Colour Gamut Explained

What is Colour Gamut?

What is colour gamut? Is a question people often ask after reading our reviews, from the best drawing tablets to the best cameras for YouTube. Well, simply put, colour gamut describes the range of colours a device can produce or record.

Why is this important?

Imagine crafting a stunning design, only to discover the colours look different when printed, or displayed on another screen. How frustrating would that be? The same principle applies to photography and filming. If you’ve captured a beautifully colourful scene out in the wild, you’ll want your camera to capture as much of that colour information as possible.

Three Dimensions of Colour Gamut

Colour gamut is actually measured across three dimensions. That’s because there are three fundamental aspects to colour:

1. Hue: This is the basic colour we perceive, such as red or blue. It’s often represented as a position on a colour wheel.
2. Saturation: This refers to the intensity or purity of a colour. A fully saturated colour is vivid and free of greyness, while a less saturated colour is more muted or pastel-like.
3. Brightness (aka luminance or value): Fairly obviously, this is the lightness or darkness of a colour.

Different Standards of Colour Gamut

Different classes of device perform at different levels when it comes to colour gamut. You wouldn’t necessarily expect, for example, a laptop to output the same range of colours as an art printer. Consequently, there are a few different measures of colour gamut for different types of device.

Here are the main ways to measure colour gamut and the differences between them:

• sRGB: This is the most widely used standard, especially for consumer electronics such as monitors, TVs, and digital cameras. It was purposely designed to be a compromise, covering a range of colours that most devices can reproduce accurately in practice.
• Adobe RGB: This standard offers a wider colour gamut than sRGB, particularly in the green and blue regions. So, for example, while the BenQ DesignVue PD3220U monitor offers 100% sRGB coverage, its Adobe RGB score is much lower at 83%.
• DCI-P3: This cinema-optimised standard is increasingly being used in high-end devices such as monitors, mobile devices, and TVs. It covers a significantly larger colour gamut than sRGB, so a high score is impressive indeed.

Older Standards

Other, lesser-known colour gamut standards include:

• Rec. 709: Formally known as ITU-R BT.709, this international standard specifies the range of colours that can be reproduced by HDTV displays.
• EBU: This is the European Broadcasting Union’s own standard. It often closely resembles Rec. 709, but with slight variations in primary colours or white point to accommodate specific regional requirements.
• P3: Also known as Display P3, this is a wide colour gamut used in iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks, as well as some high-end displays and digital cameras.
• Apple RGB: This colour gamut was historically used in Apple’s Macintosh computers, but has become less relevant today following the shift towards wider colour spaces such as P3 in modern Apple devices.

Conclusion

In conclusion, colour gamut is a crucial aspect to consider when shopping for a device, whether it’s a laptop, monitor, camera, or printer. By understanding the different standards and dimensions of colour gamut, you can make informed decisions to ensure that your device produces the colours you need.

FAQs

Q: What is colour gamut?
A: Colour gamut describes the range of colours a device can produce or record.

Q: Why is colour gamut important?
A: Colour gamut is important because it ensures that the colours produced by a device are accurate and consistent.

Q: What are the different standards of colour gamut?
A: The main standards of colour gamut are sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, and Rec. 2020.

Q: Which standard is most important for creatives?
A: For creatives, sRGB is a good starting point, but Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 are also important for specific applications.