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I'm scanning pictures with an Epson Perfection V600 and editing in GIMP. When I open these pictures, I get a dialog asking if I want to convert the color profile from "EPSON sRGB" to "GIMP built-in sRGB."

Dialog asking if user wants to convert .tif file from EPSON sRGB to GIMP built-in sRGB

Why does GIMP ask me if I want to switch from one profile to another?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ You shouldn't let the Epson software do any image correction. When you scan you should scan to bmp and turn off all image correction. It's under "Adjustments". You want to use GIMP or photoshop like software to do all the image correction. Scan bmp, open in GIMP, fix the histogram or levels, saturation, and contrast by eye manually - very quick. I can show you how to do these if you want. \$\endgroup\$
    – moot
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 3:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ @moot Interesting, the "color control" in the Epson scanning software does seem to be what was causing that message. If I scan with "No Color Correction" selected I get much darker scans but no dialog about a different color profile. Increasing the exposure in GIMP gives results similar to what I was getting previously with Epson color control. Thanks for the tip, if you'd like to write it up as an answer I'll accept it. \$\endgroup\$
    – zaen
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 3:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @zaen If moot converts his comment to an answer, you should not accept it because he does not answer the question that's asked. If you intended to ask the question that is answered, consider editing your question. \$\endgroup\$
    – xiota
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 5:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ @xiota You have a point. I'll edit my question accordingly. \$\endgroup\$
    – zaen
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 7:31

2 Answers 2

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You shouldn't let the Epson scan software do any image correction. You want to use good image software like GIMP or photoshop to do all the image correction and do it by eye.

TIF is usually set to lossy. I think you have to change it to make is lossless.

Turn off all image correction. On Epson scan the image correction settings are under "Adjustments". Just turn everything off and do all the image correction in GIMP. Fix the histogram or levels, saturation, and contrast by eye manually. These basic corrections are very quick to do. I can show you how if you want.

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    \$\begingroup\$ From searching online it looks like TIF is only lossy if you use JPEG compression. By default the Epson software doesn't use compression on TIF files, and bitmap files don't allow you to do 48-bit scanning. Turning off all image correction settings (including the auto-exposure "Color Control" which is not in the main set of image processing options) stopped embedding the Epson sRGB color profile in my scans. \$\endgroup\$
    – zaen
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 7:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah TIF can sort of be anything so going BMP is way to avoid having to figure out what kind of TIF you're getting. Good find on the 48 bit thing. That really matters. Use 48 bit for sure. \$\endgroup\$
    – moot
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 19:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ @zaen what's nice is EPSON lets you select 48 bit color even though it's not working \$\endgroup\$
    – moot
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 20:12
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The reason GIMP asks to switch is right there in the Copyright line.

sRGB is a standard, that’s what the “s” means. In principle there is no difference between these color profiles, they are both sRGB, but GIMP uses Public Domain and Epson claims a copyright implementation.

Contrary to another answer, TIF is normally lossless in both compressed and uncompressed.

For the vast majority of images, leave color correction on. It will compensate for scanner sensitivities to generally give a result better than turning off corrections. Turn off corrections and re-scan if you encounter and odd ball that the automatics don’t handle well. Correcting after scan eats into your available color depth, this may not be a problem if you are producing TIF-16, but in the vast majority of cases you’re probably better off letting the scanner correct and doing minor post scan tweaks.

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