Should I convert sRGB images to CMYK before storage in a DAM?

Question

Where I work we have images of products that we manufacture stored in CMYK GraCol 2006 format.

We are starting to sell products manufactured by outside companies now and those companies are sending me pictures of their products.

The product images they are sending are carrying color profiles. The images will be used both for the web and in print.

There has been debate as to whether I should convert everything to CMYK GraCol 2006 so that it is standard with the photos of our products that we had taken and had color corrected and converted to CMYK by a professional or whether I should upload the file as it was sent to me by the manufacturer to our Digital Asset Management system.

It may or may not be important but you should also know that I do not physically have the products in my hand to compare the colors to nor do I plan on making any color adjustments (other than changing the color profile in Photoshop and resaving the file).

Can some of you who have an understanding on this weigh in?

Answer 1

As a graphic designer in a very similar position, I would recommend that if you do not have the products available to colour correct, then leave the source images as they are. I have to deal with many manufacturers' product images and although I would like to have them all uniform and tidied up to my satisfaction, I have to accept there will be differences in the production depending on the printing presses and screen quality and resolution. All our images (including the manufacturers own ones) are published with a disclaimer to cover such discrepancies.