Shooting sRGB or Adobe RGB and future proof files/workflow
Hello everyone, I’m a noob photoamateur (photographer is too strong of a word). I’m tired of my bad monitor (Philips 223S) and I’m going to buy a new one to use it for photography and office/generic tasks.
I share photos online but I also like making prints with my dad Epson SC-T3100N. Having a bad and not calibrated monitor, I usually do way too much tests. I need to improve my workflow, also because I would like to use online printing services as Saal for different supports (aluminum, canvas)...but I need a good visual reference...
At the moment I can’t afford a 100% Adobe RGB monitor. My idea is to buy a nice sRGB (or DCI-P3 eventually) monitor and a colorimeter to calibrate it. Any advice for a sub-500€ monitor or a colorimeter is well accepted.
So far I always shot in sRGB, but I’m thinking about switch to Adobe RGB to be more future proof. I have few crucial questions that are still unanswered, even after reading stuff online:
1- what happens if I shot and edit Adobe RGB files but I visualize with a sRGB monitor? I simply see less colors or I will visualize artifacts?
2- what happens if I shot and edit Adobe RGB files, I visualize with a sRGB monitor and I export in sRGB? The resulting image will match the colors of my final edit or it will have also artifacts generated by the conversion?
3- is that true that working with a bigger color space should be useful because, when editing, some colors could enter the sRGB gamma? (data that will not be available when working with sRGB files) Does this complicate things when editing/developing?
4- are Adobe RGB monitors suitable for everyday/office tasks?
Am I overthinking it? I would like the idea to have more future proof raw files, but maybe I should just shot and edit/develop in the sRGB space until good Adobe RGB monitors will be cheaper...
Cheers!
Posted Dec 7, 2025, 12:42 PM UTC