take RAW in black and white and convert it back to color.


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## WP50a (Jan 4, 2011)

thanks for your replies already!

However, I'm not (yet) taking RAW. I just want to convert 
Adobe RGB Jpg 
to sRGB Jpg....!

Many thanks again


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 4, 2011)

Converting Adobe RGB to sRGB is fine.  You are going to fewer color.  If you go from sRGB to Adobe RGB, you are not doing anything.


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 4, 2011)

Dude.. I know.  Why do people like to twist people's words on this forum?



Light Artisan said:


> The preview is always a rendered JPG based on your settings for JPG conversion, the RAW file comes through in color. In other words, there is never a B&W raw file to convert or preview.
> 
> 
> 
> > You can even take RAW in black and white and convert it back to color.


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## KmH (Jan 4, 2011)

WP50a said:


> thanks for your replies already!
> 
> However, I'm not (yet) taking RAW. I just want to convert
> Adobe RGB Jpg
> ...


You do it with image editing software, like Adobe® Photoshop® or Corel Paint Shop Pro.

I don't see anywhere in View NX2 to change the color space.

In Photoshop under the 'Edit' tab you select 'Convert To Profile' which will show at the top the Source space is Adobe RGB. Then in the Destination Space box select the sRGB IEC 61966-2-1:1999 specification.

No, "jpg at 100% quality" still applies compression every time the photo is saved. Saved enough times the photo will begin to show JPEG compression artifacts.


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## Garbz (Jan 5, 2011)

To answer your question, I'm not sure of either program's capabilities, but you may need a more advanced program. 

Do you have GIMP? It can do it. In fact if you set up GIMP so that sRGB is your working profile it should automatically ask you if you want to convert the image to sRGB when you open it.

Just be careful saving. GIMP's default JPEG settings are very destructive. Make sure you click the advanced button in the save dialogue to ensure you're quality is set as high as it can be when re-saving the image.


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## Light Artisan (Jan 5, 2011)

What words did I twist? You said you can take a B&W raw file and convert it back to color, did you not? Don't blame me for your poor wording, dude.



WP50a said:


> Putting aside (for now) what I should be using going forward (eg RAW), I simply want to convert the Adobe RGB photos to sRGB and resave.


 
Apologies to the OP for getting into an unnecessary discussion about RAW - just trying to correct some misinformation, I hope you got what you were looking for without further confusion.


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## Robin Usagani (Jan 5, 2011)

All I was trying to tell the OP, only 3 things affect RAW: shutter speed, aperture, ISO. Everything else you did on the camera (on camera noise reduction, colorspace, picture style, WB) has no  impact to the file.  Except WB, it will preset the WB slider but not a permanent change.


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## Light Artisan (Jan 5, 2011)

But they weren't shooting RAW, so it's irrelevant anyway... moving on. :er:


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## WP50a (Jan 6, 2011)

Thanks again for your replies, I'll experiment!


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