[Gimp-developer] sRGB was second worst performer against spectral reference

[Elle Stone <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>]

As the GIMP 2.10 release edges closer, I thought GIMP devs and GIMP 
users might want to look at the following article:

http://colour-science.org/blog_about_rgb_colourspace_models_performance.php

Of 29 compared RGB working spaces, sRGB came in second-worst in a 
comparison of performance against spectral reference. AdobeRGB1998 
ranked 15th from the top, ProPhotoRGB 17th from the top.

BetaRGB came in at the very top. Of the larger gamut color spaces, 
Rec.2020 and two ACES variants were in the top ten.

Quoting the introduction to the article:

"The purpose of this document is to compare RGB colourspace models 
operations performance against spectral reference."

"Various mathematical operations because of the nature of matrices and 
linear algebra are dependent on given RGB colourspace primaries. The 
same operations performed in different RGB colourspaces will yield 
different tristimulus values once converted back to CIE XYZ colourspace. 
For example multiplication, division and power operations are RGB 
colourspace primaries dependent while addition and subtraction are not."

Quoting the conclusion: "We won't provide any conclusions because the 
results in the given tests context are self explanatory."

The study suggests that sRGB is just about the worst possible color 
space you could use for image editing.

Best regards,
Elle Stone
--
http://ninedegreesbelow.com
Color management and free/libre photography