What is DCI-P3 Color Space?

AQCOLOR Monitor Resources Series

2024/05/22

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For photographers and creative professionals, color accuracy on a monitor is crucial for replicating the real-life colors captured in images while viewing or editing them. In order to achieve this accurate replication, professional monitors have various color gamut’s, or color spaces, that they can produce or record. The DCI-P3 color space, defined in 2005 as a part of the Digital Cinema Initiative, is a lesser-known color space that is generally used for theatrical monition picture distribution. Since it’s an industry specific color space that often leaves creatives with the question of, what is DCI-P3 and is a DCI-P3 monitor necessary? In this article we’ll answer these questions and provide some guidance for finding the right photography monitor for you.

What is DCI-P3?

Professional photography monitors will often list the percentage of each color space they can produce. The higher a percentage of color space a monitor can represent, the more accurate the colors will be. For the DCI-P3 color space, most professional photography monitors can cover up to 100%, with some boasting they can go higher but over 100% would mean the colors are no longer accurate. As it was initially intended for theater projection systems, it changed the color capturing for the filmmakers’ working on monitors because monitors were slow to adapt to this color gamut initially. There is also a color space variant, Display P3, that was developed by Apple Inc. for wider gamut displays.

DCI-P3 covers the red and blue primary similarly but covers far more of the green primary. The exact specifications were designed for viewing in a fully darkened theater environment with a projector, but today the colors work well for video content editing or vibrant images. The Apple Inc. variant, Display P3, is similar to the original DCI-P3 color space but uses a different white point which directly affects displays and devices. Certain cameras tag images with the Display P3 color space, while streaming services provide color ranges closer to the original DCI-P3 color space.

Though DCI-P3 is industry specific, it is important to take into account the percentage a professional photography monitor can cover to have that color space ready for use. When looking into DCI-P3 vs Adobe RGB, or DCI-P3 vs sRGB, consider what colors your images or videos need to reproduce and if you’ll be printing any images. Depending on the content you’re working on, having the ability to utilize these three color spaces may be beneficial.

The image to the left is the DCI-P3 Color Space Graph. The Image to the right is a Color Space Graph with Adobe RGB, sRGB, and DCI-P3.

Why is DCI-P3 important for photographers?

Every step of the process for photographers involves color. Taking photos, editing images, creating video content, or printing images, color spaces play a key role in success. As a photographer, having a larger spectrum of colors to use during the color grading or video editing process is extremely beneficial. On a monitor with a high percentage of DCI-P3, the content will come out as it was captured and envisioned, making it important for photographers to select a professional-grade monitor. When researching monitors, take into account each color space they cover and the percentage they can achieve to ensure your creations come out to perfection.

What does BenQ have to offer?

At BenQ, we strive to reproduce accurate colors in every one of our professional photography monitors. AQCOLOR, a proprietary technology developed by BenQ, is built on meeting industrial standards, emphasizing display details, and providing an out-of-the-box guarantee. Monitor capabilities are backed by third-party qualifications such as a Pantone Validated Certificate and Calman certification. The goal is to create products that will deliver on the promise “Colors You Can Trust” and empower creative professionals in every aspect of their work.

Get the color accuracy you need with BenQ PhotoVue Monitors, backed by AQCOLOR technology and Paper Color Sync, guaranteeing color accuracy from screen to print. Additionally, SW and PD series purchasers and existing owners can get one FREE year of the new Pantone Connect Premium to bring the benefits of your smart device to your computer.