This article contains essential information regarding colors in Capture One.
- Capture One deals with colors in two ways: internally and for output.
- Capture One works in a very large color space, similar to that captured by camera sensors. A large color space ensures that little clipping of the color data can occur. Clipping is the loss of image information in a region of an image. Clipping appears when one or more color values are larger than the histogram (color space of the output file).
- At the end of the workflow, the RAW data has to be processed to pixel-based image files, in defined color spaces. These spaces are smaller than the internal color space used by Capture One. When processing, some color data will be discarded. That is why it is crucial to perform color corrections and optimizations before processing images in a smaller color space.
- Capture One provides accurate color by reading the camera-generated RAW information, file header, and settings file.
- A RAW file is assigned a color profile once Capture One defines which camera model is being used. The RAW data is then translated to the internal working color space of Capture One so that adjustments could be applied.
- Image data is converted to the industry-standard spaces such as Adobe RGB or sRGB during the processing stage by the means of ICC profiles.
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"...Capture One works in a very large color space, similar to that captured by camera sensors. ..." - camera sensors do not have a color space, they simply register signal (light), so when firmware creates a raw file - the data there are not coordinates in any formal color space, the data there is simply information about how specific sensel behind a particular CFA filter was illuminated during the exposure plus whatever else firmware does (black level, noise reduction, etc, etc)... so how about C1 team finally put perennial speculations to rest and tell us about it along the lines of how Adobe DNG specification does - what is the color transform pipeline ... for example when I move exposure slider in C1 does it alter the demosaicked data before any color transform in the pipeline or after some color transform happened (or course there is a chance C1 works like RPP - and exposure slider operation is done before demosaick - hence before any color transform is possible at all) ? I can create a camera profile with cieXYZ PCS and C1 works (color editor does not because it requires LUT table and cieLAB, but still - other thing do work) even regular camera profile have cieLAB PCS... I can remove all camera profiles and C1 will still work... so it seems C1 either consider "RGB" numbers after demosaick as if they are coordinates in some color space w/o any actual color transform or C1 has like ACR/LR some hardcoded inside camera proflles (because it still works when all camera profiles are deleted) to translate demosaicked data into some color space... what it is then ? cieXYZ, cieLAB, cieLUV ? what is the big deal to tell us instead of "very large color space" ? thank you
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