Color Space Page 7

Q. This all makes sense. But I read somewhere, or heard somewhere, that Adobe1998 has more color in it than sRGB. Who's right?

A. This subject is both complicated and confusing, so here's an analogy.

I own a building that is 10 feet by 10 feet, and I want to sell it. I advertise it as being 10 by 10 (feet).

My neighbor owns an identical building, built from the exact same plans. He wants to sell his building also, and he advertises it as being 120 by 120 (inches).

So my building is 10 x 10, and my neighbor's building is 120 x 120. His building is bigger, right? To be precise, 144 times bigger (14400 vs 100 -- 144 times as much).

No. Both buildings are the same size. 		We could say that images in Adobe1998 color space contain more unique colors, in smaller steps, and sRGB images contain fewer unique colors, in larger steps, but the total range of colors that can be printed, the gamut, is the same either way.

Yes, this is confusing. I hope this article makes this inherently complicated subject easier to understand.


Vic Jubber, President
Automated Photo Technology

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