Color Management with Nikon DSLR, Capture NX2, and Photoshop CS (x)?

First, if you don't know when and why you would disable color management on your professional color printer, and if you don't edit RAW images, you won't know the answer to this problem. I shoot with an upper end Nikon DSLR in RAW 14 bit mode. I do set the color space to Adobe RGB (never sRGB), even though I believe color space is ignored when saving an NEF RAW image. I never shoot JPEGs. I always save in RAW mode as well after editing RAW images with Nikon Capture NX2. I want to also work my images in Photoshop CS4 using Pro Photo RGB color space. I KNOW to set my printer to allow Photoshop to control the color space, and not the printer. What color space settings should I use for Capture NX2 and Photoshop in order to get the highest quality color. Should I limit Photoshop to Adobe RGB (1998). Ah needs sum hep!

Added (1). I have an Epxon Stylus Pro 3880 printer and yes I've calibrated my monitor using ColorMunki Photo, complete with colorimeter. I also have profiled my printer for a few different types of paper. I use, I've even refined the paper profile form Epson for their Velvet Fine Art paper. Both Adobe Photoshop and Capture NX2 have ProPhoto RGB included among their possible working spaces.

What printer are you using?

Is your monitor calibrated?

I did mine with Spyder 3 SR ( http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-pp-s3studiosr.php ).

And print with HP Designjet 130r ( )

But what really gets the color to perfectly match the printer is the RIP (raster image processor), which is a third party software that turns the printer into an Adobe Postscript 3. (This one )

To answer your question, the color space I use is Adobe RGB, and yes, you have to let the photoshop control the color (in your case). For me, I let the RIP control the color.

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Just looked at the Epson website. Did you get the base model? The "Designer Edition" has the EFI RIP software (for $200 more). Can you get that option? I'm using the higher end version of it at home and using the HP Designer Edition XL at work. They get the color right - every time.

Let me get this straight.you're doing adobe rgb in capture, and then you move to prophoto in adobe?

I don't know for sure but to me that sounds like a recipe for messy pics. You got your pics just so in capture, you switch to CS4 (why on earth would you use nx2?) and apply a different colour space. Sounds to me like that would mess up your settings.

Get a test chart, shoot it, run it trough your current workflow, run it trough a workflow with the same colour space, see what happens.

Additionally, there's a few very thick, very technical books on the subject

I assume that you have a monitor that can display accordingly and are doing some finite color work from what you are saying here. That gets pretty deep. There's a lot of information regarding colorspace and requirements on www.dpbestflow.org and of course, on datacolor's website.
I think Ace shoots Nikon. He may be better able to answer you on the NX2 and that is where the real question seems to lie. It's going to be in what the capabilities of NX2 are as far as colorspace is concerned.
You might be better off asking in one of the nikon forums.

If you are capturing in raw, there's no colorspace assigned, so no, it's not a recipe for a mess. Raw is all of the data that hits the sensor. So even out of range colors are captured. What you do with those in processing is another story and that's often where a mess can occur.

You are outputting in Adobe RGB. Why are you wanting to work in ProPhoto? I know it's bigger, but you will have to convert to Adobe in the end anyway. This is my logic here, but… If you can't use the extra colors you will be seeing while you are working in ProPhoto and are converting to a smaller gamut it DOES change that image. If you are working with finite color detail I would think that you do not want to risk any shifting of the colors when you convert. I know the shift is almost imperceptable, but the only people who work in ProPhoto/AdobeRGB are talking about EXTREME finite color work… It's a lot of wasted work if that image shifts on conversion.
Personal opinion here-I would only want to work with what I KNOW I can output accurately. I would also be working in a white room with a hood on my monitor and wearing black and white if I were working with detail that extreme in color. I have a feeling what you are doing is a bit of overkill for your needs. There are VERY VERY few applications where THAT much control is needed. AdobeRGB is a huge gamut colorspace anyway. And if it's all you can output I sure as heck would want my initial work to match my end output. Again, it's only opinion, so take it for what it is worth.